[RELEASE][FEEDBACK]Hero Corruption v1.55

[diogaoo]

The new version of Hero Corruption is out.

Hero Corruption v1.55

Changes:

Spoiler: show

NEW DYNAMIC BAD ENDING

Spoiler: show

Ever feel like someone is hiding something from you? Now you can experience the same feeling in HC too!
A new BE with two different outcomes, are both really that bad?

NEW ENEMIES

Spoiler: show

• Amelia(Hills)

Amelia has been single and looking for a partner for some time now, maybe you are the lucky one?

• Jasmine(Castle)

Do these girls never learn from their mistakes? Well, Jasmine does
Keep defeating Jasmine to unlock new moves

NEW EQUIPMENT

Spoiler: show

• Heavy Mace

This weapon basically does all the work for you

HELEN REWORKED

Spoiler: show

• Same-same, but different

Helen was tired of repeating the same strategy over and over again
New pics, moves and lines were added

OTHERS

Spoiler: show

• Added an extra Bad End: Jasmine

• Added more pics to Jessie

• Added Heavy Mace to the Recipe Shop pool

• Changed a couple of Mia's dialogs

• Mia's first and second Lust check will only appear AFTER the minimum required have been reached

• Added more lines to Ruth

• A lot of dialogs are now instant and skippable

• Added a dialog displaying all addictions after defeating Kira

• Adjusted Hannah's IRL timers and dialogs during encounters and BE

• Switched Lust and HP status bar places after defeating a boss in boss rush

BALANCE STUFF

Spoiler: show

Increased amount of exp given by T2 bosses 15 > 18
Increased amount of exp given by T3 bosses 15 > 22
Increased amount of exp given by Kira 15 > 30
Increased amount of exp needed to buy a perk 50 > 60
Increased potion "Inflation" cost +10 > +15
Adjusted the Recipe Shop pool weapon costs
Increased Kira's HP 300 > 350
Increased Kira's ghosts base HP 20 > 30
Increased Jessie's attack 10 > 16
Decreased chance of Jessie attacking 50% > 30%
Decreased Icepick Critical Damage 2x > 1.5x
Decreased the Amount of Corruption gained when defeated by Helen +10 > +5
Decreased the amount of Iron needed to craft the Hammer 3 > 2

BUG FIXES

Spoiler: show

Fixed Soul of the Devil crashing the game
Fixed Thirsty Dragon displaying float numbers
Fixed Sophie and Diana giving an extra piece of Map
Fixed Maxine encounter flickering all over the place
Fixed Stamina influencing damage on Kira's ghosts
Fixed Charmed debuff not clearing up
Fixed Chloe BE's last pic not showing properly
Fixed Stamina appearing on Castle status bar
Fixed Rose's codex page switching to Ella
Fixed Leona's loot page
Fixed not introducing Lily properly
Fixed some Claire's typos
Fixed Anastasia titjob sound looping

Version 1.60 is already out on Patreon:

Spoiler: show

Diana rework, new enemies, events, bad endings and more

The same tier grants access to the first release of Hero Corruption 2 on Tuesday (06/12)





----------------------------------

Sorry to keep you waiting Sissy, the gold perk already increases the drop rate of items, but only if it's maxed out.
Do you think there should be some early game item that provides the same benefit?

Also, there are currently 3 bad endings related to trans women:

Spoiler: show

The Club in the City, Sasha's BE and Bea's BE

I really liked the first two ideas.
The third one I believe it would better implemented in HC2, I intend to make (de)buffs carry over after an encounter has ended and being placed in chastity cage would be perfect

Unfortunately there isn't a reliable place to gather info about the game, you can have a look at the game's FAQ or search for something on the forum, but I'm afraid that's it for now.

I reeeally wish I had created a wiki, but I'm so invested in new updates for HC1, HC2, the website, etc; that I couldn't find enough time to do it...

[Sissycow]

You know item would be a good idea, or a buff. Like an item that increases gold find or a buff that gives +1 gold each time you buy it like the attack or max hp ones.

[cristovaop]

You know item would be a good idea, or a buff. Like an item that increases gold find or a buff that gives +1 gold each time you buy it like the attack or max hp ones.

A shovel that can be equipped as a weapon that doubles (?) the amount of gold received by defeating the enemy. The shovel is named Gold Digger.

