Dead Cells |OT| Cascellvania

Maxime · Aug 8, 2018

Regarding the Switch performance issues, Motion Twin issued a statement on r/NintendoSwtich:

Hello r/NintendoSwitch,

We playtested Dead Cells on the Nintendo Switch and we continue to play it for fun, on the tram, at certain family gatherings and just for the hell of it during our lunch breaks. We are aware of the frame rate drops in some areas of the game. However we didn't feel like it was getting in the way of us having a good time with Dead Cells, and we had to make a choice between; significantly delaying the launch of the Switch version of the game until after the release on the other platforms, or getting it out to fans at the same time as everyone else. The former seemed more damaging for Switch owners.

That said, we've just come from 15 months of Early Access, with the development style and culture that goes with it. We've learned that just because we're the developers, doesn't mean we're always right about our own game. So now we'll put what we learned into practice, listen to your feedback and get to work fixing the problem right away. We've allocated all available resources to the issue (remember we're a small team) and improving the performance on Switch it our main priority as of now.

So when can you expect a fix? Well, every minor tweak and performance fix that could be done prior to release has been done. This leaves us with the big time consuming changes as well as exploring new possibilities which might really help, or not, we won't know until we start. Of course on console all updates must be certified before reaching you guys, which adds extra time between now and a potential fix. So to be clear we're looking at November at the absolute earliest, if the god of game dev comes down from the clouds ad blesses our guys right now. This is however as soon as it is physically possible for us right now.

We're currently in the process of rescheduling our AMA on this subreddit (originally planned for tomorrow, but you know, a wild Smash Bros Direct appeared). We will have to confirm, but it will probably happen on Thursday next week. We would like to be as transparent as we can on this issue, so even if you've got questions on the technical aspects and challenges of the porting, we will commit to answering with as much precision as we can.

We apologize to everyone who was expecting a higher port quality and to anyone who has been disappointed by the performances on the Switch so far.

If people ask, please share our answer with them; the last thing we want is to leave people in the dark, we'd rather them know what to expect even if it's not the answer they were hoping to hear.

Thank you all for your feedback and support!

The MT team.

Kind of a bummer but I appreciate the transparency here.

Coxy · Aug 8, 2018

Maxime said:
Regarding the Switch performance issues, Motion Twin issued a statement on r/NintendoSwtich:

Kind of a bummer but I appreciate the transparency here.

November? Damn.

New Fang · Aug 8, 2018

Coxy said:
November? Damn.

"November at the absolute earliest"

Graciaus · Aug 8, 2018

Moppy said:
Yeah, having played a few hours so far, one thing I think this game does really well (that is often hit or miss in other games of the genre) is balancing power creep. Through enough runs, or enough attrition/luck in a single run, you'll hit these break points where your character just feels unstoppable. An area/boss that was once crushing you will suddenly fall easily before you. You'll feel overpowered as shit, cruise through an area or two, and start to wonder "Damn, is it really that easy now?" Then, next area, boom, you get smoked again.

The game feels like it constantly throws you a bone, only to then humble you again just the right amount of time later, haha.

the game has one of the best difficulty curves I've ever seen. I'd struggle on each level and finally beat them after many deaths. Then after awhile you can breeze through the game. Then you bump the difficulty and the game slaps you right back down. I made it up to 2 boss cells before giving up.

PeterVenkman said:
I believe Legendary drops can pull from outside of the pool. I've gotten swords that I have yet to find blueprints for.

Legendaries can be pulled from outside your unlocks. It's both good and a bad thing.

PlanetSmasher · Aug 8, 2018

Fuck you, Timekeeper.

That fight just goes in and on and on forever. I though I had him, but my hands got tired and he finished me off before I could do the same to him.

Monorojo · Aug 8, 2018

So is there a consensus on where to invest your initial cells yet?

I think the fivers are easy pickings early on but after that it's a bit of a jump up to 20 or more cells.

Mobyduck · Aug 8, 2018

About that boss

She is a lady. She is also way harder than the first one, due to her mobility and grabs. Her second phase is also annoying as heck.

Dphex · Aug 8, 2018

Monorojo said:
So is there a consensus on where to invest your initial cells yet?

I think the fivers are easy pickings early on but after that it's a bit of a jump up to 20 or more cells.

flask and the upgrade that grants you a random melee weapon at the start is a must imo

Zelas · Aug 8, 2018

PeterVenkman said:
I believe Legendary drops can pull from outside of the pool. I've gotten swords that I have yet to find blueprints for.

