Very rough thought for 'ramp up' was maybe more trees have demons in them, or more than 1 emerges when you hit a tree... but I think the idea you mention of demons all coming out at once is a cool! Can see that really ramping up the excitement/intensity when you hit that mark and the aspect of 'rewarded for managing the early game well' is cool too.
For buffs i thought of making the portal magnetic for a few seconds to suck demon in, or maybe the scythe pushing demons back further or stunning them for a short period to make it easier to move around and hit them into the portal?
Honestly all of that's on such a 'brainstorming' level, haha, dunno how any of it would play out or if it would fit well-- but that's where my mind went at least while playing!
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Imagine if a whole bunch of demons fell out in like a 1 in 30 chance or something. That would keep players on edge!
And 'managing the early game well' is a very elegant way of saying it, I like that.
Magnetic portal is a great idea too, and in combination with the stun that could be a very useful set of buffs!
Do you have any other suggestions?