[grelgen]

Spoiler: show

Amelia stuff:
- Did you just came inside?
+ Did you just cum inside?
- Did you came to see if the rumors were true?
+ Did you come to see if the rumors were true?
- I hope you don't ever think abou leaving
+ I hope you don't ever think about leaving
- Do yu like when I bend over like this?
+ Do you like when I bend over like this?

Heavy Mace:
it starts at 30, I have 15 damage from stats, nothing in perks. The mace says +13 and only does 26 damage at max stamina
bad math somewhere

I don't know if there's an easy way to do this in the EOS editor, but the battle stats display seems to vary wildly from girl to girl. would be nice if they all matched

[diogaoo]

You know item would be a good idea, or a buff. Like an item that increases gold find or a buff that gives +1 gold each time you buy it like the attack or max hp ones.

A shovel that can be equipped as a weapon that doubles (?) the amount of gold received by defeating the enemy. The shovel is named Gold Digger.

Spoiler: show

Gold Digger is actually the name of the new event in 1.60

I like the idea, but I believe this could further devaluate the gold perk.
Unless the item/weapon has a negative effect, like lowering the player's damage for example.


------------------------

Spoiler: show

Amelia stuff:
- Did you just came inside?
+ Did you just cum inside?
- Did you came to see if the rumors were true?
+ Did you come to see if the rumors were true?
- I hope you don't ever think abou leaving
+ I hope you don't ever think about leaving
- Do yu like when I bend over like this?
+ Do you like when I bend over like this?

Heavy Mace:
it starts at 30, I have 15 damage from stats, nothing in perks. The mace says +13 and only does 26 damage at max stamina
bad math somewhere

Not just the Heavy Mace, but the weapon damage calc. is a mess in v1.55. I've discovered this in the last few hours before v1.60 was released, so I didn't have time to fix it in the public version

It's a little hard to do it but in a few hours it will be working as intended.

I don't know if there's an easy way to do this in the EOS editor, but the battle stats display seems to vary wildly from girl to girl. would be nice if they all matched

I will also take a look at this inconsistency, thanks for your report, grelgen

[indyc]

You know item would be a good idea, or a buff. Like an item that increases gold find or a buff that gives +1 gold each time you buy it like the attack or max hp ones.

A shovel that can be equipped as a weapon that doubles (?) the amount of gold received by defeating the enemy. The shovel is named Gold Digger.

Spoiler: show

Gold Digger is actually the name of the new event in 1.60

I like the idea, but I believe this could further devaluate the gold perk.
Unless the item/weapon has a negative effect, like lowering the player's damage for example.

While I have never had an issue with the number of recipes you have, I believe this gold digger suggestion would be best as a gold perk synergy instead of devaluing it. (as in they multiply together)

This brings up my main issue that stops me from enjoying each release as much as I want to and it deserves: The early game grind is still arguably brutal. Combined with the virtually unchangeable EOS fact that you cannot carry a save over into the next version I find myself gradually ignoring more and more of the releases despite being extremely curious what the new content is. Because we cannot change EOS, I have some other places I wanted to point to for potential improvements:

Yes, you have a secret code that gives a few more starting points, yes you created an alternative starting location (even if it is slightly harder, the variety is welcome). It has also been appreciated that several versions ago you made the player not have to pay for the forge or go through the codex/city etc discovery lines again but I would argue these are not enough for someone like me and the mass of people trying to edit your save information on F95zone to avoid the grind.

In my opinion much of this could be remedied by giving more "base reward points" for plays and arguably fewer for the lategame feats. I would still argue that the negative points for corruption could also be adjusted because on first runs the player has far less control of that.

My other suggestions are potentially less impactful: If you don't have the player repurchasing a must have such as the forge, why do you have them repurchase the early maps and backpack? I want to leave this as a question because I actually can't think of a good solution for it. If you made them all available on repeats it would make grinding easier but still further highlight how the first run is nearly always "wasted" without lots of luck and experience only enjoyed by your top 98 percentile player.

Having the training boss be part of a starting location can also be pretty rough. Many of the times she shows up when you have no HP or lust to give and have to skip the day on top of you not having the stats and equipment to face her effectively early. This leads to a loop where you can't fight her without losing but she continues getting stronger faster than you are unless you get a lucky weapon drop you can afford.

All of this round of concerns nearly finish once you have enough starting stats to defeat girls far faster. Worried about the starting boss? You can beat her now. Worried about lack of variety in starting areas? You can move on now. It's annoying buying the same stuff every time? You are killing things faster and can afford them much faster. I ask you to PLEASE find some way to make the hard grind early experience an optional thing instead of the core experience. You are giving us excellent content and I don't want anything to potentially sour the experience of discovering it each month.

