Dead Cells is not perfect and here's why... 

This one took a while to put together. Post your favorite or worst part of Dead Cells below 👇🏾 I'll go first - WHY DOES GRENADE DO 20 DAMAGE?? 25:00

One hit curse making me act unwise

Dead cells (on 5bc) has a broken power curve (due to scrolls) where you start weak and end the run as a one hit kill god. Not only does this weirdly make the early biomes the hardest, but it also changes the fundamentals of the combat. When you can 1 shot powerful mobs you dont interact and dance with them (dodging, waiting for the right moment to attack, stunning, parrying, etc), but instead blitz thru barely noticing them as you kill them. The most interesting mobs (found later in the game) are simplified by your excessive damage. I find myself taking less scrolls to keep the game interesting and sometimes artifically reducing boss health if taking less scrolls has made them too spongey.

700 hours played - Super slow weapons like Oven Axe and Wrecking Ball contradict the game's fast paced play style. - The Timed Doors also contradict the game's intended play style, it rewards newbies for rushing to the exit without taking scrolls. - Most of the mechanics are too focused on not getting hit (flawless doors, curses). - Alternative Curse system: 0-1 BC take double damage, 2-3 BC take quad damage, 4-5 BC instant death. - Concierge should have had variants just like the Fury Sisters in Hades for some variety. - Biomes on the same tier should have equal scroll/fragment amounts, it's a bad way to balance them and some differences don't make sense. - Distillery was a huge mistake, it was already a risky biome with no reasonable reward, when they reworked Distillery it just got worse.

I remember that when I was starting Dead Cells, I was killing every mob out there, but after few hours I've realized that only scrolls and weapons actually matter. Because of that I kinda started to speed run the game, but with the exception of almost fully exploring the map just to get the scrolls and search for a good weapon. There were only time doors in biomes and no rewards for killing enough monsters when I started playing it in Early Access to encourage speed running even more, lol. As you've said I could completely ignore all monsters and I actually felt punished for fighting them because I was losing health when I haven't dodged some of their attack and was gaining nothing from actually killing them (talking about the case where I had everything unlocked with cells already and they became useless afterwards). Another thing I didn't like was the fact that even though maps are randomized, there are some biomes where I wasn't feeling the randomness at all. For example Ramparts or Promenade of the Condemned feels nearly the same for me, no matter how much I reply them because everything in them is nearly always in the same location (or at least it used to be like this when I was last playing). Go right, then check what's on the bottom, go back to the top, go right (or go right even faster if you find scrolls fast enough). There was no real exploring, just following the same pattern over and over again. I really liked biomes like Prisoners' Quarters, Sewers, Clock Room or Throne Room where I actually felt like I was exploring and had options of where I want to go next. That being said I really enjoyed Dead Cells even though it had some flaws, but nearly every game have them. Overall really great video, your arguments are great and as a game dev I totally agree with all of them ^^

I wish incentivized biomes also had extra scrolls or scroll fragments. It would be pretty rad if there was a way to switch around scrolls mid game too. Shops should also have stars and damage modifiers shown so you dont have to look at every one individually. It would be nice if there was a way to use cells at 5bc for something else (other than the spoiler weapon). It would have been nice if MT had let EE finish the legendaries too.

Timed doors are just useless for the average players. Trying to get it will almost always result in less power, thus it is detrimental to get through them. Going fast should instead always reward you better than going slow.

My biggest thing is just how much the game pushes you to no-hit everything. Rewarding good play is a good idea, but pressuring the player to play perfectly this hard only makes it more frustrating more often than not. Not to mention how scuffed the damage is on higher BCs. Malaise only being on 5bc is the wrong move imo. Introducing a new core mechanic on the hardest difficulty is strange. Start it on like 2bc but with the bar shorter, and you unlock more sections as you progress into higher levels.