Good to know

mogster7777 · Aug 8, 2018

Graciaus said:
the game has one of the best difficulty curves I've ever seen. I'd struggle on each level and finally beat them after many deaths. Then after awhile you can breeze through the game. Then you bump the difficulty and the game slaps you right back down. I made it up to 2 boss cells before giving up.

Legendaries can be pulled from outside your unlocks. It's both good and a bad thing.

What does 2 boss cells mean? Beating two bosses or doing some kind of new game plus?

PeterVenkman · Aug 8, 2018

Monorojo said:
So is there a consensus on where to invest your initial cells yet?

I think the fivers are easy pickings early on but after that it's a bit of a jump up to 20 or more cells.

Flask for sure the way to go. Then random starters.

Mobyduck · Aug 8, 2018

mogster7777 said:
What does 2 boss cells mean? Beating two bosses or doing some kind of new game plus?

It's new game plus. After defeating the last boss, you get a boss cell. If you defeat him again with a boss cell active, you get another one and so on.

mogster7777 · Aug 8, 2018

Mobyduck said:
It's new game plus. After defeating the last boss, you get a boss cell. If you defeat him again with a boss cell active, you get another one and so on.

Cool. What do boss cells do?

Is part of the fun in this game discovering things yourself like in Dark souls or just looking at a wiki?

Also the level structure isn't really metroidvania so far. You don't get any abilities and the second area is just a straightforward left to right affair. Mind you I'm still early on but that's my initial thoughts. Amazing game though.

Are there secrets? I found a few food pieces stuck in walls but that's about it.

JoeNut · Aug 8, 2018

Although I've only played about an hour of the game I have yet to find any performance issues. Perhaps they come later in the game or maybe this is just another case of people exaggerating the issue

JulesLove · Aug 8, 2018

I really hate the grindfest. Plaing an hour gives me less than 100 cells. Are there any mods on the steam workshop I need to look at?

Solid Dude · Aug 8, 2018

JoeNut said:
Although I've only played about an hour of the game I have yet to find any performance issues. Perhaps they come later in the game or maybe this is just another case of people exaggerating the issue

It definitely rears its head more frequently on later maps.

Thorrgal · Aug 8, 2018

PeterVenkman said:
Slumbering Sanctuary is the greatest track. Dunno why people sleeping on this OST.

That's an amazing track

Mobyduck · Aug 8, 2018

mogster7777 said:
Cool. What do boss cells do?

Is part of the fun in this game discovering things yourself like in Dark souls or just looking at a wiki?

Also the level structure isn't really metroidvania so far. You don't get any abilities and the second area is just a straightforward left to right affair. Mind you I'm still early on but that's my initial thoughts. Amazing game though.

Are there secrets? I found a few food pieces stuck in walls but that's about it.

I recommend taking a look at the wiki if you are curious. This game is not about discovery, although there are some secrets.

Mostly what boss cells do is put stronger enemies in earlier areas, reducing the amount of heals you get and adding the toxicity mechanic.

The game is also not a metroidvania. You get some powers that will give access to new areas and to extra rooms inside them, but there is no backtracking per se. The areas you can access are always in the same order, the powers just give more option of where to go.

Vicious17 · Aug 8, 2018

Fantastical said:
I'm trying to switch it up. Are shields useful? I usually don't use them... maybe I'm missing out though.

Shields are extremely useful. Especially when you counter.

PeterVenkman · Aug 8, 2018

Besides the damage reduction which is amazing for the last boss, there are a few shields (spike and ko maybe?) that offer good offense - the former does something silly like 300% damage on perfect parry, and the latter offers a similar boost if you riposte (attack right after a perfect parry). IMO the rest of the shields, and honestly shields overall, should be reworked.

jotun? · Aug 8, 2018

mogster7777 said:
Cool. What do boss cells do?

Boss Cells are basically difficulty levels. Stuff gets harder, less healing available, more types of enemies in each level. But at 2 and up you get bonuses to how many blue cells you find. They also let you open those doors with circles on them to get access to more stuff.
https://deadcells.gamepedia.com/Boss_Stem_Cell

noomi · Aug 8, 2018

Thank goodness you can customize the controls however you like.

Just coming off of Hollow Knight it was really difficult for me to get used to. Tried to map controls as close to HK as possible :p

jotun? · Aug 8, 2018

PeterVenkman said:
Besides the damage reduction which is amazing for the last boss, there are a few shields (spike and ko maybe?) that offer good offense - the former does something silly like 300% damage on perfect parry, and the latter offers a similar boost if you riposte (attack right after a perfect parry). IMO the rest of the shields, and honestly shields overall, should be reworked.

