Item Penalty

Item penalty is the amount of points lost for collecting items throughout the run. As far as the game is concerned, an item can be both a collectible (actives, passives) or a pickup (anything making up Schwag bonus).

The formula is as follows:

$$ItemPenalty = \lceil (SchwagBonus \times 0.8) \times CollectiblePenalty \rceil$$

where $$CollectiblePenalty = 1.0 - \exp(\frac{CollectibleCount \times -0.22}{Ending \times 2.5})$$

where Ending is a "game ending status":

In short, the game rewards you for going further with as little as possible.

Curiously, quitting in the Void (Pause menu → Exit → Yes) grants a slightly higher Item penalty, for Ending will be set to "Game Over" (1), meaning the Item penalty will only be divided by 2.5.