An Examination Featuring Thousands of Dead Cells

In this absolute train wreck, I used both “swift” and “fluid” to describe the action in Dead Cells.

There are a few problems with the way I’ve ranked the rogue. When I examine my list at the end of a new Ranking, I’m always ashamed that Dead Cells isn’t number one.

There is another Rogue that I actually believe deserves number one, but if we’re gonna book this territory right, we’ll need to increase the ceremony of that pick by giving this pick a good run.

Besides, Dead Cells is a tremendous hand. They won’t mind if we give it a short run; they’re just happy to be included at all! A good number one will give Dead Cells the reward it needs to stay around forever.

And yes! They deserve it! Sure..

A Quick Note About my current Number One.

Let’s bring up the ranks, shall we?

1. Spelunky
2. Noita
3. Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth
4. Slay the SPire
5. Nuclear Throne
6. Dead Cells (Early Access)
7. Loop Hero
8. Rogue Legacy
9. Crypt of the Necrodancer
10. Avalanche 2: Super Avalanche
11. Moonlighter
12. Cogmind
13. Monolith
14. Enter the Gungeon
15. Wizards of Legend
16. Heat Signature
17. Undermine
18. Atomicrops (Early Access)
19. Unexplore
20. Flinthook
21. Brut@l
22. Pixel Dungeon
23. Eldritch
24. Wasted

So Spelunky is Number One. Good! I can remember a time being frustrated that my Number One was Binding of Isaac, which is a game I haven’t liked for a while now. It can stay at number three for now. LOL until the end of this little examination, of course.

Spelunky is a tremendous game. It obviously skyrocketed this entire genre of indie games, and is composed of some of the smartest design in gaming history. I don’t even like it as much as some people like it, yet I still observe Spelunky as a perfect video game.

It was a good run.

Transcendence

Since last I wrote about Dead Cells, the project has left Early Access, received many free content updates (including some rather significant changes and content additions), and even a $5 DLC that adds some new biomes complete with brand new enemies and weapons. That $5 is mostly intended to fund the continued support for Dead Cells–they are committed to pumping this game full for as long as humanly possible.

None of that would matter if the foundation was poor. Dead Cells features addictive gameplay that feels good in the hands. Dodge rolling through attacks, throwing out sawblade torrents, shooting frozen arrows, parrying attacks with shields, kicking enemies into walls for smash damage, discovering secrets and tucked away treasure chests and shops; the moment to moment in Dead Cells is incredible. The random nature often leads potentially overpowered runs, however lesser loot can be overcome with skillful play.

Dead Cells may feel, and look at times like a frantic action experience purely based around luck, reaction times, and swift button mashing, however thoughtful application of movement and support placements generally lead to more success. Of course players will build a familiarization with the items to formulate what playstyle they wish to employ every time, and upgrading the correct stats to take full advantage of these tools while still focusing on receiving extra health will make every run easier. But even with the basic items in the game, and no idea where you should invest found skills, you’ll conquer Dead Cells if you’re good enough. This game is hard action first, RPG second.

I really appreciate when a game is drop in drop out. Rogues are good at this because you’re playing a run, not a playthrough, meaning you’ll play an hour at most, and find yourself capable of putting down the controller and going about your day. Dead Cells runs may last about an hour, but you can opt to put down the controller at practically any moment. Finishing a floor will last maybe fifteen minutes at most, significantly less if you’re speed running, and at any moment you can quit to the main menu. A game state is saved, letting you continue whenever. You can do it in the middle of a floor, or in the between zones where you spend cells on unlocking items for RNG pools.

The carrot on the stick in Dead Cells are the items you can unlock. First, blueprints must drop from enemies, with every floor containing a number of possible blueprints, each with their own drop rarities. You must finish the floor after picking up the blueprint, and once you do you give it to the merchant in the between zones. You don’t get that item right away, however; you must spend cells, which are dropped from enemies sometimes. This way you’re always working toward something. The best thing? If you unlock an item and find that you totally hate using it, you can completely disable its apperance forever (in the custom runs, at least. Those might not count toward Steam Achievements but who cares?) so there’s no real risk in unlocking everything. But even if there was; you could always just start a fresh save and chose to never unlock that item, barring it from existence in that save’s world.

Who thought of that huh? Starting a game over? Shit.

Yeah I get it but here, look–you’ll want to start this game again. Because it’s just that damn good!

I think the visuals are neat. I wouldn’t buy a piece of Dead Cells art for my wall exactly, but they get the job done, and I really appreciate the color. I rarely find myself loosing the action due to too much happening, which is a plus. The music is fine atmosphere, but I generally find myself muting it and putting on a podcast, or my own music, like in most Rogues.

While there is a loose story occuring in little moments of each level, I don’t find myself captured by any narritive hook. And that’s totally fine. I go to this genre primarily for arcade fun. There are some incredible Rogues out there with actual thick narritive hooks, and I love those games too–but few are able to blend gameplay and story as well as Hades. So if I want characters and story with my arcady action, I go to that game. Otherwise, I’ll stick to stuff like this here Dead Cells, Enter the Gungeon, Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons, oops I might be spoiling the future. Well;

1. Dead Cells
2. Spelunky
3. Noita
4. Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth
5. Slay the SPire
6. Nuclear Throne
7. Loop Hero
8. Rogue Legacy
9. Crypt of the Necrodancer
10. Avalanche 2: Super Avalanche
11. Moonlighter
12. Cogmind
13. Monolith
14. Enter the Gungeon
15. Wizards of Legend
16. Heat Signature
17. Undermine
18. Atomicrops (Early Access)
19. Unexplore
20. Flinthook
21. Brut@l
22. Pixel Dungeon
23. Eldritch
24. Wasted

At the end of the day, Dead Cells is one of the few Rogues that keep me coming back after all these years. When I saw that it was available on Xbox Game Pass, I downloaded it there too just to try it out on a Xbox controller and console. It’s one of the many games I’ll look at whenever there’s a sale or something on Switch–and I only don’t pick it up there because I don’t feel like the controller is up to snuff.

For reference, I play Dead Cells on this:

Which I have hooked up to my PC whenever I want something for a good 2D experience. Which is often.

I find that the continued support–last major update was released days ago–is applaudable. These developers may be addicted to their Early Access days of constant continued support, but they have yet to destroy what they built with further content, and I think that’s crazy. So many games end up ruining balance or worse, changing the base experience enough to drive people away. Team Fortress 2 used to be a compelling multiplayer game and now it’s a weird microtransaction nightmare meme factory. This has little to do with Dead Cells, especially because they seemingly update with player experience in mind. So when they change something, it leads to a fuller experience, giving fans something to return to, and newer purchasers more value for their cash.

Dead Cells cares about the player. We here at the TrashCan care about Dead Cells. Enjoy your number one championship, DC. You’ve earned it!

6/27/21