New Dead Cells alpha adds several accessibility options

Although Dead Cells remains an exceptionally high-quality experience, some may find it too daunting. Clearing your first run doesn’t take up too much time, but acquiring more boss cells and seeing everything the game has to offer requires an insane degree of dedication and skill. The difficulty ramps up to a ludicrous degree as you obtain more boss cells, making the prospects of finding the game’s secrets unlikely. Fortunately for newcomers, developer Motion Twin has made an effort to accommodate those unable to finish most of Dead Cells by implementing a whole host of accessibility options into a newly-released alpha.

Motion Twin explained its reasoning behind why it wanted to increase the accessibility of Dead Cells in a recent update on Steam. The studio stated that although the current “tough but fair” approach to difficulty represents the true vision for the game, it acknowledges the abundant feedback it has received regarding accessibility. This feedback noted that due to certain barriers, several players simply couldn’t experience Dead Cells as the developers originally intended. By including more accessibility options, the developers hope that more players can get the most out of Dead Cells without experiencing quite as many headaches. And of course, Motion Twin ensured Dead Cells veterans that these accessibility accommodations will remain entirely optional.

What options are available?

Some of the accessibility options on offer include the ability to hold a button down to perform actions that would normally require multiple button presses, such as the double jump and weapon combos. The alpha also incorporates a number of visual options, like one that outlines enemies, projectiles, and other elements to make them easier to identify. Motion Twin stated that although it plans to add options to adjust text sizes, various technical complications surrounding their implementation means they may not make it to the final update.

Additionally, the alpha features an assist mode that allows players to tweak the difficulty and overall game balance. The continue feature represents possibly the most significant option included in the assist mode, as players who turn it on will respawn at their previous save point instead of at the beginning of the game when they die. The other ones are no slouch, though. Activating a slower parry window should make defensive play much easier for players to engage with, and tweaking enemy damage numbers and health seem especially useful for the higher difficulty levels. It seems that the auto-hit mode will be the least useful of these options, as having the player character automatically attack nearby enemies decreases control during difficult moments.

Attracting a whole new audience

If you want to check out all of the accessibility options included in the new Dead Cells alpha, the aforementioned Steam update should provide everything you need to know. All in all, it looks like these options will go a long way toward increasing the fun factor for those who have trouble playing twitch action games like this. Whether or not these options will allow players to access the finale of the game remains to be seen.