The 300% damage after a parry is a general bonus that can be on any shield.

My favorite shields are:
Cudgel - stuns attackers even if you just hold it up, and gives passive damage reduction
Rampart - Gives a 3-second invulnerability after a parry. Great for bosses that have uninterruptible combo attacks or for dealing with more than one attacking enemy. Also passive damage reduction
Parry Shield - can only parry, but does extra damage and multiplies parried projectiles

Graciaus · Aug 8, 2018

mogster7777 said:
What does 2 boss cells mean? Beating two bosses or doing some kind of new game plus?

NG+. Each time you beat the game you get a boss cell which increases the difficulty (if you want to). There are 5 difficulties total (0-4) and they are no joke. Enemies will appear on stages they normally don't and of course enemies hit harder. But what really makes it hard is you can't heal after every stage. It's a bit to hardcore for me since it starts needed perfection. Each soul decreases the healing. Where I was you could only heal every other stage and not before boss fights.

mogster7777 said:
Cool. What do boss cells do?

Is part of the fun in this game discovering things yourself like in Dark souls or just looking at a wiki?

Also the level structure isn't really metroidvania so far. You don't get any abilities and the second area is just a straightforward left to right affair. Mind you I'm still early on but that's my initial thoughts. Amazing game though.

Are there secrets? I found a few food pieces stuck in walls but that's about it.

See above for boss souls. Most of the fun is just playing but if you want something specific look at the wiki. There are abilities which let you go to different stages which is where the metroidvania comes from. It's nothing crazy but if you look at a map of where you can go it does have more variety then you would think. Of course if you stray from the normal path It is harder. But you can get better items. There are secret blueprints but for the most part you aren't going to find them without a guide. You can find food and secret stages through ruins in the walls/floor.

JulesLove said:
I really hate the grindfest. Plaing an hour gives me less than 100 cells. Are there any mods on the steam workshop I need to look at?

Speedrunning is much better then killing everything. You can get more then 100 cells in less than half the time if you get to the timed doors. You get a feel eventually for which stages have them and what times you need. Kill the easy enemies and just keep running without exploring. If you find the exit and will make the next door just take it. If not explore a little. Hopefully you get some good RNG for items along the way.

Dphex · Aug 8, 2018

mogster7777 said:
Cool. What do boss cells do?

Is part of the fun in this game discovering things yourself like in Dark souls or just looking at a wiki?

Also the level structure isn't really metroidvania so far. You don't get any abilities and the second area is just a straightforward left to right affair. Mind you I'm still early on but that's my initial thoughts. Amazing game though.

Are there secrets? I found a few food pieces stuck in walls but that's about it.

there are abilities and there are different paths and 4 movement upgrades like dashing through the ground and climbing walls .-) while no metroidvania it gives the game a little bit of an lite metroidvania flavour

Glick · Aug 8, 2018

JulesLove said:
I really hate the grindfest. Plaing an hour gives me less than 100 cells. Are there any mods on the steam workshop I need to look at?

If it takes you an hour to get 100 cells, work on progressing farther in the game. You don't need any unlocks (although 1-2 level ups on the flask helps) to clear the game. Focus on getting fast enough to open the timed doors (15-30 cells each generally) to speed up your runs and augment your cell earnings.

100 per hour means you're not even clearing the first boss, which is entirely a player skill issue. Keep practicing and stop focusing on cell farming.

Monorojo · Aug 8, 2018

Is there anyway to store cells you get so that you don't lose them if you die, ala the surge?

super-famicom · Aug 8, 2018

Monorojo said:
Is there anyway to store cells you get so that you don't lose them if you die, ala the surge?

Nope, just have to get to the end of a biome and then turn them in with the Collector.

jotun? · Aug 8, 2018

Quick tip: You don't actually need to spend all of your cells to leave the collector's room. You can just break the door down. Useful if you want to save up to spend at the blacksmith after each boss. If you hit several of the timed doors you can have over 100 cells for the first blacksmith in under 15 minutes

edit: souls -> cells

Vincent Alexander · Aug 8, 2018

Early on in the game. Beat the first boss and died not long after. I decided I wanted to save and spend a bunch on Blacksmith, and I think I can only get to him after a boss is defeated? Well, last night in bed in the dark, I got to the first boss again with 47 cells. Had the boss almost dead. Just playing it super safe, throwing out my traps and such...and then my cat jumped on my chest from the floor and knocked my Switch out of my hands. She still has her claws, so you can't throw her off either or she'll rip you to pieces. By time I picked Switch up again...dead. All my cells gone. I almost cried.

