Developer Motion Twin released the Update of Plenty for Dead Cells today, overhauling the difficulty curve between Boss Cells and tweaking nearly every weapon in the game. The Update of Plenty is the 19th major update for Dead Cells, following the Bestiary update and Bad Seed DLC. It’s currently only available for PC, but it should make its way to consoles soon.
The biggest change comes from the difficulty curve between Boss Cells. This has been “smoothed out” so that “difficulty spikes” are less severe. Basically, 0BC runs are a little more difficult, and the difference in difficulty between, say, a 2BC and 3BC run isn’t as drastic. So, if you’re still stuck on one Boss Cell, Dead Cells just got a whole lot more difficult (great…).
This change certainly isn’t the only new thing in the Update of Plenty. Motion Twin has overhauled the in-game economy, too. Gold scaling is a thing of the past, and in its place, gear cost now scales with level. Shop rerolls are now free as well, though it’ll make all of the items a little more expensive.
Changes to weapons and mutations
The Update of Plenty also removes scrolls from ++ and S weapons, replacing them with scrolls in early biomes. With the changes to the economy, this move should “give you more opportunities (and an incentive) to switch gears during your run,” at least according to Motion Twin.
Damage mutations have seen some reworks as well. Instead of a DPS boost from a damage mutation, there’s now a percentage increase to damage. This change should give more incentive to players with multiple Boss Cells to use damage mutations, as they now scale with item level and your overall damage output.
Finally, crossbows have now become two-handed and Survival only. This is more of a work-in-progress change than anything else, as Motion Twin says it’s “going to add some survival mutations to support the crossbows.” For now, the developer is “waiting to see how they perform.”
The Update of Plenty also makes several balance changes for weapons. You can find all the details in the full patch notes.
