Overview
This is a fairly basic guide to the enemies, bosses, and strategy for those trying to beat the game for the first time.
Introduction
This guide (as of first publishing) contains everything you’ll need to beat the game, except your own personal skill, several hours, and several dozen sudden, painful deaths. The game is best when you discover its pieces yourself, but if you’re becoming frustrated, feel free to skip to whatever part you need or if you want a fight order and the reasoning behind it.
The chapters are ordered according to the order I would most recommend beating the bosses, though it’s possible in any order. This ranking takes into account the difficulty of the boss, the difficulty and annoyance of the new enemy that spawns upon its death, the danger of traversing the path necessary to reach the boss and return, and the ramping difficulty as more bosses are defeated.
Non-Boss-Specific Mechanics
1. A punch is an instant-kill to any non-boss enemy.
2. A double jump is essentially a punch upwards; most importantly this means you cannot punch after a double jump.
3. Once you beat a boss, a new enemy is added to the mix of those spawning or the behavior of an existing one is changed. They do not replace existing enemies; they add to their numbers. This not only means that new and more deadly enemies join the confusion, but also that the rooms and corridors become more and more full.
4. After the first two bosses are beaten, subsequent boss-rooms will spawn normal enemies according to the boss you’re fighting and the number of bosses you’ve beaten before that point. For sake of example, fighting the Two Lizards third will spawn in a pair of birds periodically while fighting the Skull Bat last will spawn in more birds and the occasional scorpion.
5. Ammunition containers outside boss arenas give you 44 shots.
Co-op & Using Controllers
Two Computers, Two Copies of the Game
In progress!
Two Computers, One Copy of the Game
In progress!
One Computer
This is fairly simple! Unfortunately, there is no way to huddle around one keyboard and play that way. If two people play around one computer, one must use a controller. If you aren’t sure how to get a controller to work, use the method listed above and simply applying the process to the shared computer.
The Bird, the Crawler, and the Jellyfish
THE BIRDS
Movement: Predictable, floaty bee-line
The Bird is one of the two starting enemies of OVERWHELM. It’s listed as a bat in the game files, but they look strangely cute to me so I like to think of them as birds. They’re the only enemy save maybe the venom spitter that I would recommend trying to punch to save ammo.
THE CRAWLERS
Movement: Slow walking, punctuated with unpredictable forward leaps
The Crawler is the second of the two starting enemies. Its lethality is constant throughout the game and the use of its leap as soon as you enter a room where your camera has not yet caught up is a cause of anger matched only by death from preventable illness.
THE JELLYFISH
Movement: Very slow, predictable bee-line
The Jellyfish is exclusively encountered in the water biome of the Kraken in the bottom right of the map. They’re mostly harmless unless you touch them since they don’t move very much. If they aren’t in the way, resist the urge to pop them with gunfire even if they do look like novelty balloons; there are many of them and you’re likely to be under threat of land-enemies leaping into the waters after you.
The Kraken and her Seekers
I slay the Kraken first because it’s much easier to fight without any jellyfish spawning in the arena, which begins with the third boss. The Seekers aren’t active beyond the waters’ edge, and the journey to and from the Kraken becomes much more dangerous once enemies like the Chargers have been unlocked.
THE KRAKEN
Phase Two: Quickly diving at you torso-first.
The boss in the bottom right of the map is the cyclopean Kraken. Only her “torso” is damageable, roughly where the eye is and up. Both the “torso” and the ends of the tentacles can kill, making this boss arguably the most difficult (or just obnoxious) due to the unpredictable flail of her tentacles.
How to beat her: Staying underwater too long kills you instantly, and the pace of her teleportations means you’ll be frequently caught out and have to choose between drowning in the cold waters or suffering blunt force trauma from the Kraken. Instead, fight her around the first of the two islands which surface the water (pictured above). You can run along the top to refill oxygen and she’ll repeatedly get stuck on the rocks trying to reach you. Take a few shots as she’s spawning from the far right then swim over to that island. The right one is servicable, but the left one is larger so she can’t wrap her tentacles around both sides. One or two shots per peek is safe.
Once she enters her second phase she’ll attempt to dive over the island. This is perfect for you because it’s by no means a quick or a graceful process. You can easily get off three or four shots every time she tries this without exposing yourself to much risk.
THE SEEKERS
Movement: Fast, sin-wave-esque swooping up and down
The Seekers are water-bound enemies who spawn pressed against the seafloor lying in wait. They’re listed as Sharksquids in the game files, but I refuse to add to the unscientific vilification of sharks, so I’m sticking with Seekers. Once you get within their range they rise and rush you, ducking and weaving. They would be more of a nuisance if they spawned beyond the waters, but since the water is only in the area approaching the Kraken’s den, you never need face them again once you leave after beating the Kraken.
The Tunnel Worm and its Chargers
I dig up the Worm second because both it and the area approaching it suffer the steepest increase in difficulty once more enemies are added to it. The reduced visibility of both locations make everything more dangerous. The only reason it isn’t first is because the Chargers, the enemies which begin spawning after the Worm’s death, will occasionally be a pain approaching and returning from the Kraken’s den. As obnoxious as the Chargers are, saving them for any later makes the trek downwards perilous.
