A “panic button”, in game terms, is a skill/item you reserve for emergencies that makes the emergency go away.
I’ve been overhauling the consumables system and I think I’ve settled on something that works. You can hold, at most, five consumables. They don’t stack. There are currently 16 different consumables and I have plans for more. And a lot of them are panic buttons of various kinds.
Like this:
Or this:
“Summon Elemental” gives you a friendly level 6 elemental who will happily cut through a dozen bandits.
Both of the above are actually starting items for those classes right now. They’re incredibly overpowered – but they’re single-use items, so it’s okay! Temporary overpowered stuff is awesome; it makes you feel like a badass, but you still need to fight through most of the game without it.
Meanwhile you’ve got a belt limit of five consumables and you’ll find more on every level. And some, like the Summon Elemental scroll, are strongest early on in the game. So… you’d better use ’em up.
The consumable on the left in both of those shots is the Ankh. That’s a special item that resurrects you when you die. Everyone gets one to start with, rather than the life you start with in CQ1. Unlike that life, it’s inconveniently taking up one of your precious consumable slots. I’m considering doing something fun with it in a Dark Souls kind of way where you can, instead of saving it, choose to use it straight away to increase your maximum hit points by 2 and play on without a safety net.
All told this feels way tighter than the old system, plus the consumables can be way more powerful and diverse. I’m looking forward to dropping a few super-rare items in which do some really cool stuff, if you’re lucky enough to find them. 🙂