Version 0.2

**Version 0.2**, officially the **Hello Darkness My Old Friend Update**, is a major update to *Dead Cells* that was released on the 29th of June 2017 to PC.

This update added a new gameplay mechanic called **The Darkness**, new weapons and a new biome - the **Forgotten Sepulcher**, which can be found in the **Ossuary**.

## Important features

* The levels organization has been vastly changed: Ancient Sewers cannot be reached anymore from the Promenade, while Ossuary leads to... well. Let's call these, "new places". A few other changes happened to the loot balance pretty much everywhere.
* Explore a whole new area located right after the Ossuary... Hope you don't fear darkness.
* 2 new enemy types! We can't spoil you too much about them, but we really look forward to them killing you.
* New gameplay mechanic: the Darkness. Stay for too long into it and you're dead.
* New weapons, including **Hayabusa boots**, or **High velocity crossbow**!
* A mysterious door has appeared in the Prison Cells
* All shops now contain 5 items instead of 4.
* Added option to deactivate Steam Cloud, including an optional transfer of files between local only and Steam cloud.
* **Community suggestion:** If a Workshop mod is available for your language, it is now automatically installed.
* **Community suggestion:** We know you LOVE the shocker enemy from the Ossuary, so we doubled their frequency. Oh. Wait. No, we actually divided their frequency by 2. And we made sure their positionning was much more balanced. *Version 0.2.1*
* Installed workshop mods are now automatically update. *Version 0.2.1*
* We removed the Shield breach mechanic completely. If your Strength was too low, your shield could be "breached" by high level enemies. This is no longer the case, allowing new combinations like using a shield efficiently with a Skill based build. This is meant to be tested and balanced with a future shield update. *Version 0.2.2*
* The "Super deal" mechanic of shops has been changed (you know, when you see an item in a shop with a large green banner behind it). A super deal is now an item that has a guaranteed tier+1 affix on it, which STACKS with all its regular other affixes. A tier+1 affix is one that augments Health, Weapon or Skill. *Version 0.2.3*

## Balancing

* The amount of cells you can drop have been balanced everywhere. Gold drops also have been adjusted.
* The Quickbow now only requires 2 arrows to grant criticals instead of 3.
* The shovel attacks much more quickly.
* Shocker mob from Ossuary can be frozen.
* The broadsword can now hit enemies behind you.
* **Community suggestion:** The Frantic Sword has been totally rebalanced. Regarding damage, it now stands right between light weapons and heavy ones.
* **Community suggestion:** The Spiteful Sword has been redone: it still deals critical blows after getting hit by an enemy, but it's now faster and the third strike has been replaced a kick that stuns the enemy. Which is much more fun.
* **Community suggestion:** The Sadist sword is now a dagger: it deals a critical blow if the victim is either bleeding, poisoned or burning.
* The long bow (sniper) is now faster.
* **Community suggestion:** We nerfed the free forcefield duration you get when you have a shield equiped. We plan another update (but later) on shields gameplay, so this nerf is more like a "hotfix".
* **Community suggestion:** The Tonic now heals twice more and grants a global shield when used.
* **Community suggestion:** Reduce Shield of the Behemoth when is changing phase.
* Added extra treasures behind the Timed door in Ossuary, for those who are fast enough to get them, of course. *Version 0.2.1*
* Vampirism skill duration has been balanced. *Version 0.2.2*
* Elite mobs now only drop weapons & talismans. *Version 0.2.2*
* **Community suggestion:** Hard levels like Ossuary now have better cell drops. *Version 0.2.2*
* Standard mobs should now have very low chance to drop an equipment item (weapon or skill) but much higher chance to drop large gems. *Version 0.2.2*
* Changed the way scrolls are spread in levels. Most shops should now have 1 scroll for sale. *Version 0.2.3*
* The ossuary difficulty has been slightly adjusted. *Version 0.2.3*
* Removed all cells from cursed chests, they were replaced by Tier+1 scroll. *Version 0.2.4*
* **Community suggestion:** Adjusted Tier+1 Scrolls quantities in all levels to ensure each path has a better risk/reward balance. *Version 0.2.4*
* **Community suggestion:** The Valmont whip that ignores shields now also ignore the Thorny spikes damage. *Version 0.2.5*
* Fire bomb has a longer cooldown. *Version 0.2.5*
* Adjusted grenades cooldowns (+/- 1 sec). *Version 0.2.5*
* **Community suggestion:** Balanced Frost blast diminishing efficiency (it should now work better on bosses). *Version 0.2.8*

## Level design

* **Community suggestion:** Added many teleporters in levels that lacked.
* Added new variations to "The promenade of the condemned".
* Added a disclaimer sign before entering Ossuary using the hard way (from Prison Cells). *Version 0.2.2*
* Added a shop between Prison Cells and Ossuary. *Version 0.2.2*
* **Community suggestion:** Fixed some levels with annoying ledge grabbing issues. *Version 0.2.2*
* Added new rooms in Ossuary. *Version 0.2.4*
* Added new rooms to Prison Cells. *Version 0.2.4*
* Added new special ladders in Fog Fjord to unlock shortcuts to large house roofs. *Version 0.2.4*
* Changed a few rooms in Cemetery. *Version 0.2.5*
* Added 2 new hidden do... oh. No sorry, we can't talk about that yet. *Version 0.2.5*
* Fixed a rare Promenade level design issue. *Version 0.2.8*

## Graphics & UI

* Graphic improvements in the Graveyard (cemetery).
* **Community suggestion:** You can now zoom and scroll the minimap using keyboard.
* Updated the Knockback Shield animation. *Version 0.2.3*
* Updated minor teleporters in Cemetery crypts. *Version 0.2.4*
* Implemented a new stairs climb animation used in most exit doors. *Version 0.2.5*
* Chains are now more visible in Ossuary. *Version 0.2.5*

## Bug fixes

* Fixed some aiming issues with the Lightning bolt.
* Assault shield is not blocked anymore by small breakable props in the background.
* Incomplete One AoE cannot be blocked by shields anymore.
* **Community suggestion:** The screen shifted to the right when the key 9 was pressed.
* Fixed an exploit than allowed to roll through a solid wall using roll + jump down (yeah, I'm looking at you speed runners ;).
* **Community suggestion:** Fix Boss Counting (Stats).
* **Community suggestion:** Fix Pirate Chief anim when thawn.
* **Community suggestion:** The game now receives gamepad inputs when it does not have focus. *Version 0.2.2*
* The Sewer Creature cinematic will no longer start if you are falling or dodging. *Version 0.2.2*
* The Rapier should now crit properly when you also hit some background props during a fight. *Version 0.2.3*
* Fixed shield affixes that triggered when protected by a global force field. *Version 0.2.3*
* Fixed Slasher mob name. The new spinning guy is now... a Spinner. We're not running for academy award on this one. *Version 0.2.5*
* Fixed "+300% dmg on parry" shield affix. It should now work as expected and won't apply anymore to the shield parry damage. *Version 0.2.8*
* Assault Shield should no longer hit doors from different floors. *Version 0.2.8*
* Fixed a translation error that read "+75% dmg on stunned target" instead of "+75% dmg on slowed down target". *Version 0.2.8*

## References

1. ↑ Hello Darkness my old friend *Official patch notes*, 2017-06-22
2. ↑ Update 2: "Hello darkness my old friend..." *Steam blog post*, 2017-06-22
3. ↑ The "Hello Darkness" update is live for everyone! *Steam blog post*, 2017-06-29