[update] Hopeless: The Dark Cave adds survival mode, blood by the bucketload

This update adds a new "Extreme Mode" which shakes up the gameplay of the original nicely.

Instead of having a never-ending cavalcade of blobs rushing to join your survivor, you're limited to just 3 blobs at the outset.

This means you can make exactly three mistakes before the run ends and, to make it even more challenging, Extreme Mode also introduces a new species of monster to test your reflexes.

On one hand, this elements one of Hopeless's biggest challenges - making the snap decision whether an oncoming shape is a friend or foe - but it's a welcome bit of variety all the same.

Extreme Mode can be tried once for free, and can then be purchased for 99c / 69p.

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The update will also introduce the "Blood Reward" enhancement for iOS, which has been out for a bit on the Android version.

In our review of Hopeless: The Dark Cave, we called it "a cute, pocketable shooter that provides a compelling test of skill along with some intriguing artwork." We also noted that "It's not the deepest game in the world... but it's incredibly hard to put down once you start playing."

The Extreme Mode update is available now on Google Play and should make its way to iOS soon. We'll update this story as soon as it's live.