Straight up fax. Also the map system doesnt allow you to enter a certain biome unless you enter the one leading to it which is usually annoying asf because the playstyle of your current weapon could not be effective enough in said biomes and their respective bosses which forces you to alter your build remarkably if you dont wanna stick to only one or two paths the whole run

It so sad that a game been in development for 6 years without having a perfect closure 😢 but im still greatful for the game and I hope we get to see it again soon in another game or sequel and because of it I found u vee and I love every single video u do and can't wait for the future ❤

I think the main issue with scrolls is that every new player thinks you should spread your stats. I think it has to do with the game not explaining properly, and with the big numbers being health in the scroll choice. It also does not explain that double color weapons scale with one only. To me this means that without Advice from someone who knows the game you are screwed. Which is a horrible thing. On Reddit I have seen players on 3bc spreding their stats, basically having to play a much harder version of the game just cause the game ducks at communication.

amazing vid here! While I looove Dead Cells (I played A LOT on various accounts on various devices), what "killed" my endurance to see all endings is the fact that you start over so much. I've seen prison quarters probably 1000 times, and I've died to the servants basically every time I encountered them (because I first encountered them on 5 BC and tbh playing on 0 BC just to see them was kinda tedious). I really wish DC would provide options to get better faster than it is now. I can't spend the time to play for 25 min just to go down in 3 to the servants... I've played other rogue games just fine so I don't think it's a skill issue per se. I also 100% your point about the scroll system and the story. I sure hope they'll develop another game that tells us how the story plays out. Please don't leave us like that lol

On lower BC's I pretty routinely tried to full clear Prisoners Quarters in under 2 minutes and at worst I'd skip clearing some of the exit routes that didn't spawn anything. Outside of that I mostly prioritize the 60 kills and fully clearing each level

Something I'm don't have a real answer rn is about the mobile version Cause the Mobile version is quite a few patches behind the clean cut update, some mutations haven't got their rework and some legendaries effects are not here and the last update was December last year I hope they finish updating it but really doubt it and that will make playing on phone feel forgotten

I think another issue is that there are some biomes which are almost never worth going. Like look at aftet the first boss, for optimal route go to sepulchre, for almost as many scrolls but hesling and less scary monsters go to graveyard. Fractured shrines for the legendary, why ever go to stilt village? It has pirste captains, few scrolls, and it doesnt even give exclusive access. Same for promenade and distillery. While Caverns gives the most scrolls, the best weapons, and the most shops. The only drawback is difficulty.

24:52 He really thinks he's funny for hyping up legendaries while showing emergency door.

Excellent video.

Been lookin forward to this video

I always had 3 gripes: insta death curse, no stat choice/mixed style and after playing way too much I also realised that damage mutation, like Scheme, fall of at higher BCS because items have 3 levels more and S tier is expected. Curse should just be 10000% damage taken, we have recovery and one shot protection, heck even no recovery or mutation only recovery would still be better. Stats spreading is tough but I loved old legendaries scaling with 2 highest colours at least there was a choice between leaving stat at 1 or getting those juicy hp from few first points. For mutation only straight buff is simple solution because removing items levels also means less affixes...

it sucks having a weapong that you get from the tubes and enjoy, because if you dont find another in any shop (happens a lot of the time), you have to either play a level iv weapon to the end, or play a less fun one. Especially if it has a cool affix. I think a solution would be to create an upgrade altar, perhaps in stilt village to give it more mesning. You sacrifice stuff and get a weapon of level 9 lets say. So its a lot better, but there are still weapons woth better level later.

Personally I'm one of those people that likes open ended stories since it gets my imagination going. I can understand some people wanting closure but I'm fine with how much is left a mystery in DC. I definitely agree about how there's only one real choice at the beginning of the game and that's which of the three builds you'll focus on for the rest of the game. It's not very beginner friendly either since the system isn't explained very well. I know when I first started playing I'd split my build between, say tactics and brutality, because I had a weapon that fits both categories so figured boosting them both up would be good. Little did I realize only the category you have the most amount of scrolls in is taken into account when calculating base damage of a weapon you're using before adding moddifiers from stuff like mutations.