THE TUNNEL WORM
Phase Two: Same as before, except with a shot-reflective face instead of a mouth
The boss in the bottom left of the map is the Tunnel Worm. Every part of its body can take damage until it reaches its second phase, when its face can reflect your shots. You cannot be damaged by your own shots. It always rises up and to the left tunnel when summoned regardless of where you stand, which should let you get as many as nine free shots on it
THE CHARGERS
Movement: Baitable charge once you’re spotted, won’t be stopped until it hits something
Why yes, I did die taking that picture. Chargers are referred to as Shields in-game and Behemoths in the game files, but their charge is far more important to you, so that’s how I’ll be referring to them. Chargers reflect your shots from every angle except from straight behind. But since they turn quickly, can tank more than two shots, and can’t jump, it rarely makes sense to actually take the time to kill them. If they’re in the way (like they often are if spawned in narrow corridors), try to probe for them off screen or in the dark by blindly firing ahead of you. They’ll let out a wail and charge, which should hopefully give you enough time to jump over them or retreat. There is just barely enough room to jump over them even if it looks like there isn’t; I wouldn’t recommend trying if it’s possible to avoid it though.
The Bush Spider and its Venom Spitters
I squash the Spider third because the grasses approaching the arena are a hazard which only grows more hazardous with time. I used to fight the Spider first for this reason, but it made the other fights more difficult so I settled for third.
THE BUSH SPIDER
Phase Two: Launches venom from its abdomen at you from off-screen
The boss in the center left of the map is the somewhat elusive, definitely cowardly Bush Spider. The crude line is drawn by me for sake of visibility; you’ll be relying on watching for movement and dead reckoning throughout the battle. It will hide in the bushes and teleport frequently. It runs quickly, but not for long, and cannot jump very high.
How to beat it: If you stand on the ledge above the crystal it spawns from, you can safely fire at it for a while. It’ll try to jump at you periodically, but you’ll be far enough from nearby bushes that you’ll have plenty of time to react. Once it reaches its second phase, you’ll hear a sound like opening a carbonated drink announcing a spray of venom. If it’s fired while you’re on the ledge, you can just drop down and it won’t hit you. Now just blindly fire into bushes until you find the one it’s in and whittle down its health from atop your ledge.
THE VENOM SPITTERS
Movement: Mostly still, firing from a distance whenever possible
The Venom Spitters are the same size as the Crawlers; the primary visual differentiator being a red stripe in its tail. They will surprise you much as the Crawlers do, and should be baited the same way when going from one room to another. They fire at regular intervals, so you can safely time your attacks. They will not attempt to jump at you, but their touch still inspires death in the living.
The Twin Lizards and the Crawlers+
I gun down the Twin Lizards fourth because the journey to their arena isn’t made too difficulty by the addition of new kinds of enemies, only birds spawn in the battle, and the alteration upon the Scorpions they cause has little effect when facing the Skullbat last.
THE TWIN LIZARDS
White Lizard: Same as the Dark Lizard
The bosses in the top right of the map are the least threatening and most adorable enemies in the game, the Twin Lizards. They mostly avoid you, even seemingly sparing your life when you make a misstep and they could easily dispatch you. Each have their own health pool so it’s a good idea to focus on one at a time, but considering how much they’d rather be far away from you, you rarely get line of sight on both of them at the same time anyway. Each also has its own “role,” as is referenced in the game files. The lighter of the two is the “Driver” while the darker one is the “Flanker.”
How to beat them: Stick to the top of the map, especially the central solid platform. They’ll frequently fall from the crumbling platforms around it and the field of vision it allows gives you ample warning if you need to abandon it. Hopping from there to the lower solid platforms to the left and right gives a wide field of fire. Though the two lizards have different behavior, I wouldn’t say it’s particularly important to target one over the other.
THE CRAWLERS+
The Crawlers+ are just modified Crawlers. Once you defeat the Twin Lizards, all Crawlers can now climb on the walls and ceilings and leap from said walls and ceilings. They aren’t too bad, and the change typically just makes them easier to shoot.
The Skullbat and the Bees
I finish OVERWHELM with the Skullbat because I despise the enemies that spawn when it’s defeated. The fight isn’t too rough and it’s easy enough to kill the smaller enemies that spawn as you prosecute the battle; I just hate the bees. The way back is also fairly clear when you have to run back home with the Crystal.
THE SKULLBAT
Phase Two: Same as before but faster
The boss in the top left of the map is the zoologically-confusing Skullbat. As with the Tunnel Worm and its reflective face, the Skullbat cannot be wounded when it turns black, which happens for a few seconds and reflects your shots. Once again you cannot be damaged by your own shots. It can also reverse the direction of the wind, potentially blowing you off course or off of a platform.
How to beat it: It takes a little bit of time for it to build up speed, so the trick is to keep moving, ideally around the higher parts of the arena so you have somewhere to drop down to if need be. If you keep juking it, it will never be able to pick up enough speed to catch you unawares. If this is the last boss for you, clear the arena before you start the fight and prioritize any newly-spawned creatures: a clean arena is a good arena. Also prioritize your safety over your damage; if you’re on the ground, don’t bother firing until you’re at a location you can escape (drop) from.
THE BEES
Movement: Fast, direct flying
The game just refers to their existence as “Fast Flying” or as “Buzzsaws” in the files, but the former isn’t a noun, the latter is cliché, and they look like bees to me so that’s what we’ll go with. These are basically faster, more agile Birds. Since Birds still spawn though, the skies will quickly fill with squadrons of nuisances. They’re fairly easy to get stuck in the level geometry, but they’re the enemy most likely to give chase while you might be able to pass others by.
The End
Returning from defeating your fourth boss breaks all of the doors, meaning enemies can wander into the hub room and boss arenas. Don’t dawdle.
You can do it mate, I believe in you.
New Game+
In progress!