Game modes

Pascal's Wager is built around one long story, but the game ships several other ways to play it. The code tells the modes apart with a single "story mode" number plus a few flags, and each mode takes different things from your save: its own heroes or yours, its own enemy tables or the story's. This page is the map. Each mode has its own article with the numbers.

At a glance#

Story mode#

You choose Casual or Normal when you start a new save. Casual weakens enemies' damage to you and locks some achievements, and the choice is described on Difficulty. Story mode is the only mode that reads the journey number: the chapters, the rooms, the quests and the loot tables are all swapped by it. The chapters and their bosses are on Chapters; the maps on Maps; the hub between chapters is the Carriage, where you also meet the merchants (Merchants) and your companions.

While in the story you can also leave for side areas: the Dark Mist side areas (stories 101 to 105), entered through hidden passages, where enemy level follows your Altar Level and sanity drains 0.5 per second in every state, but only outside the safe circles (damage dealt costs no sanity, and only story 101 pays +3 per kill; see Sanity in special areas#Lost Valley and New Game Plus enemy scaling#hm-dark-mist-side-areas-follow-your-hero-in).

New Game Plus#

After the final boss the game offers a New Journey. You keep levels, talents, trophies and most items; story items, quest flags and the world reset (New Game Plus#What carries over and what is removed). Enemies come back at much higher levels in four steps, and journey 5 repeats the fourth (New Game Plus enemy scaling); loot and prices rise too (New Game Plus loot and shops).

Obsession Challenge#

A menu mode for fighting a boss you have already met. It needs an existing save or autosave (otherwise the game says you have not met the Obsessed One yet). In journey 2 and later, the eleven base-game bosses are all available at once; in the first journey each boss opens when you have beaten it. The three Ichthyosauria bosses need the Tides of Oblivion chapter and Terror Obsession needs the maze add-on. See Obsession Challenge#Unlocking bosses.

Deep into the Dark Mist#

The first add-on mode. It adds a Mist Camp hub and a roguelike run through four areas of random arenas. Enemies there scale with the maze level, not the story, and traps follow maze-level brackets (Maze rewards#Traps and hazards). It also unlocks Terror Obsession in the Obsession Challenge. See Deep into the Dark Mist, Maze statues and Maze rewards.

Dance of the Throne and Arcade mode#

The second add-on. It is a score-attack mode with fixed heroes and three difficulties (the third, Expert, is Arcade-only). Some stages need the maze or Tides add-on. It also makes Elena playable, a hero who does not appear in the story. See Arcade mode and Dance of the Throne.

Tides of Oblivion#

The story add-on. It adds the ninth chapter, Ichthyosauria, and the hero Jerold. After the join quest (95162) he is enabled automatically in every New Journey. See Tides of Oblivion.

Modes found only in the code#

The lobby script and the save class contain further entries that I could not confirm in a normal menu; treat these as development leftovers (inferred from names and test-data use):

• Level mode (JumpGame): starts a new save at a chosen stage with a fresh hero. The matching text "Stage {0}" exists in the game strings.
• Boss mode (BossChallenge): drops you into a chosen boss arena with a casual or normal choice.
• Travel (Travel): starts in the Carriage with a debug stage map (InitTestMapData reads a debug setting), so it is a test entry.
• Free mode / Room: a local multiplayer room screen, with controllers for free-for-all and occupation modes (controllerfreemode.lua, controlleroccupymode.lua) and the battle types PVP_1, PVP_2, PVP_5, PVE_Occupy, PVE_Guard and PVE_Custom. The story always uses PVE_Story. Matching texts are still in Chinese, which also suggests they are unfinished or unused in the English build.

Hidden mechanics#

• One number picks the mode. FS_SaveStory.StoryMode has seven values (Normal 1, BossChallenge 2, JumpGame 3, Travel 4, Maze 5, BossTimeChallenge 6, Arcade 7), and dozens of checks like "is this a boss time challenge?" change behaviour: for example the counter-attack delay of Patrick and the Usurper is switched off in the maze and in the Obsession Challenge (New Game Plus enemy scaling#hm-two-bosses-riposte-sooner-in-journey-2-and).
• Only the story reads the journey. GetLogicLoop returns 1 in Arcade regardless of the counter, and the maze and the challenge ignore the column completely. The same numbers in the table headers (levels 1 to 4) mean journey in the story but challenge difficulty in the Obsession Challenge and maze level brackets for maze traps.
• Add-ons are checked by flags. The lobby tests IapData flags: the Arcade button needs the Arcade add-on, a maze-only challenge boss needs the maze add-on, and some Arcade stages need the maze or Tides content (the game says "Add-on content Deep into the Dark Mist is required").
• A mode can borrow your save or ignore it. The Obsession Challenge (custom) copies the hero from your save but writes its results to its own record; Arcade uses level 30 presets and never touches your trophies; the maze uses a separate hero list. The story is the only mode that changes what you own permanently.
• Journeys are a story-only loop. The endless counter only advances when you accept a New Journey in the story (Arcade's own restart also adds 1 but uses the journey 1 column).

Sources#

• controller/controllerstorymode.lua:2185-2205 (dark-forest sanity drain, SanSubDarkForestPerSecond 0.5), logic/scene/scenebase.lua:3020-3033 (safe circles); ES_StoryMonster SanKill (story 101 = 3).
• structdata/fs_savestory.lua:8-16 (StoryMode enum), 1956-1979 (SetLoop, GetLogicLoop: Arcade returns 1, cap 4), 1435-1450 (JumpGame), 1545-1560 (BossChallenge), 1577-1600 (BossTimeChallenge), 1618-1640 (Travel).
• ui/controller/lobbymainctrl.lua:2190-2224 (Level mode), 2225-2247 (Arcade needs the Arcade flag), 2259-2330 (Boss mode), 2332-2366 (Challenge needs a save), 2368-2402 (Maze), 2403-2408 (Free mode room), 2410-2445 (Travel), 2529-2572 (starting each mode).
• logic/battle/battledata.lua:4-22 (battle types and difficulty levels); logic/player/hero20017.lua:92-95, hero20044.lua:68-71 (counter delay only in journey 1, not in the maze or the boss time challenge).
• ui/controller/challengectrl.lua:645-668 (journey above 1 and the maze flag unlock challenge bosses).
• Game text: UI_DLC_MSG_dlcarcade, UI_DLC_MSG_dlcmaze1, UI_DLC_MSG_dlcstory1, UI_ARCADE_NEED_MAZE, UI_CHALLENGE_CANT_CHALLENGE, UI_ARCADE_GAMEMODE_INTRO_CASUAL/EXPERT.
• Other articles of this wiki for the per-mode numbers: Obsession Challenge, Arcade mode, Deep into the Dark Mist.