Better guidance, a hint about what you can expect from the bosses, a hint on what to do with keys, back tracking would have been a nice idea so you're not locked out of missing scrolls or other content. The game is just a little too much against you, it wants you to fail to make you back track and let you know that it's similar to rogue at the expense of your own time. I also am not a fan of the graphics, especially when there's just a blur of pixels overlapping on screen, I feel if the 2d art was cleaner I could see what I'm even looking at, instead of failing to 30% of the time.

I hae DC now coz of the recent event and for the late update but i still play the game coz I also like the game

To fix the scroll system, skip all fragments and bonus scrolls. You should end up with 22-26 mainstat by the end of 5bc and you have to actually fight enemies instead of disintegrating them instantly.

does anyone know how to fix this input bug I have where when I press an action button fast or frequently it just goes on like I'm pressing it continuously and I cant then use any other buttons unless I pause and press the same button a few times.. I'm on PC btw and my buttons work normally in other games including games where I actually button mash.. this killed me so many times I NEED HELP

Dead cells is having an anime this year or a show or series? am i wrong? just wanna know.

Another problem is that there are too many items for the game compared to what it was build for, so most of the chests sre just redundant since they slmost never match your build. Also why sre chest items worst than shops? Shops have more options. Thankfully recycling really mitigates this feeling

Something that always bothered me about dead cells is the overall balance. One patch slow is op and a patch later they nerf it to unviability. Of course the viability of weapons is partly opinion however there's a clear trend of a status effect either being op or nerfed so badly that's its the worst status and these changes are reflected with the nerf to weapons and not just the ones corresponding to the status effects.

1:04 what is this game ?

I started playing dead cells for the first time this weekend, so I'm not that well versed with the game to speak on much. After getting the platinum for Hollow Knight a while back, i was trying to find another game (silksong cope) that felt pretty similar. (Of course, i had to do a few nail runs haha) The game is definitely great, and I'm having a lot of fun with it, but it really does feel like you have to almost flawless everything. Granted, i don't have a lot of items unlocked, so there's probably a lot of survivability options that I'm missing. At this point, the only real struggle trophy i have left is the cursed sword run. I haven't unlocked it yet, but i can already imagine it being painful for a bit. Unless there's some kind of cheese. I won't lie, though. I do think the curse system is pretty terrible. The fact that there's only 1 in the game and it's just a no hit objective just makes it pretty boring. I was kinda hoping for a bunch of unique modifiers. I guess my main complaint is how it feels like you can blink and your run is over. I don't really remember other roguelikes being like that but it's been a while.

The lore takes a whole lot of inference and research to figure out, and I'm actually so sad that it is closed now.

I still love this game to this day despite my gripes with the game.

You unlocked a cursed chest, you're now 50% weaker until the next biome. You unlocked a cursed chest, you now have 50% faster attacks with survival weapons, but can't run until the next biome.

Dead Cells is amazing, the best part is playing period, the worst is dying lol. I'm excited for the board game and cartoon, hopefully some imof the story threads get tied up there.

Playing an 1 hr 30 min run then to die to lose the whole thing feels heart breaking in Deadcells. Makes me feel like I wasted an 1 hr 30 min of my life, which leads me to only take optimal build with the most "success chance" to complete the run.

Its over

getting shot off screen by some random enemy I didn't know existed is a big one. Also I dislike the massive increase in trap damage at 5bc, makes the spoiler biome just not enjoyable to me.

My most disliked thing about the game is the bosses. This game is really 1 step above when it comes to biuld making. The ammount of things you have to take into consideration, 4 slots with multiple affixes + mutations, allows for unparalel depth. However i find it 10x more fun to biuld for biome clearing rather than boss killing, even tho bosses are(in my opinion) the biggest threat in the game, meaning i am sometimes forced to forgo certain items i find more fun to take stronger boss killing things. Ice and roots come to mind(especially in the giant fight)

Sickles are indefinite until the skill button is hit again. 😏

I dont want to seem rude but how does one end up with a 51 minute long run. My longest has been 30 minutes. (beating the game 0bc)

