Last time you decided petting a dog was better than entering cyberspace. I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. And you probably don’t even notice how I’m sulking out here in cyberspace because you’re so busy tickling some lousy stinky baby mind. Okay, okay, whatever. This week, everything is dedicated to the tasks set for you. Which is better: fighting your doppelganger or additional challenges that give rewards in advance?

Fighting your doppelgänger

You enter the arena with the bosses, and there they stand: your enemy, your next victim, yourself? I’m always thrilled when a game forces me to fight my doppelgänger.

The best recent example is Elden Ring’s Mimic Tear, a quicksilver blob that solidifies into the shape of you, resisting your weapons and spells. If you defeat him, you will be able to summon him as a friendly spirit, your own little self in your pocket. The Shivering Isles expansion for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivions similarly forces you to face your own shadow. And the Control mirror side quest is absolutely worth it for Jesse to pick up esseJ’s cool coat. Come on, tell me more examples.

Mirror matching can be difficult. You can see how your build is done without the slowness and clumsiness of your meat. In a way, this confirms! Your buildcraft has proven to be reliable. This is also interesting because players and NPCs rarely fight with the same toolkits. We are so accustomed to having advantages, to having access to many more systems than these fake people. That’s how monstrous to see me face to face, huh? But it can be just awful if the game buffs my doppelgänger for an extra challenge or to balance out the non-human AI (why do they so often have so much more health than me?).

In many doppelganger duel games, people find ways to experiment. The RPG classic is to strip down before a fight, take off your stout armor and put away your shiny swords so that your clone doesn’t show up with them, then hurriedly change as soon as your naked opponent shows up. It’s cheese, of course, but pretty funny: 1) fiddling with the system and reminding that NPC that you have special access to reality; 2) see this idiot in their/your pants. Another way is to equip harmful skills and items by having your twin poison himself or sacrifice health with abilities you know better than to use. I admit that I equipped bad builds in Guild Wars to achieve a mirror match for some of my characters. If it ruins your fun, well, you only have yourself to blame, and only you and your twin need to know about it.

Some twins are admittedly completely useless, just a display of wobbly AI that clumsily mixes spells and attacks with no combos and agility to fuel my kills. I feel a little sorry for them, but I still appreciate the thought. And if you agree with a little self-deception, of course, let’s say it proves that you are so smart and good at video games that even AI with silicon synapses cannot surpass you.

If you like, I’m willing to listen to the arguments that fighting game mirror matches can count. They are you, you are them, you have the same movements, and they can have a human mind that knows how to be you. Convince us? Or dissuade us.

Additional challenges giving rewards in advance

In most games, optional challenges are evaluated later, and rewards are given if you meet the conditions. It’s a bit boring. One thing I’m starting to see more about roguelike is the opposite. In these few great games, you get a reward in advance and then you say, “Ok, cool, here’s your new fancy toy, now let’s see if you can keep it.”

Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of Slice & Dice, a dungeon-building game that sometimes has optional challenges before the battle. It will show you the items you will get and additional monsters you will face in battle if you agree. Do you know exactly the rewards and risks as you feel about this game? Are you sure these items will give you enough extra power to defeat the bonus villains? Or do you want to flip the dice and take a chance? If not, hey, don’t worry, get down to the official fight.

Although they are not formal challenges, Brotato, a fun little wave survival game, reproduces this effect on several items. The Peacock item gives you a permanent 25% XP bonus plus a temporary whopping additional 100% XP boost for the next wave after purchasing it, but you will also take 50% more damage from enemies during that wave. It feels like a big challenge, especially when you know the next wave is a horde. Survive and you will come out laughing. But if you’re overconfident or miscalculate your running power, you can easily die. And the Bait item offers a permanent damage boost at a low cost, but in the next wave, it will spawn a handful of tough, bullet-spitting leeches that will chase you. Defeat them and you’ll earn some damage, but these leeches can be deadly nuisances if you buy them at the wrong time. I have died for both of these items and I have flourished with both. Putting these effects on items is a smart way to handle this. Take me by surprise when I’m lazily looking for great deals and challenge me.

I guess the broader application of this idea is difficulty modes where you get better drops or bonus stats at higher difficulty levels, but no, that’s too broad. Let’s save this particular thing for another time.

This thing might be mostly related to roguelikes and other perma-death (or at least non-save) games, but it’s much more interesting to me than the rewards after that. Give me a cool thing upfront, give me the excitement and (over) confidence that comes with that cool thing, and then make me fight tooth and nail to keep it. Arm me and then send me to be beaten. Give me room for arrogance, because no feeling defines me anymore.

But which is better?

The only thing that can improve Mirror Match is to offer me a powerful item in advance that I know the doppelgänger will get and use against me. Yes, it seals it for me. What do you think, dear reader?

Pick a winner, vote in the poll below, and post your position in the comments to convince others. We will meet again next week to see who wins and continue the great competition.

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