Legacy said:
So what's the Switch version like?

I've gotten past the first boss, been through 3 larger areas, and I can say confidently that it runs fine. It has some dips, but take it from someone who is highly sensitive to this crap and who spent forever yesterday contemplating PS4 or Switch....the Switch version plays well enough to have a great time. The devs made the absolute correct decision in launching as-is and not delaying it.

Carolina Reaper · Aug 8, 2018

Jedeye Sniv said:
Looks good, runs bad. Won't be fixed until November according to the devs.

Thanks for this post. I was interested in the game, but I'll wait until they fix it.

Vincent Alexander · Aug 8, 2018

Carolina Reaper said:
Thanks for this post. I was interested in the game, but I'll wait until they fix it.

If you're interested, look at my post above. Trust me. It plays fine. And is damn fun. Get it. Do it. Join us.

noomi said:
Thank goodness you can customize the controls however you like.

Just coming off of Hollow Knight it was really difficult for me to get used to. Tried to map controls as close to HK as possible :p

I finally changed my shoulder buttons last night. I don't know why, but they really bugged me.

chanman · Aug 8, 2018

I have been enjoying it a lot on Switch, I believe there has been a lot of exaggeration about the performance being bad. Yes there is some drops but it has never distracted me enough to put the game down. It's just too much fun having the option to have this portable.

Luchashaq · Aug 8, 2018

Dumb question I tried to google, is there a sprint? I swear I've done it like twice on accident.

I LOVE THIS GAME.

I've played like 6 hours on switch so far (handheld only) and had about .5 seconds total of performance slowdown so I guess I'm lucky.

Cloud-Hidden · Aug 8, 2018

chanman said:
I have been enjoying it a lot on Switch, I believe there has been a lot of exaggeration about the performance being bad. Yes there is some drops but it has never distracted me enough to put the game down. It's just too much fun having the option to have this portable.

Same. I've seen some of the stutters and dips, but it really isn't as bad as I thought it would be. The game looks and runs great, and I've been having a lot of fun with it. Glad to see the developers are working hard to improve performance. I can definitely wait until November or beyond for a patch.

rsfour · Aug 8, 2018

Luchashaq said:
Dumb question I tried to google, is there a sprint? I swear I've done it like twice on accident.

I LOVE THIS GAME.

I've played like 6 hours on switch so far (handheld only) and had about .5 seconds total of performance slowdown so I guess I'm lucky.

x weapon, speed boost on kill; it'll be something like that, assuming that's what you're looking for lol.
It's just like how enemies explode on death, or emit toxic, it's just a perk/bonus, whatever on a random weapon, skill.

TI92 · Aug 8, 2018

Lots of stutters on the switch especially on ramparts with the mage enemies if there's more than one on screen at a time or if you use an ice spell and lots of ice fragments are on the screen.

It might also be you guys didn't play on PC for comparison sake. The switch version seems to run considerably lower FPS at all times. I still prefer playing on the switch formfactor but it definitely runs worse.

Dphex · Aug 8, 2018

Conjunctivius aka "The Watcher" down, yeah! now i need the Elite from the next area for the last rune

PlanetSmasher · Aug 8, 2018

Is there any way to stop certain weapons from appearing on my random starter melee rolls? The Spartan Foot shows up for me an abnormally large percentage of the time and I hate that thing.

jotun? · Aug 8, 2018

rsfour said:
x weapon, speed boost on kill; it'll be something like that, assuming that's what you're looking for lol.
It's just like how enemies explode on death, or emit toxic, it's just a perk/bonus, whatever on a random weapon, skill.

There's also an innate speed boost that you get for killing several enemies quickly

PlanetSmasher said:
Is there any way to stop certain weapons from appearing on my random starter melee rolls? The Spartan Foot shows up for me an abnormally large percentage of the time and I hate that thing.

Not that I know of, but you can restart a run pretty quickly

AlphaDump · Aug 8, 2018

About mother fing time. I've been searching for this game every month on sonys ps store. So pumped to play this.

Mobyduck · Aug 8, 2018

PlanetSmasher said:
Is there any way to stop certain weapons from appearing on my random starter melee rolls? The Spartan Foot shows up for me an abnormally large percentage of the time and I hate that thing.