[cristovaop]

(...)
This brings me to bring up some of my main issue that stops me from enjoying each release as much as I want to and it deserves: The early game grind is still arguably brutal. Combined with the virtually unchangeable EOS fact that you cannot carry a save over into the next version I find myself gradually ignoring more and more of the releases despite being extremely curious what the new content is. Because we cannot change EOS, I have some other places I wanted to point to for potential improvements (...)

My solution would need a good dose of coding to work, so it may not be fruitful since it would hinder the speed of (at least the next) release, but It is possible to gather all accumulated points into a code to be used on the next iteration. Make the code be some sort of late game side quest, maybe something Kira can give to the player. Maybe the code don't give all the points back, maybe it only gives 33% and a permanent backpack. It would already help kickstart the new iteration.

Could people share these codes? Sure, making newbies starting already strong. But the strategy often does not involve raw power or raw endurance, and it could bring newbies that otherwise wouldn't play the game in the first place.

It doesn't need to be 33% + permament backpack, can be anything: Double exp, or at least bring the Codex to the new version. And not being nitpicky, but it would be cool if the Codex showed some ??? for girls not found yet. I only discovered Maxine after much, much time playing.

The game have a solid concept, and I understand that the author is splitting time into 1.x and the 2 (Ren'Py) version. Hope the Patreon grows so he can keep up the good work.

[Bee4]

I love this series! I don't find any bugs when playing. I do agree with people who say the grinding is too much. I play to the end each update but have burnt out. I also forgot the password that helps. Thanks for all you do.

[Kristycookie]

A SAME SAME DIFFERENT reference?

I avoided the last release because I was trying to complete NNN, but I'll try this one soon.

[aksuborbi40]

First i want to say Thanks for creating such a cool and extensive tease. Your work is commendable and the results are good. At least good for the first bit. I am one of those who have spent 20 hours playing (version 1.5) and still never gotten past the Forest or the Grove. I just battle and batlle. Barely earning enough to buy a backpack before losing. Again and again and Again. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I DESPERATELY want to get farther into the great updates you;ve been posting, but I just cannot get past these 2 areas. The giggling girls do me in every time. So does the girl who is looking at me (I think) from the Grove. i WANT to get farther, but I hesitate playing for another 4 hours to get nowhere. *sigh* great work, and truly want to see it all, but just stuck. I don't know what I am not doing right... Ive never had more than 40 gold, and only 1 time had a weapon, but it disappeared before I got to the boss types. Thanks for reading! I DO appreciate the work..

[diogaoo]

Hi Indyc, it's great to see you again

Yes, you have a secret code that gives a few more starting points, yes you created an alternative starting location (even if it is slightly harder, the variety is welcome). It has also been appreciated that several versions ago you made the player not have to pay for the forge or go through the codex/city etc discovery lines again but I would argue these are not enough for someone like me and the mass of people trying to edit your save information on F95zone to avoid the grind.

In my opinion much of this could be remedied by giving more "base reward points" for plays and arguably fewer for the lategame feats. I would still argue that the negative points for corruption could also be adjusted because on first runs the player has far less control of that.

This would be an excellent idea, however, the problem is that there would be no incentive for the player to advance through areas. In fact, this was a real issue in previous versions, people were grinding at the first areas and buying maps only to defeat a specific boss, returning to the initial area right after to continue the grinding.

That being said, I do agree with the idea of removing the point penalty for corruption. This concept is definitely outdated.

My other suggestions are potentially less impactful: If you don't have the player repurchasing a must have such as the forge, why do you have them repurchase the early maps and backpack? I want to leave this as a question because I actually can't think of a good solution for it. If you made them all available on repeats it would make grinding easier but still further highlight how the first run is nearly always "wasted" without lots of luck and experience only enjoyed by your top 98 percentile player.

Removing the need to buy maps can greatly affect the balance of the game, if maps were permanently unlocked, players could buy all maps in one initial run, this would break the game's tempo
Heroes would also accumulate a lot of gold and consequently become extremely strong in the early days. Mauling the strongest enemies in the first few runs.

Buying maps is a way to remove money from the hero while also giving the feeling of progress.
The same can be said for the backpack, although the backpack is even more complicated for being such a must have item.

