hey everyone its Peter Brown standing in
for reviewer Daniel Starkey tucked away
in a long-forgotten prison lies a corpse
from time to time a sticky mass of green
goo slips into the cell and gives the
body a burst of life
stomping forward the armored mass of
carrion charges through zombies and
hordes of undead on a vain quest to find
the way app fans of Dark Souls will
notice more than a few similarities for
sure but this particular outing isn't
what it appears to be dead cells is a
fascinating amalgam of several today's
most popular indie genre it juggles
elements of tough-as-nails action games
and Metroid inspired exploration
platformers with the procedurally
generated levels and random item
allotments found in roguelikes it's
impressive how it all comes together
without a hitch especially given that
the persistent character growth founding
games like Dark Souls are Metroid
squarely conflicts with the randomized
resets emblematic of rogue inspired
games
the balance struck here is one of
unlocked opportunities each time your
avatar stirs back to life you're given a
fresh chance to press through the stages
you encounter them sequentially so you
have an idea of what to expect but your
choices in each will determine your
ultimate path so for example while the
first stage is always the prisoners
quarters your next hop could be the
promenade of the condemned or the toxic
sewers at first only the former will be
available but in time you'll earn runes
that confer permanent changes and open
up new routes while some roguelikes and
even Dark Souls could in theory be
completed in one run without dying that
so far as we can tell can't happen here
you must progress die and then restart
to worm your way through the different
routes collecting critical upgrades that
give you more options to press forward
along the way of course you'll have a
shuffling inventory with new weapons and
skills found in chests or shops you can
also pick up stat upgrades that you lose
upon death as well as cells which if you
survive your current stage can be banked
for unlocking rare items that will be
added to your potential gear lottery
pool and permanent bonuses like
additional healing items besides the
inventory and stage shuffling combat and
platforming are the most critical
aspects for you to master and while dead
cells execute on all of its mechanics
these to shine brightest for starters
traversing levels is a smooth quick
process once you've got the basic feel
for it your movement is precise with
just enough forgiveness to make exacting
jumps feel demanding yet achievable and
this meshes seamlessly with the action
enemies will respond to your presence in
different ways some enemies are unable
to see you or react unless you're on
their platform and in their direct
line-of-sight while others will lob
grenades at you from across a gap or
through platforms but they can't attack
directly your goal is to read the screen
and understand the different abilities
of each enemy type and to use that
information to strategize and execute
your optimal approach
countless other variables such as the
presence of doors which can be opened
slowly for a stealth-attack or kicked in
for a stunning blow work together to mix
things up toxic pools spiked floors etc
all come together to give the right mix
of obstacles and challenges this also
plays well with dead cells overall look
and tone each enemy glows a bit and has
a different color scheme in silhouette
the same is true for the stages
themselves together these easily
identifiable coding systems make it
intuitive to read the room and remain
focused on the ludicrously quick combat
without losing sight of your next target
that's especially critical because the
zippy pace of bounce most of the time
you'll have two weapons or a weapon in a
shield
this combined with jumping and dodging
forms the core of your skill set once
you get the hang of it all
you can effortlessly combine attacks and
dodges and for instance freeze an enemy
with a spell before rolling behind them
and unloading with a quick set of
slashes
all of this seems like a chaotic mess at
first and it is to a degree each piece
of the combat puzzle is introduced
gradually so you very naturally learn
how it fits into the larger picture your
nascent exploration through the
prisoners quarters and other early game
maps may take around ten minutes during
your first few trips
it feels agonizing - you're vulnerable
largely powerless and unfamiliar with
your very dangerous surroundings so much
is left unexplained at the outset that
the choice to just go and worry about
the rest later
comes a second nature still the going
isn't easy and you'll struggle at least
at first but each round also gives you
different set of toys to play with the
stage will change each time - one route
comes and goes perhaps a new treasure or
den of foes takes its place but that
really doesn't matter
the prisoners quarters while unique with
every run keeps to certain persistent
theme the wistful music and basic ideas
are the same and through repetition you
earn not just a rote memorization of
layouts but the ability to take whatever
weapons you get for that run and utilize
them to their fullest
in short what took 10 minutes at the
start may only take 30 seconds once
you've found your bearings
what doesn't always quite work out the
same way though are the latter areas
fewer opportunities to practice with
tougher enemies means that they never
quite develop the same level of
familiarity it keeps every attempt
feeling tense and exciting but it can
also lead to some frustration spending a
whole run trying to make it to one spot
only to die and have to restart a
15-minute stretch of play again can be
entirely grating but the backstop there
is the permanent upgrades even if you
can't make it all that far
the prisoners quarters is simple enough
that you'll have plenty of opportunities
to bank cells for the after mentioned
upgrades that you need that gives you a
sense of constant progression even when
you bomb a run in fact the only real
issue with the adventurer is that some
of the better upgrades can take
substantially longer than they should to
acquire it stalls progress in the mid
game a bit and can lead to feeling of
grinding your wheels besides that though
dead cells is a phenomenal effort to
blend together some very disparate
genres into a tight cohesive whole it's
one of the better examples of how to
remix ideas without losing their
individual strengths
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