I played in Early Access in the summer, so relatively close to release. It took me about 30 runs to clear [REDACTED] and get access to pact of punishment. Currently sitting around 10 heat for most weapons on my main save.
I replayed a fresh save recently to see how different my starting experience would be (a bit hard to judge considering I had 110+ runs, at least 60 of which are completes, and pretty much everything unlocked (but not upgraded).
IMO it's extremely difficult to clear the final biome with zero upgrades and no trinkets due to the poison mechanic (mirror doesn't unlock until your 1st death) meaning the only life regen you'll get is from fountains, charon's well, or if you were lucky to get your hands on cursed slash via hammer upgrade.
Anyway I cleared the final boss on run 3, but that was with a couple of upgrades and +2 death defiances and informed by 140 hours of play time. If I had lucked into a nectar and Sisyphus' trinket it would maybe be doable on run 2. I'd be curious if anyone cleared it on run 1.
P.S. Artemis on attack and aphrodite debuff is still broken, and boo to the changes made to chaos shield.
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