Having the training boss be part of a starting location can also be pretty rough. Many of the times she shows up when you have no HP or lust to give and have to skip the day on top of you not having the stats and equipment to face her effectively early. This leads to a loop where you can't fight her without losing but she continues getting stronger faster than you are unless you get a lucky weapon drop you can afford.

Leah can be a pain in the ass, I agree. I will probably nerf her in the near future


While I was writing this reply, I realized something:
The grind in HC is real, and I understand that it might turn some people off, but I've always sympathized with that style of gameplay and by now I believe it's already part of Hero Corruption's identity.

Also, tbh, now that I'm developing HC2, I'm having a hard time getting used to the idea that players may already have previous save.
I would argue that it can even detract from the game experience if it's not balanced around this mechanic: When a new girl is added, she is rarely strong enough to be a real challenge to the player who already grinded in previous versions.


I really like it when you share your opinions and suggestions, Indyc. Mainly because I realize how TotS and HC have many similarities and at the same time many differences.
And it's great that we disagree on a lot of stuff, what fun would it be if all games looked alike?
Thank you so much for your suggestions, I hope I can return the favor soon.


----------------------------

My solution would need a good dose of coding to work, so it may not be fruitful since it would hinder the speed of (at least the next) release, but It is possible to gather all accumulated points into a code to be used on the next iteration. Make the code be some sort of late game side quest, maybe something Kira can give to the player. Maybe the code don't give all the points back, maybe it only gives 33% and a permanent backpack. It would already help kickstart the new iteration.

Could people share these codes? Sure, making newbies starting already strong. But the strategy often does not involve raw power or raw endurance, and it could bring newbies that otherwise wouldn't play the game in the first place.

It doesn't need to be 33% + permament backpack, can be anything: Double exp, or at least bring the Codex to the new version. And not being nitpicky, but it would be cool if the Codex showed some ??? for girls not found yet. I only discovered Maxine after much, much time playing.

The game have a solid concept, and I understand that the author is splitting time into 1.x and the 2 (Ren'Py) version. Hope the Patreon grows so he can keep up the good work.

This really seems like a great way to implement a full save system, and I would even enjoy seeing people sharing their code.
But many things worry me:

As you pointed out, the time and dedication to write such system. I would also take an extra time with the learning process and research.
The same reasons I gave to Indyc, HC1 wasn't made for this, it will require several balance tweaks, and I still believe it would hurt the experience when new enemies were added.
And last and perhaps most important: As we all know, EOS teases have a limit, would such a mechanic be too demanding?
HC1 still has a lot of space for new additions, as most of its code is not yet optimized. But still, it's something that worries me in the long run.

---------------------------

I love this series! I don't find any bugs when playing. I do agree with people who say the grinding is too much. I play to the end each update but have burnt out. I also forgot the password that helps. Thanks for all you do.

Hi Bee, I've been missing you already
The code is:

Spoiler: show

Laura gurl best gurl

Take your time, there will be plenty of additions when you're ready to play again.

-------------------------

A SAME SAME DIFFERENT reference?

I avoided the last release because I was trying to complete NNN, but I'll try this one soon.

Hi Kristy, please let me know your thoughts after you're done playing this version.
And... I'm actually curious, did you manage to complete it?

----------------------

First i want to say Thanks for creating such a cool and extensive tease. Your work is commendable and the results are good. At least good for the first bit. I am one of those who have spent 20 hours playing (version 1.5) and still never gotten past the Forest or the Grove. I just battle and batlle. Barely earning enough to buy a backpack before losing. Again and again and Again. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I DESPERATELY want to get farther into the great updates you;ve been posting, but I just cannot get past these 2 areas. The giggling girls do me in every time. So does the girl who is looking at me (I think) from the Grove. i WANT to get farther, but I hesitate playing for another 4 hours to get nowhere. *sigh* great work, and truly want to see it all, but just stuck. I don't know what I am not doing right... Ive never had more than 40 gold, and only 1 time had a weapon, but it disappeared before I got to the boss types. Thanks for reading! I DO appreciate the work..

Something is not right, you should be able to defeat the first boss and advance to the second area in the first run.

Make sure that you're drinking at least one potion per day: Explore one more time after defeating two enemies in the same day and you have a 100% chance of finding the lab.

[indyc]

First, thank you for being so welcome to my opinions. In the past I have taken an hour to make a wall of notes from my plays and then deleted them because I wasn't sure if this was the right place for such detailed feedback.