You should rename the title to Dead Cells: A-Z Guide

It has issues but it's about as close to perfect for me as games get. Dead Cells has pretty much ruined roguelites for me. I'd say the only roguelite that can compete with it is Rogue legacy 2

He’s saying that not covering every map to get the scrolls is very punishing. Have you ever played Moonlighter? In this game your goal is to bring stuff from dungeons and sell it or keep them to craft item but, in the inventory theres is only 5 different stack of item that you can save, and you cannot save the other 15 different item in the backpack, so spending 1h30min+ in the endgame dungeon, dying at the final boss and keep only 5 item is way more punishing. Compared to Dead Cells where you can save every cells after each biomes, Dead Cells is only punishing for people who tries speed running levels and only take the bonus cells of the timed door.

#1 Illusion of choice. Sure it is weird to give us the choice when truly we only do the same thing but the biggest downside for me is when you get that cool legendary but won't play it because it doesn't fit with any of your main color mutation. Plus I always loved hybrid builds in other game so kinda sad it doesn't exist here. #2 Skipping scrolls I feel like it's ok to have to clear the level almost entirely, I do it because it is fun but I see where it is a big issue for new players, maybe just putting a simple scroll count somewhere to tell them they still have important stuff to do would be enough. #3 Long run length Yeah they're just too long, even when I'm on 0bc trying to speedrun just to get a achievement on the queen I feel like it's taking ages. #4 Skipping monsters I sometimes skip monsters on 4bc and under after getting all the level scrolls because of the game length, I just want to go to the end at some point you know, and when I do so, I often see both timed door and kill count door opened, I feel like this door is here to tell me it's ok if I don't clear everything and it's kinda cool. #5 The cursed chest I'm just sick of clearing 5 biomes without taking a single hit, just for me to die instantly after opening a cursed chest because I'm not good enough. As you said there is so many ways of doing them better, event putting a X10 damage received would be a huge change, you get hit ? You have to use a potion, it would be more permissive at lower bc so new players wouldn't be too afraid to take them, and still a huge pain at higher bc when potions are very valuable without having to restart your already 40 minutes run. (Or yeah I could just git gud) #6 Useless bosses I like having to fight easy bosses early, it reminds me of when I was weaker and couldn't beat them and it's a moment to breathe in the middle of an intense game. Plus I feel like all starter bosses are really easy (appart for conjonctivus, screw him), maybe the Concierge is a bit easier than Mama Tick and Death, but not that much. And yeah they could make them harder for 4bc+ but I hope it would be in a different way of what they did in boss rush, concierge is just overwhelming and the others are basically the same thing but faster (and weirdly I like modified conjonctivus the most, the only one where it feels like you're fighting a new boss and not just the old one on steroids) #7 Boring affixes Yeah, they could make this better, just rolling until you get a synergy and then keep your money until you change a weapon or until the end of the run is kinda repetitive. #8 (Lack of?) Story Not really a story guy either, I don't really mind the game not having more, but yeah I want to go to that ship we saw after killing the Queen. #9 Modding support It will be my most subjective opinion. I feel like mods always ruined my rogue likes experience, in Isaac or Slay the Spire (even in Minecraft), as soon as I started downloading mods, I started to lose my interest in the game, too many choices made me love any will of achieving any of them so I'm kinda glad it didn't exist. But now that the game has come to an end it's true that it would be a amazing way to keep him alive, and I would love seeing content here on RU-vid about these mods and what the community can create.

Well... Run time is completely irrelevant if you are having fun while you play... Sadly, that is not how the majority play games today...

i dont get why most people skip the time doors. in most of my runs i get all the scrolls and stil get all the time doors. on one of my fastest runs i got the 8min door in 3min and 20 sec

Early yeeaaa🗣🔥🗣🔥🗣🔥

Calling bosses sponges when you get slightly fewer scrolls is actually insane.

While I don't agree with most of these points, this is a well made video and I respect the high amount of effort you've clearly put in.

Some enemies are just really badly designed, like the hook guy in graveyard, so i think some enemies should not have a appearence in New games and should be a lesson to be learnt from

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