Roguelite Meta-Progression and Difficulty Curves in Echoes of Myth

In Why Roguelite and Not Roguelike? I touched on difficulty curves and player progression, but I wanted to explore in more detail how I plan for difficulty to evolve alongside player progression.

Two Levels of Power Progression in Roguelites

Roguelites have two distinct layers of power progression:

  1. In-iteration power – Progression within a single run, based on skill, itemization, and moment-to-moment decisions.
  2. Meta-power progression – Permanent upgrades that persist across runs, allowing the player to improve over time.

For Echoes of Myth, my high-level progression goals are structured as follows:

  • Strength of enemies scales exponentially in Act 3 and the finale.
  • Player power scales linearly via base stat increases and somewhat exponentially through talent choices.
  • Early on, this is sufficient, but the enemy power curve will outpace the player’s unless they acquire strong Divine Treasures and Remnant Echo buffs—especially those that fit their build.
  • These provide momentary boosts that push the player ahead of the curve, but further progression demands additional power spikes.
  • Without Divine Treasures, strong Echo buffs, or optimal talents, enemy difficulty will surpass the player's base strength.
  • Over time, the increasing meta-power of the player trivializes the early game, likely necessitating shortcuts to avoid excessive repetition, while still preserving late-game challenge.

Expected progression for player is as follows:

  • First iteration – The player faces immediate challenge with an exponentially increasing difficulty curve.

    • Skilled players can keep up through a mix of execution, strategic talent and divine treasure choices, and remnant echo buff utilization.
    • Completing the first run is extremely difficult—later fights will be long due to limited damage output and player will only have a single healing potion for the entire run.
    • A typical target audience player (with some ARPG/Soulslike experience) is expected to reach 4–6 levels deep before dying and earning some essence (meta-power currency).

  • Early meta-progression (first few iterations)

    • Players will gain significant boosts as they collect essence.
    • They should be able to reach halfway through Act 1 or close to its end after a few iterations.
    • At this stage, players are still learning the game and likely won’t be optimizing builds yet, but they might get lucky runs through good talent and item combinations.

  • Mid-game variance based on player skill

    • As players push into Acts 2 and 3, they will earn more essence.
    • Progression pace will heavily depend on skill—some will get further quickly, while others will need more upgrades and practice.
    • Lucky item and talent combos will occasionally enable significant leaps in progress.

  • First encounters with Act bosses

    • These bosses serve as temporary bottlenecks, designed to challenge both player skill and meta-power upgrades.
    • However, with a combination of learning boss patterns and meta-power progression, they should become completable within a few attempts.

  • 15–20 iterations in

    • Players should consistently be reaching the end-game and final battle after Act 3.
    • By this point, they have gained both skill and meta-power, making full completion a regular occurrence rather than an exception.

  • Optional end-game challenges

    • After first full completion, an optional end-game boss will be unlocked.
    • Additional challenge modifiers (similar to Hades’ Heat system) will provide replayability and new difficulty layers.
    • A meta-narrative progression system will unfold across 5–8 full completions, keeping long-term players engaged.

Addressing Criticism of Roguelite Meta-Progression

Some criticize meta-power in Roguelites, arguing that it trivializes challenge by allowing weaker players to brute-force progression over time. However, I see meta-progression as a soft difficulty mechanic—one that gives players choice:

  • Skilled players have clear achievement goals to push for, completing the game in as few iterations as possible.
  • More casual players can still conquer the game’s challenges, even if they don’t master the mechanics as quickly.
  • The first full game completion should be achievable by most—even if later optional challenges require significantly higher skill.

By balancing in-iteration and meta-progression, Echoes of Myth aims to offer a rewarding challenge for both high-skill players and those who prefer gradual improvement over multiple runs.

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