Beat the Heat
Beat the Heat is the first challenge provided by Death Wish in A Hat in Time. It takes place in Heating Up Mafia Town with the addition of several water sources and a new mechanic of Hat Kid taking damage if out in the heat for too long a time.
Level
Main Challenge
Like most early Death Wishes, the levels tend to remain relatively unchanged from their non-Death Wish variants. Following suit, Beat the Heat plays very similarly to Heating Up Mafia Town with the faucet locations changing slightly and the added twists of damage over time and water sources to cool off.
This level adds a new mechanic of managing Hat Kid's heat levels. The borders of the screen will start to glow and burn with heat, indicating that Hat Kid is gaining heat. After some time, The Snatcher will make a quote about the current situation, getting closer to when Hat Kid starts taking damage and then after a full 85 seconds (1 minute, 25 seconds), Hat Kid will start to take damage from the heat and eventually die off from convection if not cooled down. Due to this, several water sources are useable to cool down and reset the convection timer.
Faucets
| Image | Details |
|---|---|
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At the Main Plaza. |
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On a tower near the Main Plaza. |
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Above the Beach. |
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Near the cargo ship docked at the harbor with shipping containers. |
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Near Construction site. |
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At the Lighthouse. |
Cooldown Locations
Besides the rooftop pool, there are two additional buckets of water between the lava faucets to let Hat Kid properly cool down before taking any damage from convection. In addition, jumping into the cannon to end the level will automatically cool Hat Kid down; this does not count against the bonus challenges and is merely to prevent an unfair failure at the last second.
| Image | Details |
|---|---|
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Near the waterway leading towards the Lighthouse. |
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Near Construction site. |
Peace and Tranquility
- Pon Cost:
x77
Like most Death Wishes, Peace and Tranquility for this level can be enabled to make the level easier after several deaths from the player. Upon activating this mode, The level will not change but will take 300 seconds (total of 5 min) for Hat Kid to start taking damage from convection, making the level significantly easier. Like for all levels with Peace and Tranquility, simply completing the level will give you all three stamps.
Bonus Challenges
Surprisingly, the first Death Wish presents a very strict set of challenges to follow if the player wants to achieve all three objectives at a time, with both taking no damage from heat sources and not using water any more than twice. What is important to understand however is that accomplishing multiple bonus challenges is often discouraged (unless one is simply a harder variant of the prior bonus challenge in cases like Speedrun Well), as each challenge on their own has enough leeway to be possible and not be excessively difficult at the same time.
Taking no heat damage not only includes the residual damage the player suffers from but also requires the player never be burned by the lava that is strewn across the town. This can be argued as the tougher of the two, as a circumvention of the residual heat by taking many dunks in the water is rendered useless by a single slip into the lava below. As the other bonus challenge may discourage, taking many trips to a body of water is the best way to avoid convection. One notable issue, however, is the Lava Faucet on the lighthouse, as it is the furthest from the mainland and quite a distance from the closest water source, almost requiring a cooling period just to get to the faucet and to come back to mainland Mafia Town.
Not cooling down in the water more than twice is also a daunting task, as the damage suffered from staying out in the heat can be taxing on top the potential damage of the enemies and lava below to make two trips to the cool insufficient. Much more, it is a good practice to rationing Hat Kid's health so they can make it to three or more taps before needing to cool down again, as cooling down after closing the third and final taps allows for a safe travel to and from the lighthouse and safe collection of the Time Piece in front of Mafia HQ. Remember that turning off all the faucets does not stop the convection damage from creeping back up and hurting Hat Kid, so a dunk at the fifth faucet may spell trouble if the final tap is the far lighthouse since traveling from that point to the cannon may not be enough if their HP isn't properly managed.
Gallery
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
One of the many quotes from The Snatcher when Hat Kid gets too hot.