This would be an excellent idea, however, the problem is that there would be no incentive for the player to advance through areas. In fact, this was a real issue in previous versions, people were grinding at the first areas and buying maps only to defeat a specific boss, returning to the initial area right after to continue the grinding.

This response makes me wonder if you understood my suggestion. It also makes me think that back and forth discussion may be necessary to understand exactly the potential issue I am bringing up and the suggestions made. I reached out on discord but feel free to PM me as well.

The fact of ~99% of adult games is the player wants to progress to see more. Our job is to make that progression understandable and pace the new content effectively. Any effort an average player has to push a number up is to see more content or feel stronger, usually not to see that number raise alone. I understand you want a difficult experience and would not want to show the content too quickly which is all reasonable.

Your main forms of progression are stats, gold, equipment, experience, and points. The point system is the one that persists from play to play and while being probably the most unique aspect of HC, is also the one that makes the perceived issues so hard to fix. It is basically your newgame+ but most games use a newgame+ as a sandbox to feel super powerful but in your game it is necessary to progress.

Points in the current system are awarded much more for the players who get really far. However, it is these same players who do not "need" the points as much because they are already doing well. Having more points also compounds to allow you to earn points even faster and the rich keep getting richer while others who do not understand your system as well stall out and never progress. This is compounded by the fact that the "rich" get to see far more content and the poor are stuck to stay in forest and grove far more than they would like to.

If you had a version were people were returning to the initial area to continue the grinding this simply means the initial area was giving too many points. I would argue that you could find a reasonable balance point but I am not sure you need to. I simply think you need to give less points for all bosses and girls defeated and more points for simply seeing an ending. An even better but more complicated system would give lots of bonus points every time you have seen a unique ending. That way you could shift the true "score" of the game to seeing how many endings it takes a player before they see the actual castle beaten ending. You could theoretically also make some of your endgame content scale a bit based off of how many runs a player has had but that would be pretty difficult to balance and probably require a ceiling, just an idea.

This allows players who are getting roflestomped by bad luck or not understanding your system the ability to eventually progress and see more. It would give players like me who are scared away by the constant early repetition an alternate avenue to see more content to even potentially seek some bad endings. If you had a system like this I wouldn't nearly mind buying maps over and over as I currently do, heck, I might not even mind them cost even more. I might still have the same backpack issue however because that part is pure repetition instead of progression.

I really like it when you share your opinions and suggestions, Indyc. Mainly because I realize how TotS and HC have many similarities and at the same time many differences.
And it's great that we disagree on a lot of stuff, what fun would it be if all games looked alike?
Thank you so much for your suggestions, I hope I can return the favor soon.

You could take every suggestion I have 100% and your game would still not look like any I know. My second project is WAY closer to HC than TOTS is. I'd be incredibly curious what you think about that system.

[ritewriter]

A few things…

I agree with indyc that the early zones are becoming boring to repeat. Not sure how to fix that, but making maps permanent when bought through points, not gold, may be a path forward.

More feedback, mostly based on 1.6 because I’m a patreon:

The Heavy Mace at 20 damage cap is useless now, especially given that it doesn’t drop early game. Suggest making it 25 or dropping it in the forest/grove.

Icepick has also been nerfed into uselessness.

Jane s iimpossibly hard to unlock. She spawns too rarely and linking her unlock to corruption means many players will never unlock her.

I got Soul of the Witch recently but when I did, my Corruption was 10, so I got dreams every night which seem to block getting corruption and strength. I was bummed because I’d actually gotten the sword/pendant/witch corruption trifecta, and this caused it to not really work.

Susie has several dialogues which are in white plaintext instead of italic pink.

Still a lot of typos, too many to track, honestly. Two I caught:

LINE: You're about to cum and suzie seems to have noticed it

SHOULD BE: You're about to cum, and Suzie seems to have noticed it.

When you dream of blowjobs, blowjobs should be plural. Right now it’s “dream of blowjob” which sounds weird.

Finally I’d suggest from now on when you publish you overwrite your highest scoring version (1.45) and remove all the old versions, which are starting to clutter up the top 50.

Great work overall, these are just things I spotted that I feel need fixing.

[makovoc]

You know item would be a good idea, or a buff. Like an item that increases gold find or a buff that gives +1 gold each time you buy it like the attack or max hp ones.

A shovel that can be equipped as a weapon that doubles (?) the amount of gold received by defeating the enemy. The shovel is named Gold Digger.

