01) You can change the difficulty at any point in the game.

Because of this, you should avoid starting the game on causal or normal. You’re never more than a few minutes away from a save room and some health, so don’t make it too easy for yourself. Playing on hardcore difficulty doesn’t just change how much damage you take, either. You’ll notice more enemies, and they’ll have new attack methods. Combat also becomes much more tactical, as you’ll have to plan how to best eliminate the enemies in each room. You also gain experience faster on the harder difficulty levels, and your initial play-through will last longer. Just remember that you can always make things easier if you’re having a hard time, or more difficult if the game feels a bit too easy. If you’re not happy with the difficulty for any reason, it’s probably your own fault.

02) You shouldn’t play the proving grounds until you finish the game.

Many of the upgrades that you’ll find throughout the main campaign are used in the proving grounds levels, meaning you’ll get to play with some cool toys before you really should. While it obviously won’t ruin any plot elements, it contains loads of gameplay spoilers.

03) You should try to avoid using the blue arrow map guide.

You’ll get more playtime out of your first time through the game from exploring, and less from going directly to each objective. You’ll also get the surprise of not knowing when you’re about to stumble upon the next event. Just have fun exploring the area, and you’ll still find your way. If you’re ever really stuck, you can always have a quick peek, but try to keep it to a minimum.

04) Map updates are optional.

As in Super Metroid, you’ll find map rooms that update your map with new areas, and you’re not required to activate them. If you enjoy exploring, and not having any clue where you are going, feel free to ignore the map update computers. If you want some idea of where you’re going–and more importantly, where the save rooms are–you’ll want to activate the map computers. If you miss one or decide to skip it, you can always come back to it later. Well, if you can find it again, that is. Ironically, unlike Super Metroid, the map rooms are not located on your map.

05) Cover is important.

Especially early in the game before you’ve found many upgrades, or on harder difficulties, it’s very important to take cover. This includes not only taking cover from enemies to your left or right, but taking cover from enemies in the background as well. Crouch often, wait for an opening, and attack when the time is right.

If this person is playing on hardcore mode, they have to learn to take cover, and they have about two seconds to live.

06) The stealthy approach is often best.

Like taking cover, a quiet approach is often quite important early in the game, or when playing on the harder difficulty settings. To play it safe, you should enter each doorway while crouching or slowly walking, to avoid making any unnecessary noise. Doing this will allow you to make an easy headshot, or carefully take aim at an explosive barrel, before the enemy has a chance to react. Being stealthy also has the added advantage of allowing you to eavesdrop on your enemies, and you’ll often hear plot-related dialogue that you would have missed had you ran in guns blazing.

07) Aiming gets better.

When you first start the game, you’ll find that unless an enemy is standing directly in front of you, you’ll need to point the analog stick in their exact direction. As you gain experience, your character begins to auto-aim a bit more, and shooting someone in the head as you leap into the air becomes far easier. For those of you concerned that this will make aiming effortless, don’t worry. Auto-aiming is mainly only noticeable when you’re not actually aiming your gun with the right stick. Bullets still go where your laser sight is pointing.

08) Check your display settings.

You know how a lot of people complain that games these days just seem all washed out, with nothing but gray and brown? And you know how other people defend the lack of vibrant colors, and say that gritty shooters shouldn’t look all happy and colorful? Well, Shadow Complex allows you to have it your way. Even if you’re happy with your brightness settings, be sure to pop into the menu and make sure the game you’re playing has the appearance of the game you want to play.

09) There’s no teleporting.

Unlike modern 2D Castlevania games, there are no teleportation rooms in Shadow Complex, so making it from one end of the complex to the other can take some time. While this does mean a fair amount of backtracking, it also gives you plenty of opportunities to collect upgrades that you missed the first time through, and to level-up your character a bit more. I actually didn’t find it to be a problem, but just know that you shouldn’t go into the game wondering when you’re going to find the first teleport room, because there aren’t any.

10) It’s better than Undertow.

And that’s an understatement. Undertow was kind of a love it or hate it title, and it divided a lot of gamers. The situation was made even worse by Microsoft using a free copy of Undertow to compensate gamers who experienced days of Xbox Live downtime. That meant a lot of people got to play Undertow who weren’t really interested in that type of game. If you happen to be worried that Shadow Complex is by the same developers who made Undertow, all I can say is that I didn’t like Undertow, and I really like Shadow Complex.

For more Shadow Complex goodness, I suggest reading our full review.