These modifiers make for a surprising and emergent combat system creating useful (and explosive) chain reactions: find a sword that covers enemies in inflammable oil, for instance, and pair with a sinew-slicer’s modifier to chuck out fireballs, for satisfying pyrotechnic results. Useful items such as the sinew-slicer drop a mini turret, which must be powered by standing within a set proximity, or grenades which can burn or freeze and, depending on randomly assigned modifiers, spew out attacking worms or a toxic cloud. Secondary weapons are mapped to the trigger buttons, which can at times be disappointingly unresponsive to execute but are crucial to increasing damage rate through various elemental combinations. Motion Twin offers an outstanding array of choice in its armoury, from firebrands that set enemies alight, to giant slow impalers and whips that cause critical damage if struck at the tip. Progression is made inch by inch, but progression hard-fought for is always more rewarding.Īnd there’s certainly plenty to unlock: over fifty weapons in total and that’s not including upgrades to health flasks and mutations. The reward for playing Dead Cells is not really defeating the final boss and making it to the credits, the reward is unlocking more of the game itself, more story, more levels, more ways to play. You won’t want to hoard resources on your rechargeable secondary weapons or grenades either, it’s very much a case of use it or lose it. Enemy attacks are clearly telegraphed, meaning it’s on you if you don’t get out the way in time. A double jump comes as standard, however it can feel rather short and heavy compared to other Metroidvanias of this generation and in the light platforming sections has to be handled carefully.
You’ll need to think vertically as well as horizontally, using platforms and doors to your advantage. The same can also be said for the downward jump, which adds on a hefty amount of damage to anyone unlucky enough to be below. In a game that’s all about dispatching enemies quickly and interrupting attack animations, while minimising your potential for taking damage, it’s a skill you’ll want to master fast.
And you’ll want to use it often, including when going through doors which not only feels good (and sounds great) but also stuns nearby enemies. You’re equipped with an effective roll which can dodge almost all attacks and resets after a few seconds. Subsequent runs allow you to understand your own movement and enemy timings better figure out which enemies will give chase and which you can safely snipe away at from above or below. Life (and death) comes at you fast with Dead Cells’ formidable bosses.Īnd while death in Dead Cells can be swift and brutal, knocking you on your arse if you stumble blindly into the fray unprepared, like Miyazaki’s masterpiece, Dark Souls, death is also fair, usually the result of not using a health flask when you should have, or failing to react to an enemy’s telegraphed attack.
Dead cells platforms upgrade#
You see, in Dead Cells you don’t upgrade your player, but rather upgrade your opportunity, ensuring on each successive run an increased probability of finding a better weapon and stacking the odds slightly more in your favour. Later on, unlockables allow you to hold onto to a set amount of gold and permanent exploration runes remain (more on those later) but everything else is a goner, returning you to your base stats and HP. Very little remains after permadeath, all stat boosts to health and damage (levelled up through collectable scrolls), weapons, gold and cells not banked are lost. Make no mistake: you will die a lot and permanently. Here you can also assign up to three ‘mutations’ granting useful boosts such as an extra life, more ammo or more damage for chained kills.īut lest you forget this is not just an action-platformer, this is also a rogue-lite and one that doesn’t shy away from tough gameplay. You will come to savour these ‘safe zones’ as a welcome breather between the frantic combat and a chance to offload precious cells. Make it through the first area - a grimy prison littered with monsters - and you’ll meet the Collector, a mysterious figure who offers to swap your cells, blue orbs collected from random enemy drops, for handy upgrades such as a refillable health flask and shiny new weapons. You’re given a rusty sword to start you off and a choice between a shield with a parry that inflicts damage, or a bow with renewable ammo. From there it’s straight into combat, on-screen button prompts your only tutorial on the basics of jump, attack and roll. Instinctively you know it’s a sequence you will see many times. Things start simply enough, dropping you (quite literally) in media res, as a blob of greenish goo that falls from the ceiling and rolls towards a headless body, soon animating it into life.
Combat is a mix of hectic hack and slash and more tactical manoeuvres, such as stunning enemies.
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