High Peak Castle

The royal guard stayed locked up safely behind the walls of High Peak Castle, thereby leading the island to its ruin.
 High Peak has fallen from its former glory... The last "banquet" held here served up human flesh.
 The island's high-ranking personalities came here to discuss important issues with the King. The quality of the visitors has changed a lot in recent times.
 The King allowed the Alchemist to move into a wing of the castle. That was around the time of the final retreat.

## High Peak Castle

### Soundtrack

Castle

* Normal
* Hard
* Very Hard
* Expert
* Nightmare/Hell

## Runes and Blueprints

### Blueprints from enemies

Hayabusa Gauntlets, Tornado, Soldier Resistance, Initiative

## Enemies & Traps

### Enemies

Undead Archers, Bombardiers, Guardian Knights, Royal Guards, Lancers

### Boss(es)

Elite Slasher, Elite Thorny, two Elite Trackers

## Runes and Blueprints

### Blueprints from enemies

Hayabusa Gauntlets, Tornado, Soldier Resistance, Initiative

## Enemies & Traps

### Enemies

Bombardiers, Guardian Knights, Royal Guards, Lancers, Knife Throwers

### Boss(es)

Elite Slasher, Elite Thorny, two Elite Trackers

## Runes and Blueprints

### Blueprints from enemies

Hayabusa Gauntlets, Tornado, Soldier Resistance, Initiative

## Enemies & Traps

### Enemies

Bombardiers, Guardian Knights, Royal Guards, Lancers, Knife Throwers

### Boss(es)

Elite Slasher, Elite Thorny, two Elite Trackers

## Runes and Blueprints

### Blueprints from enemies

Hayabusa Gauntlets, Tornado, Soldier Resistance, Initiative

## Enemies & Traps

### Enemies

Bombardiers, Guardian Knights, Royal Guards, Lancers, Knife Throwers, Rampagers

### Boss(es)

Elite Slasher, Elite Thorny, two Elite Trackers

## Runes and Blueprints

### Blueprints from enemies

Hayabusa Gauntlets, Tornado, Soldier Resistance, Initiative

## Enemies & Traps

### Enemies

Bombardiers, Guardian Knights, Royal Guards, Lancers, Rampagers, Demons

### Boss(es)

Elite Slasher, Elite Thorny, two Elite Trackers

### Hazards

Spikes, spiked flails

The **High Peak Castle** is a sixth level biome. It used to be filled with visitors and guards, among the castle grounds for many purposes. However, as of everything below it, the Malaise put a stop to all the normal activities. The last stand of the royal guard was among these grounds, but, as the current state reads, they did not make it through.

While the grand statue of the King still stands, the paintings as beautiful as ever, and the hallways still quite grand, High Peak Castle has fallen from grace. It seems that no matter how hard he tried to keep royalty safe, the Malaise won in the end. Some are to say that this is called karma.

## General information

### Access and exit

High Peak Castle can be accessed via the Clock Room, Guardian's Haven, or the Mausoleum.

The exit is blocked by two locked doors that need a Castle Key each, which can be found from the Elites found in three specific areas to open the gates to the Throne Room, where the Hand of the King awaits.

### Colored rooms

High Peak Castle will always have three rooms where Elite enemies reside. These Elites will always be a Slasher, two Trackers fought at the same time, and a Thorny. The various rooms containing the Elites with the Castle Keys are engulfed respectively in a red, green and blue light.

Of the keys that they drop, only two are required to get to the Throne Room. The third key will lead to a room that contains a Scroll of Power, two randomly generated items, and the blueprint of the Boomerang. Subsequent runs after the blueprint has been obtained will contain an item instead.

### Level characteristics

#### Scrolls

High Peak Castle contains 2 Scrolls of Power, and 2 Dual Scrolls. When 3 Boss Stem Cells are active, this biome has 1 guaranteed Scroll Fragment, and when 4/5 Boss Stem Cells are active, this biome has 2 guaranteed Scroll Fragments. These cannot spawn in areas requiring the use of any runes.

#### Enemy tier and gear level scaling

In the table below, you will find the gear level and enemy tier of the High Peak Castle based on difficulty.

