The latest update for Dead Cells, the roguelite action platformer from Motion Twin and Evil Empire, is now available. It brings the long-awaited rework to Malaise and colors along with new Mutations, a new enemy and a new weapon. The new weapon is the Katana which allows for executing a charged dash by holding the attack button.
Other new content includes new Christmas-themed outfits, like one that turns The Beheaded into Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus. You can also locate a lore room related to the Hand of the King, finally giving some backstory to the boss you’ve been slaughtering for years now. All of this and a new diet that allows for having all of the food items appear as cheese.
As for the new Malaise, it’s pretty much similar to its alpha iteration. The bar now fills up over time instead of when the player gets hit. After crossing certain thresholds, enemies will start to deal more damage, spawn around the player, turn into Elites and so on. Killing enemies will cause the build-up of Malaise to slow while having only 10 percent left in a biome will stop it entirely.
The developer also provided a slight hint for the release date for its next paid DLC, Fatal Falls. “Speaking of January, our next DLC, Fatal Falls, is just over a month away from release, if you want to chuck it in your wishlist we would be very grateful.” This seems to indicate that it will launch either by January end or in early February. We’ll find out in the coming weeks.