The free Break the Bank update is worth playing
There’s a generous (read: free!) Dead Cells biome update out this week called Break the Bank, and can you believe it’s the 28th update for the game? And they’re not slowing down either, as the developers at Motion Twin and Evil Empire are planning to release more DLC and updates for “at least another year.” No one’s getting off this wild ride!
Before diving in, you may want to skim the patch notes to see what’s new.
There are new weapons like the Gold Digger, which “gives gold on hits plus critical hits if you’re filthy rich,” and a few shiny foes, like the Golden Kamikaze (aka the exploding bats). There are mutations, too — one of them, Gold Plating, causes you to lose gold instead of health when you’re hurt. And there are balance changes, including a Vampirism rework that “now sacrifices a percentage of your maximum health to gain life leech on your melee attacks (effect doubled for heavy weapons) and a speed boost for 10 seconds.”
Or maybe you just want to barrel toward the new Bank biome. Here’s how to find it.
If you’ve reached the Hand of the King before, look for this chest in the biome transition areas
In theory, the Bank should be easier to find than some of the other routes in Dead Cells, assuming you know what you’re looking for: a chest. This chest. According to the devs, it can appear randomly in the “transition area between biomes (but not before a boss),” and if you ignore the Bank entrance chest, it won’t appear again in your current run.
On the bright side, the Bank chest is “guaranteed to appear once” per run, assuming you’ve gotten to the Hand of the King or The Queen at least once in Dead Cells — that’s the prerequisite. In other words, you don’t need to curse your bad RNG. It’ll show up.
There’s another interesting wrinkle: the Bank replaces (what would be) the next biome on your current path, and that actually affects which enemies will show up since the new zone borrows from other spots, in addition to having all-new foes like Pickpockets.
As the developers put it, if you pop into the Bank “at the transition after Prisoner’s Quarters, you will face mobs from Toxic Sewers, Promenade of the Condemned, and Dilapidated Arboretum.” That’s just one example; the Bank chest can show up elsewhere.
The Bank itself is pretty straightforward
It’s not as bewildering as Spelunky‘s secretive City of Gold, but the Bank is neat in its own right. I like that it isn’t too fussy to explore. Once inside the biome, a teller will hand you a Red Pass (which goes to a red door that’s just a quick elevator ride away), and you can take out a bunch of gold loans if you’re feeling spicy — but you’ll need to pay them back.
The elevator branches out to other floors (with other color-coded doors that need a corresponding key), so it’s easy to fully explore your surroundings without getting lost.
While poking around the Bank, you might come across a series of chains that phase in and out — try not to touch them! Like, really try. They hurt! This is a full-on platforming obstacle course, and it goes much longer than I would’ve expected, so I’d recommend taking your time. If you slip up, you’ll warp back to the beginning. Mind your health bar.
There’s a scary new achievement, too
When I reached the end of the Bank, I settled my debt to get through the final door and exit the area, but there is another way. You can break through it, and as it turns out, there’s an intimidating achievement related to this called “Up to the eyeball in debt,” which requires beating the game “with the maximum debt remaining.” Wait, what?
According to Dead Cells players on Reddit who are much more skilled than I’ll ever be, you can take out a loan “ten times for a maximum of 20,000 gold,” then break the golden door at the end of the Bank biome, suffer a 100-enemy curse, and finish out your run.
I, uh, won’t be doing that — but good luck to the rest of ya!
Dead Cells has been piling up content for years now, and I’m stoked to see things go so well for players (who keep coming back) and the creators (who are still getting sales). The Break the Bank update is out on PC and consoles, so dip back in when you get a chance.