 Enemy lvl tier
 Enemy Health tier

### Loot and shops

#### Main level

* 1 Treasure chest behind Spider Rune
* 1 Treasure chest behind Ram Rune
* 1 item behind Spider Rune
* 1 item behind Teleportation Rune
* 1 item behind Homunculus Rune
* 1 Weapon shop
* 1 Skill shop

## Exclusive blueprints

### Castle Keys

The blueprint for the Boomerang can be found next to the exit to the Throne Room and requires the 3rd Castle Key. The player needs the Ram Rune and the Spider Rune to go through a very tight parkour with spikes. However it is also possible to do without the Spider Rune, but an amulet with an Affix that grants multiple jumps is required. Alternatively, the Homunculus Rune can be used to grab it at very little risk.

### Moonflower Keys

The blueprint for the Acceptance mutation (3+ BSC) can be found in a secret area where the player must have 3 Moonflower Keys. These keys must be obtained by exchanging the Gardener's Keys from the Promenade of the Condemned and going through the Ramparts, the Graveyard, and the Forgotten Sepulcher, where the keys will be hidden throughout each level in secret areas.

### Enemy blueprints

* The blueprints for Hayabusa Gauntlets and Dead Inside (4+ BSC) can be looted from Lancers.
* The blueprints for Tornado and Soldier Resistance can be looted from Guardian Knights.
* The blueprint for Initiative can be looted from Royal Guards.

## Enemies

The table below lists which enemies are present in the High Peak Castle on each difficulty level and which blueprints each may drop. When applicable, the minimum difficulty level for blueprint acquisition is specified.

## Lore

The Castle hides a number of lore rooms shining light upon the events that led to the downfall of the King and his court, as well as the whole Island.

The rotten corpse of a soldier is found next to a stained letter he wrote describing his symptoms. He was coughing blood, his body was so itchy he scratched himself until he bled, suffered headaches, blurred vision and felt down.

### The Alchemist's room

The blue room appears to have been a laboratory for the Alchemist, granted to him by the King as a last resort option when he realized his ruthless methods were not working. Indeed, its shelves are full of various potions, vials and general scientific equipment akin to the various labs the Alchemist left all over the island. In the center of this room, where the Beheaded fights an Elite Slasher, endless rows of incubators can be seen, filled with mutated bodies. They are the same as those found in the Alchemist's Clock Tower lab, in which he was immersing infected bodies in an experimental solution in hopes of finding a cure to the Malaise.

It is unclear whether the Slasher enemy was a result of the Alchemist's experiments or if it is just another Malaise-infected character, but the fact that it is in the Alchemist's Room suggests it could be the case.

### The Human-Plant room

The green room is host to a variety of plant-like structures, and its walls, floors and ceiling have been colonized by vines. In the center of this room, the Beheaded fights an Elite Thorny in front of a hybrid human-plant character who seemingly broke out of its incubator. This hybrid is the result of crossbreeding experiments by the Alchemist, in which he tried to administer plant extracts to a human "volunteer".

While the Alchemist reports that the experiment was a failure and that the subject did not survive, the fact that the incubator is broken and that the room has been invaded by plants suggest the hybrid did not actually die, and wreaked havoc in this part of the Castle.

It is unclear whether the Thorny enemy was a result of the Alchemist's experiments or if it is just another Malaise-infected character, but the fact that we fight it in this room and that the spikes on its back resemble the thorns of a rose (from which the hybrid seems to have sprouted) suggest it could be the case.

### The Torture room

The red room appears to have been a torture chamber, as evidenced by the various torture instruments scattered on the floor and hanging from the ceiling. In the center of this room, the Beheaded fights two Elite Dark Trackers in a pool of blood flowing from a fountain, with what appears to be dismembered bodies and skeletons hanging from the ceiling. There is currently no lore in the game explaining the purpose of this Torture room. However, the quotation 'High Peak has fallen from its former glory... The last "banquet" held here served up human flesh.' during the level loading screen suggests that it might have been the use. It is unclear if it was used before or after the Malaise outbreak and the Island's downfall.

