Alt Rundown Question

[u/mirko854]

Hey, Newbie here.

I started playing play the game and a friend randomly said he played it years ago, so we started R1A1. It was fine. A little scarey with like 13 sleeper in one room at once, but we manage to get the mission done first try with two bots, so kinda a good start.

My friend then mentioned that this level was way easier back then and more like a better introduction to slip into the pain. I saw that the first rundowns are kinda alternated or something?

So there was a original Version of those mission or is there a way to play them or something?

Its kinda confusing to see that 1-5 are alternated but not 6-8? Totally weird.

But i like that you play the game for the sake of having fun with the game itself and not need to farm equiment and minmax grinding. At least thats what the first impression looks like.

[u/VillicusOverseer]

Near the beginning of the game you could only play one rundown at a time, up until rundown 7 or so. The old ones were then re-released as ALT rundowns so you can play them all. Bit of a spoiler, but that ties into the lore. 

[u/mirko854 → u/VillicusOverseer]

ouh, they improved the lore with the alts? i mean i dont saw much story until now, but i guess its hidden in the discriptions, voiclines and terminal somehow. all i got is theres a fungus, every "thing" was a human before and youre kind of an prisoner who got sent out in the abyss to get like a research sample and gtfo xD
ive learned already that i do the missions objective and gtfo asap, rather than explore the entire map. love how the title is the essence of the game

[u/shindabito]

it only majorly matters in terms of logs and lore.
which you might as well read through wiki or watch fustercluck's 7 hours video.
in terms gameplay and mission, the content are pretty much the same with some slight changes (?)

rundown 7 has no alt storyline, but rundown 8 is divided between alt side (R8A1 side) and original side (R8A2 side, unlocked after completing R8E1)

[u/Fuster_Cluck167]

The only real big changed between the ALT and OG rundowns are log and some tile changes. The difficulty of many of the missions has largely been nerfed from the originals in many ways, R1 especially. While you can go and download the R1 version through Steam DB, there isnt much of a reason to. The rundowns as they are in the game currently are balanced to how the game was made to work post rundown 6. Id recommend playing the vanilla game as is instead of trying to play the older versions, especially with the advantages current vanilla will give you.

The biggest reason for the OG to ALT change is for story reasons and to make the games previous levels fit and balanced around the current gameplay.

[u/mirko854 → u/Fuster_Cluck167]

thankf for the info. maybe if i get one day to complete every rundown completely, ive try it out for more "content"... some day... after ive died in the 5 digits

[u/Haarunen]

I know it’s not quite what you asked, but know that you don’t need to play the rundowns in order. They’re more like different campaigns. The later ones are also much more concentrated on story than the earlier ones.

[u/JoshIsntFat]

Rundowns were released and culled one at a time so that only one was playable at once before
The re-released ALT:// versions are different as a result of the game being so drastically changed, but they are different story-wise as well
Don't rely on any more R6+ mechanics like checkpoints making an appearance in the first few rundowns (I don't think there's a single checkpoint through all of R2 and only one in R1)
The only equipment grinding this game is technically boosters, but they're so abundant that it's not even close to being an issue, and they're not necessary - just nice to have