Hey Dungeoneers,
Here's a little demonstration of the other two new enchantments coming in the next Shattered Pixel Dungeon update. Just like with the previous two (Venemous and Vorpal), there's an emphasis on bringing back some old enchants with new mechanics, and trying to make more enchantments that deal extra damage with some tradeoffs.
Firstly, Eldritch is a returning uncommon enchantment that has a chance to apply fear to visible enemies that aren't your primary target. Excellent for managing multiple enemies at once, and potentially juggling two enemies with ranged attacks.
Secondly, Crystal is a new rare enchantment that ALWAYS deals an extra 25% magic damage, but with a big durability tradeoff. Crystal weapons can crack and eventually shatter, but steadily repair themselves over time. You won't be able to depend on it constantly, but crystal offers the most consistent bonus damage of any enchantment.
The food mechanic is to stop you from farming experience points before going deeper. Once you learn the game some more, you should rarely run out of food, and full exploration of each floor is perfectly doable.
Food is not meant to be a source of good healing. Like, if you spend time passing turns just to heal from food, you will definitely starve. I used to do that when I first started playing the game, and learned it was usually a mistake.
As for the demons, yeah, they can be a bitch. You're supposed to dodge the laser eyes, not tank them. You can hear them warming up, and you get a fixed number of turns to find cover. That's just part of the difficulty. Congrats on even getting that far! It took me quite a few tries to get to the Dwarf King, and to get past him routinely.
Nowadays, I can beat the game every try, and have even beaten it with up to 3 challenges enabled. Sure, there's RNG to contend with, but the real skill of the game is the knowledge of what to do to get out of sticky situations. Like what spells do what, and what items you should save for crafting versus using them.
I hope you don't completely give up on the game like you said in your other comment because it's honestly really, really good
I had my fun, and have moved on. I played quite a few runs of both PD & SPD, am just a casual player at this point in my life, and there's a zillion other games to check out. Cheers.