### Destroyed lab

In the castle is a lab destroyed by the king's loyalists, all of which criticize the Alchemist's efforts for creating a cure, and that isolation is more effective:

* "*The desk was ransacked.*"
* "*Someone wrote in the diary, over the notes of the "alchemist", as he called himself.*"
* "*Why do you continue your experiments, you poor fool?*"
* "*We have to stand together in the face of adversity.*"
* "*We have to ISOLATE healthy people from those affected by the Malaise!*"
* "*LONG LIVE THE KING!*"

### Abandoned chamber room

Inside the castle, a room with multiple beds can be found, presumably the quarters of the room guard, including the Hand of the King's. A note from a guard can be found, noting how the hand is above the King's suspicion and wishing well for the Giant as they haven't seen him in a while:

* "*The Hand is above the King's suspicion, which is more than I can say for the Giant... Though I secretly hope he's ok, we've not seen him in a while now.*"

Another note from a guard notes how the food tastes different since the king ordered the old cook executed:

* "*There's a strange taste to the food since the old cook was offed. The Hand doesn't seem to mind though, so I just hold my nose and dream of custard.*"

A note from the Hand of the King explains the King's paranoia of a plot again his life:

* "*The King is convinced of the existence of a plot against his life. While such a plot may have cause to exist, I've seen no evidence of it. Worse, the food hasn't been up to standard since he had the cook executed...*"

Additionally, another letter can be found next to the Hand of the King's bed, mentioning how the king took down the portrait of him and the Giant personally, and how his men were rattled:

* "*The King came to my quarters to personally remove the portrait of the Giant and I together. I understand his frustration, but my men were rattled...*"

### Other rooms

* As with most biomes, there is a chance of finding a lore room with a bonfire, referencing the game Dark Souls. When you interact with a sword at the campfire, The Beheaded will say "The campfire was abandoned by an earlier visitor", "It won't hurt if i stay here a little" and "Something has changed". Words written on the wall spell "GIT GUD" when interacted with, and the dead man will give an item with some gold. An enemy will sometimes appear in the room, and will drop a lot of cells upon death (50 at 1,4 Boss Stem Cells).

## Trivia

* In earlier versions of the game, this biome was just named *The Castle*.
* The paintings in the Castle depict the various NPC's of the game, such as the Tutorial Knight, the Collector and others:
	+ A painting of the island Dead Cells itself takes place on is present.
	+ A room bigger than the usual with a giant painting of the Giant when he worked as a royal guard for the King.
	+ There is also a painting of a mariner with tentacles for limbs and one red glowing eye hidden under a hood. This since-removed NPC was the Fisherman, who could be found in the Pier biome. He would say to the player "your vessel hasn't docked yet", indicating that there was no further content beyond the Pier at that point in the game's development; and would then proceed to kill the player with one of Conjunctivius's tentacles, effectively counting the run as completed.
* There are also many paintings with easter eggs and references to other media. These include:
	+ A parody of the famous painting The Scream.
	+ A portrait of Alucard from *Castlevania: Symphony of the Night*.
	+ A portrait of the main characters from *Nier: Automata*.
	+ A portrait of The Knight, main character from *Hollow Knight,* another Metroidvania-type game.
	+ A picture of a bonfire with a curved sword embedded in it, clear reference to the bonfires from the Dark Souls franchise;
	+ Landscape paintings of the Obsidian Woods and Magaari Ember Highlands, from the game *Duelyst*.
	+ A landscape of a firewatch tower, in reference to the game *Firewatch*.
	+ The titular sword from the game *Transistor*.
	+ A painting of a boy walking into a culvert/cave, from the Netflix series *Dark*.
	+ A painting of the Estate from the game *Darkest Dungeon*.
	+ A picture of Solaire of Astora, character also from *Dark Souls*, in his trademark pose "Praise the Sun!".
	+ A picture of Stilgar, from the 1991 game *Dune*.
	+ A picture of Ieniemienie, a mouse character from Sesamstraat, a Dutch co-production of Sesame Street from 1980.

## Gallery

* A statue of the King.
* A portrait of the Giant.
* A seemingly abandoned chamber room.
* Sometimes scrolls can spawn in the area requiring the third Key of the Castle to enter.

## References

1. ↑ Castle - Guard letter corpse malaise GIF *Gfycat*, 2018-08-28
2. ↑ ClockTower - Alchemist experiments GIF *Gfycat*, 2018-08-19
3. ↑ Castle - Alchemist grimoire Thorny GIF *Gfycat*, 2018-08-27