Iratus: Lord of the Dead

Iratus: Lord of the Dead

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Achieving Renowned Researcher
By richricky30
This article discusses the challenges and intricacies of achieving the "Renowned Researcher" achievement in the game Iratus. It highlights the grind-heavy nature of certain achievements, the complex structure of the Humanarium, and offers strategies for players aiming to complete this rare achievement.
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Introduction
Have a great day, dear reader!

In this article, I want to discuss the rare achievements in the game, especially the Renowned Researcher achievement. Its description—unlock all enemies in the Humonarium—doesn't clarify why only 0.5% of players have it. My goal is to shed light on the issue with this achievement, hoping both players and developers will benefit.

Many players ignore achievements, but some aim for "100% completion." This requires preparation and planning. I enjoy this approach and am part of a community of achievement hunters. It's encouraging when developers move away from tedious achievements such as 'kill a billion enemies' and instead focus on more meaningful ones like completing optional quests.

However, Iratus has several grind-heavy achievements, such as defeating 1,000 enemies per level, which can take around 140-150 hours. For achievement hunters, this is frustrating.

Now, let's focus on the Renowned Researcher achievement. It seems straightforward but becomes challenging as more and more enemies are unlocked and token drops become rare. Additionally, enemies previously unlocked can disappear, and new ones are hard to find.

The game requires beating it at every difficulty level if you aim for Platinum. Higher difficulties may cause unlocked bosses to vanish. Each save file has its own Humonarium, complicating progress tracking.
The Humonarium's Inner Structure
The Humonarium is stored in a text file in each save folder, with JSON formatting listing defeated enemies. Regular enemies are listed simply, like "enemy1" or "enemy2_elite," while bosses are tagged with difficulty levels, such as "boss1_normal" or "boss2_hard." This means the visibility of unlocked bosses depends on the current difficulty level you are playing. For example, playing on normal only shows bosses unlocked at normal difficulty or lower, while hard shows bosses from hard or higher difficulties.

This setup can lead to confusion and frustration, especially when bosses unlocked in one difficulty disappear in another. Moreover, it is unclear how parallel playthroughs affect progress, potentially requiring additional runs to complete the Humonarium.
Achieving Renowned Researcher
Unfortunately, there's no silver bullet, and you'll have to spend a lot of time and nerves. The optimal way is to beat the game several times on normal difficulty. When encountering an enemy not yet in the Humonarium, save the game and reload if the token doesn't drop. For reference, my last missing token was from a dwarf boss in the final four. It took 14 tries to get it! Imagine how many times I'd have to beat the game without saving!

Additionally, save before events, as they might trigger battles with rare enemies.

I managed to complete the Humonarium in three playthroughs using this approach (although it was already more than half-filled from four playthroughs at different difficulty levels). But there's some randomness: I got one of the bosses in the first and seventh playthroughs, while others appeared more frequently. The only issue with this approach is group selection: some minions can only be unlocked by playing on hard. In this case, you'll need to sacrifice one playthrough to get the necessary minions.
Conclusion
Finally, I want to thank the developers for creating such a fantastic game but ask them not to overdo it with grinding and not to complicate achievements too much. Here are some player comments:
  • "I completed all maps on all difficulties, cleared the 1,000 kills on each map long ago, but still am trying to fill the Humonarium. The developer is a sadist and likes people wasting their time." (link)
  • "I'm 200+ hours into Iratus and my Humonarium still has missing entries. I like hunting achievements but grinding this out might kill the fun." (link)
Knowing when to stop is a valuable skill.