Back when we the developers started work on the first paid DLC The Bad Seed they sat around the whiteboard and thought about what was missing from Dead Cells. Someone said something flippant like “fresh air” and they went from there.
Both that first DLC and Fatal Falls are designed to bring a bit of fresh air into the world that was previously mostly contained to claustrophobic dungeon-like levels. The team have brought in more colour, more verticality and more danger of falling to your death.
Fatal Falls in particular focuses a lot on managing your positioning when you’re moving through the levels. Should you really go and fight that huge statue monster where there are a bunch of kamikaze birds threatening to push you off the platform? Should you rush in to a complicated fight without a clear escape path free of traps? These are the questions that Evil Empire hope you’ll be asking yourself as you play through the new content.
Right now you can take on two new levels and a boss:
- Fractured Shrines: Features floating platforms, spear-chucking snakemen, and giant statues that have forgotten they’re statues.
- Forgotten Shores: Necromantic sorcerers bringing failed experiments back to like… Impromptu games of tennis under the pouring rain… And of course the constant risk of falling off the cliff.
- The Scarecrow: Formerly known as the Royal Gardener. He’s very protective of his flowers… It’d be a real shame is someone were to… Step on them…
As you can see not only did they stay outdoors but they’ve tried to stay in line with the nature/water themes. There’s some hidden logic to this, which hopefully will become clear as the team continue to update the game.
At the end of the day it’s also just an excuse for the artists to use a bunch of brighter colours that can be hard to use in underground levels, so that’s also a lot of fun for them.
Evil Empire hope you enjoy the DLC and the new little animated trailer they’ve released, and they are not done there, with a load of free updates planned for the game.