Definitely still alive
I have a strange relationship withDead Cells.
No DLCs to my name, nothing.
I’d done a big run and put the game down.
Fast forward to now.
Suddenly I own thelatest expansion The Queen And The Sea, plus all the DLCs that came before it.
I’m nonchalant, thinking that I dropped the game for a reason.
Surely I can’t be won almost three years later?
The DLCs have opened my eyes to the game in ways I hadnt anticipated.
Perhaps it comes down to “the amount of stuff”.
After a single run of slicing and dicing, I felt like I’d seen enough.
Would it finally manage to hook me?
In one word: yes!
Whether I’ve grown into Dead Cells, I don’t know.
Perhaps my gaming palette has just matured over the years.
But I reckon a large part of my renewed admiration lies in the greater scale of the game now.
The game is fluid and crunchy and tightly designed.
There are loads of doors that lead to places.
A tentacle spoke to me.
I found a bench fromHollow Knight, then got to use the little fella’s nail as my weapon.
Finally, I unlocked the ability to teleport to statues instead of rubbing them to no avail.
Speaking of which, I was initially puzzled by these mysterious doors of light.
Three of them, all leading to ominous-sounding places.
I picked one and it was rather pleasant - for a bit.
Then the nagas with spears showed up, as did some horrid crows and spell-slinging cultists.
A quick Google tells me they’re from The Fatal Falls DLC.
That’s the thing - much of my time with Dead Cells is shrouded in mystery.
There’s so much content with these DLCs, I don’t know what’s what anymore.
And I think that’s great.
I like it when a lot of stuff just mingles and mixes into a cocktail of loot.
And man, is the combat good.
I look at my previous self in puzzlement, to be honest.
Fighting is fast and frenetic, with tonnes of variety.
How could I have left this behind?
Still, at least I appreciate the punch it has now.
You move with a springy agility, yet hit like a truck.
And there’s nothing more glorious than getting a good run going.
One time (1), I managed to reach the Queen And The Sea DLC.
What’s neat is that I was steered to the endgame expansion by seemingly random encounters.
But I would say that it’s populated with some truly horrendous abominations.
Most terrifying of all, though, were sinewy balls of gloop that stalked me across corridors.
If you let them get too close, you better dodge their lunges or be minced in seconds.
I did, however, manage to acquire a cute little gloop friend of my own!
He’s called Leggy and he’s red and has a nice smile.
This makes his hits deal critical damage, because he’s a good boy.
I also acquired a lantern-weapon-thing, that let me pulverise enemies with a swing and collect their fallen souls.
Heck, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the DLCs that came before this one.
Now I see why everyone lauded this game back in 2017, and why it’s still popular.
As a lapsed player, all this new “stuff” has proven a reawakening of sorts.
My eyes have been opened to how moreish this game remains four years on.
I mean, my primary concern right now lies in finding a throwable shark, which speaks volumes.
