Hello everyone,
Hope you're doing well! On our side, we just made the new update available on the Beta branch. The full patch notes are available here as usual, but here is a quick rundown:
Brutality get 2 new mutations
Brutality and melee builds clearly needed new ways to sustain through the game to make risky playstyles more rewarding and viable, so we added two red mutations, Frenzy and Adrenalin to help with that.
The Arbiter is dead... (BC3+)
As a transversal mob inhabiting a majority of biome in Boss Cells 3+, the Arbiter had the unwanted effect of transforming Dead Cells in a bullet hell(ish) kind of game, heavily punishing non-shield builds and terribly slowing the pace of a run.
Hence the decision to put him uniquely in the Cavern level where fighting him in the often wide and open combat rooms can feel less of an hassle. We also make it so the Arbiter will only attack horizontally.
I know some of you were just getting used to it and even beginning to like the guy, but hey, let's be honest here and admit that it had probably more to do with Stockholm's syndrome than anything else.
...Long Live the Rampager (BC3+)
With the Arbiter's... err... re-localization, we had to find an alternative mob to provide a new challenge to players. We tried replacing the Arbiter with various already existing mobs, but, in the end, nothing felt really convincing. So we went back to the drawing board and basically made an enraged, steroids-powered zombie.
All it wants is a good ol' hug. Probably.
Thunder Shield Rework
It's previous mechanic was definitely underwhelming, so we tweaked it. Now, parry once and you become a walking Tesla coil. Use your shield again to create a electric wave around you, dealing damage and stunning the enemies.
Elites Rework
With the addition of the random abilities, the minions weren't necessary anymore, and were adding a lot of visual noise, so we decided to get rid of it. The pushback effect also got deleted, as it lead to some cheap damage being dealt. We've also begun to prevent some mob/ skill combinations that were feeling really random and unfair.
All of these also come with the usual batch of bug fixes and balance tweaks, and a few Quality of Life improvements. So, please jump in the beta branch and tell us how you feel about the latest additions. Full list available here.
Moving on to a few additional notes. For the console players around getting their Dead Cells news here, the DLC will be available on Switch and Playstation today. Apologies for the Xbox owners... a nasty bug is still playing cats and dogs with us. We will bring you the DLC as soon as we can. The 1.3 will be sent to certification when we're satisfied with the community feedback here.
Last but not least, we've now passed the 2 Millions copies of Dead cells sold threshold! Thanks to all of you for the continuous support and for talking your friends into giving Dead Cells a chance!
Thanks,
The MT team.
Community Highlights:
MGS-ish John Deadcells, by u/teoft
The Prisoner, by u/TooleyBostay
"Console players waiting for the dls, be like" by u/sombras1