Spoiler: show

Gold Digger is actually the name of the new event in 1.60

I like the idea, but I believe this could further devaluate the gold perk.
Unless the item/weapon has a negative effect, like lowering the player's damage for example.

While I have never had an issue with the number of recipes you have, I believe this gold digger suggestion would be best as a gold perk synergy instead of devaluing it. (as in they multiply together)

This brings up my main issue that stops me from enjoying each release as much as I want to and it deserves: The early game grind is still arguably brutal. Combined with the virtually unchangeable EOS fact that you cannot carry a save over into the next version I find myself gradually ignoring more and more of the releases despite being extremely curious what the new content is. Because we cannot change EOS, I have some other places I wanted to point to for potential improvements:

Yes, you have a secret code that gives a few more starting points, yes you created an alternative starting location (even if it is slightly harder, the variety is welcome). It has also been appreciated that several versions ago you made the player not have to pay for the forge or go through the codex/city etc discovery lines again but I would argue these are not enough for someone like me and the mass of people trying to edit your save information on F95zone to avoid the grind.

In my opinion much of this could be remedied by giving more "base reward points" for plays and arguably fewer for the lategame feats. I would still argue that the negative points for corruption could also be adjusted because on first runs the player has far less control of that.

My other suggestions are potentially less impactful: If you don't have the player repurchasing a must have such as the forge, why do you have them repurchase the early maps and backpack? I want to leave this as a question because I actually can't think of a good solution for it. If you made them all available on repeats it would make grinding easier but still further highlight how the first run is nearly always "wasted" without lots of luck and experience only enjoyed by your top 98 percentile player.

Having the training boss be part of a starting location can also be pretty rough. Many of the times she shows up when you have no HP or lust to give and have to skip the day on top of you not having the stats and equipment to face her effectively early. This leads to a loop where you can't fight her without losing but she continues getting stronger faster than you are unless you get a lucky weapon drop you can afford.

All of this round of concerns nearly finish once you have enough starting stats to defeat girls far faster. Worried about the starting boss? You can beat her now. Worried about lack of variety in starting areas? You can move on now. It's annoying buying the same stuff every time? You are killing things faster and can afford them much faster. I ask you to PLEASE find some way to make the hard grind early experience an optional thing instead of the core experience. You are giving us excellent content and I don't want anything to potentially sour the experience of discovering it each month.

The solution could be simple:
Make a special code that allows player to take his stats from other versions to newer ones. It is constructed on the server: a function creates the code (symmetric encryption with 1 private key) which player could receive on demand. The code is simply an encrypted string with AES algorithm. The code should have:
player's max hp
player's max lust
player's attack
player id
extra string to harden cracking the code (pepper) [optional]

This will allow to easily move stats from 1 playthrough to another with complete backwards compatibility. In order to make the code 1-time-only, database must remember them and block any attempt to use the code with the same player id twice in 1 version.

Adding all the old maps at the beginning of any playthrough doesn't seem right, as diogaoo said, that would make little reason to go though any old territories, but in order to make the early experience more vivid, there could be some random encounters with stronger opponents and great loot in Grove/Forest, they should be triggered only on special conditions (for instance: max hp and max lust above 150, this way weak players will never encounter them)

[ritewriter]

Been pondering the state of this game, and I had a bigger thought that you might hate, but...

Why should it be necessary to replay the game 3-4 times to reach the boss level? I suspect many players never get to the castle at all and give up after replaying a few times without making significant progress. I'd suggest considering ways to make it at least theoretically possible to reach the end in a single go, and see much more content, without any cheat codes. This used to be the case with early versions but seems out of reach now.

For example, if starting attack were 15, the early levels would be much less of a struggle and it should be possible (though still difficult) for a player to reach attack 26 (15+6 perk+5 dagger or whip) and get at least most of the way through the Castle on their first try. Right now, it takes two play-throughs or so to get to this level, which means a LOT of repeated grinding on the forest and/or grove.

Alternatively, you could drop all the enemy HP down OR boost weapon damage and increase drops. But anything that might make the early levels easier on the first play-through might help address this issue.

To increase replayability, I like the suggestion of adding some "wandering" enemies that are unique, tougher than their normal location, and give better drops than the other monsters in their location. Not like the kidnappers who take you to an established higher level monster, but a rare encounter you might find once or twice a run.

Anyway, that's my 2c.