Dead Cells gets a fiery update (and better shields)

The Souls-inspired roguelite Dead Cells [official site] is considered smashing by many of us here. You fight through a semi-randomised world of monsters with whatever you can find. Adam swears by his shields but I’m a throwing knife man. But maybe we’ll both switch to fire-based equipment from now on, because it has just received an update that introduces flammable oils and makes burning things quite attractive. The bad news is that it’s only on the beta branch for now, but it will be coming for regular schmucks in a week or so.

You can read the full patch notes or find details of how to get onto the beta branch here. The short version, however, is this: FIRE. An oil bomb now floods the floor and when it's lit up it will set everything aflame. But there are also new weapons like maces, torches and spears, and two new enemies. Electricity now flows through pools of water, statistics and achievements have been added, and the merchants and cursed chests have been slightly reworked, offering more powerful gear. There are also some important buffs to shields.

If you have a shield equiped [sic] and get hit by anything, you will be granted a temporary global force field. This means that equiping a Shield now allow you to have a much more efficient defensive gameplay style: you basically can't be chain-hit by multiple enemies.

That’s something that will appeal to people who complained of death by unstoppable chain hits. That never bothered me too much, but I did see lots of shaking fists, so hopefully this is an appeasing move. There are a bunch of smaller yet interesting changes too. Turrets and meat grinders need you to stick around for them to remain active, so you can’t cheese your way through levels as easily. And timed doors will now contain better loot, they say – a small but significant addition.

Overall, it looks like a healthy update that will make a neat game neater. Thumbs up. You can check our Dead Cells review or just accept this shorter version: it’s good.