But the Spartan Sandals are awesome in the beginning! It's so fun to kick enemies against walls or into holes.

PlanetSmasher · Aug 8, 2018

Mobyduck said:
But the Spartan Sandals are awesome in the beginning! It's so fun to kick enemies against walls or into holes.

The big issue is that they're relatively useless against stronger enemies and ones that resist knockback. Elites just laugh at them.

And some of the more powerful melee weapons I've seen just make them look like a joke. Swift Sword, I want you baaaack...

PaJeppy · Aug 8, 2018

jotun? said:
Quick tip: You don't actually need to spend all of your cells to leave the collector's room. You can just break the door down. Useful if you want to save up to spend at the blacksmith after each boss. If you hit several of the timed doors you can have over 100 cells for the first blacksmith in under 15 minutes

edit: souls -> cells

Sweet thanks!

Beat the first level and got bummed out when I only had 12 or so cells to dump into better drops.

AnimeJesus · Aug 8, 2018

The more I play think about the Switch version the more annoyed I get. Majority of previews only showed the first area for the switch and then skipped to the Concierge fight. The second level of the game gets pretty bad...playing docked yesterday the promenade pretty much felt like it played at 20-30fps the entire time. I have a hard time believing this didn't bother any of the devs during their play testing. The whole situation feels very shady and has kinda soured my impression of them.

It doesnt help that r/NintendoSwitch is full of people downplaying the performance issues saying it's perfectly fine. I mean why would you not want the dev to improve the game?

New Fang · Aug 8, 2018

chanman said:
I have been enjoying it a lot on Switch, I believe there has been a lot of exaggeration about the performance being bad. Yes there is some drops but it has never distracted me enough to put the game down. It's just too much fun having the option to have this portable.

Even the developers are admitting the Switch version has some noteworthy performance problems.

Maybe you're just not as sensitive as some people to framerate drops. Some people just don't pick up on framerate problems unless they're severe, while for others even a small but consistent drop below 60 is very noticeable.

EricOfSeattle said:
The more I play think about the Switch version the more annoyed I get. Majority of previews only showed the first area for the switch and then skipped to the Concierge fight. The second level of the game gets pretty bad...playing docked yesterday the promenade pretty much felt like it played at 20-30fps the entire time. I have a hard time believing this didn't bother any of the devs during their play testing. The whole situation feels very shady and has kinda soured my impression of them.

It doesnt help that r/NintendoSwitch is full of people downplaying the performance issues saying it's perfectly fine. I mean why would you not want the dev to improve the game?

I am curious to know if you've been resuming the game from sleep on Switch at all? That feature has caused some issues with other games, so just trying to rule it out.

PlanetSmasher · Aug 8, 2018

Re: performance, my PS4 always hangs for a couple of frames whenever I hit the requirements to unlock a trophy. It doesn't usually impact gameplay, but it's super noticeable.

Dphex · Aug 8, 2018

got the last rune, yeah! all movement options available now .-)

EricOfSeattle said:
It doesnt help that r/NintendoSwitch is full of people downplaying the performance issues saying it's perfectly fine. I mean why would you not want the dev to improve the game?

i don´t understand this in general...it is obvious there are issues on Switch, why are people saying it is ok or it doesn´t hamper the gameplay? the same happened with Gungeon...

i am glad i chose the PS4 version, i won´t buy indies on Switch anymore, learned my lesson with Gungeon, played 30minutes and gone back to PS4. it is an exclusive Nintendo machine for me now. i really don´t want underwhelming versions of great games just for the portable factor.

PlanetSmasher said:
Re: performance, my PS4 always hangs for a couple of frames whenever I hit the requirements to unlock a trophy. It doesn't usually impact gameplay, but it's super noticeable.

that issue isn´t Dead Cells exclusive though, i remember some games had this issue too...

noomi · Aug 8, 2018

Any tips on what the best mutation is?

Aminga · Aug 8, 2018

Ok first off love this game. But I'm having a really bad time getting to clockwork level. This has happened four times too me, every time I finish the level and click rb to enter the clockwork portal the game crashes and boots me to dashboard<Xbox one x>. When I go back to the game and click continue it tries to load and boots me back to dashboard AGAIN. Forcing me to restart from the beginning. I have yet to see the clockwork level because of this! Anyone have any idea what to do? I've searched online but I can't find anyone else having this issue? Help please, thanks everybody!

Dead Cells |OT| Cascellvania

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