Any game with dead cells fluid and fun combat but without perma-death?

[Chaos]

^Title

[ChaosSabre]

Only thing I can think of would probably be Salt and Sanctuary. But the combat in that is not so fluid.

[Gerardufoin]

Salt and Sanctuary combats would be closer to a 2D Dark Souls (which was the aim of the devs), relying more on good knowledge of the timings than smoothness, IMO. (Fun game to play though, definitely recommended if you like Dark Souls and 2D games).

My pick for fluid fights would be Hollow Knight, a 2D metroidvania. Different from Dead Cells in the sense that you stick with one weapon through the whole game, but I loved the combats. I think it's my favourite game when it comes to hitting stuff and just moving around in general.
I recommend looking this one up, pretty safe pick if you're into metroidvania.
The devs also do free DLC (with the fourth one coming by the end of the year), so that's always nice.

Another perharps more ricky pick would be Sundered (also a 2D metroidvania). This game is a bit different with the enemies layout though. While exploring and fighting normal mobs, you will be attacked from time to time by hordes of enemies, so the combats can become quite messy, with you in the middle dashing in/out of the horde while fighting. Not for everyone, but if it feels really good when you do well.
Note that there is no "perma-death" in the sense that you keep your upgrades and unlocked progression, but you will be sent back to the start area when you die, so maybe it's not what you're looking for.
The game is not that long however (roughly 20 hours if you 100% the achievements), so I would recommend getting it on sale, as 20$ may feel a bit too much.

As honorable mention I could throw in Shovel Knight, which is a retro platformer. It may be stretching a bit the concept of "fluid combats" though, so I'll let you look into it yourself. I liked it a lot personally.
If you like 2D platformer I definitely recommend it though.

Good you luck with your search :)

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Gerardufoin:

Good you luck with your search :)

The games you recommended are all in my metroidvania bundle :D.

Yea salt and sanctuary is one of my all time favourites, i tried hollow knight but the lack of customization was kinda off,
I got sundered in the bundle but never tried it, will download tonight.

[Gerardufoin]

Yikes, "Good you luck". The perfect middle ground between "Wish you luck" and "Good luck".


Oh, true, I had forgotten that Sundered is also in the Not-a-metroidvania bundle, haha. That's actually where I got Dead Cells and Salt and Sanctuary, such a good deal.

It's true that Hollow Knight may feel "hollow" (please kill me) when it comes to customization. There are the charms for that, but it's definitely not at the level of a Salt and Sanctuary. I don't know how far you went into the game, I'd recommend going until the first boss to get the hang of things. If it still does not feel fun, then yeah, better find something else to play.

Sundered is also not at the same level as SaS when it comes to customization, i'd say it's a middle ground between Hollow Knight and SaS. You have a fixed set of weapons, but you also have access to a talent tree in the same spirit as SaS to upgrade your stats and gain perks.

Hope you'll find it fun ;)

[AlexRash]

Valdis Story - great slasher-metroidvania.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/252030/Valdis_Story_Abyssal_City/?l=russian

[>>>>>>>>>>>SYCSPY<<<<<<<<<<<]

Bastion maybe.

[Thexder0]

Did you look at 2007's Aquaria (here is a trailer)?

It starts calmly and peacefully...

....then it stays easy for a long time, with a cheerful atmosphere...

...and then it stays fairly easy for a while more (with a few dark notes here and there)...

...and then you realize you only played 15% of the game (and it gets a bit harder, and a bit creepy)...

(Ok, you can see where this is going)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/24420/Aquaria/

HOLY CARARARPPPPPRAP WHAT I DONT HOW DO I EVEN TRY TO ♥♥♥♥ WHAT WHAT!?!?!?

[R2zi3l]

Originally posted by Gerardufoin:

Salt and Sanctuary combats would be closer to a 2D Dark Souls (which was the aim of the devs), relying more on good knowledge of the timings than smoothness, IMO. (Fun game to play though, definitely recommended if you like Dark Souls and 2D games).

My pick for fluid fights would be Hollow Knight, a 2D metroidvania. Different from Dead Cells in the sense that you stick with one weapon through the whole game, but I loved the combats. I think it's my favourite game when it comes to hitting stuff and just moving around in general.
I recommend looking this one up, pretty safe pick if you're into metroidvania.
The devs also do free DLC (with the fourth one coming by the end of the year), so that's always nice.

I second that if you are looking for a great game with challenging combat and metroidvania then Hollow Knight is perfect. Combat in Hollow Knight is faster than Salt and Sanctuary but certainly slower than the combat in dead cells. There is also a bit more of a focus on platforming. (I just started playing dead cells so I may be wrong about this) As a bonus, the lore and atmosphere in Hollow Knight is outstanding as well. Plus the free content the devs have released is very good.

Salt and Sanctuary is another one to consider and as somebody who has finished it, I will say its superb as well but I don't think its what your looking for because its not really a slasher. The combat is more methodical like a souls game as the poster above me said.

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Raziel:

I second that if you are looking for a great game with challenging combat and metroidvania then Hollow Knight is perfect.

I was looking to buy hollow knight on steam but spent my budget on 'not a metroidvania' bundle, Yea that game is easily a modern classic

[dTTb]

Originally posted by AlexRash:

Valdis Story - great slasher-metroidvania.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/252030/Valdis_Story_Abyssal_City/

Thank you, seems absolutely amazing.

Ps: stripped the language part from the url so people from different countries dont' stare at '0 reviews in your language'

[ChaosSabre]

Originally posted by Raziel:

Originally posted by Gerardufoin:

Salt and Sanctuary combats would be closer to a 2D Dark Souls (which was the aim of the devs), relying more on good knowledge of the timings than smoothness, IMO. (Fun game to play though, definitely recommended if you like Dark Souls and 2D games).

My pick for fluid fights would be Hollow Knight, a 2D metroidvania. Different from Dead Cells in the sense that you stick with one weapon through the whole game, but I loved the combats. I think it's my favourite game when it comes to hitting stuff and just moving around in general.
I recommend looking this one up, pretty safe pick if you're into metroidvania.
The devs also do free DLC (with the fourth one coming by the end of the year), so that's always nice.

I second that if you are looking for a great game with challenging combat and metroidvania then Hollow Knight is perfect. Combat in Hollow Knight is faster than Salt and Sanctuary but certainly slower than the combat in dead cells. There is also a bit more of a focus on platforming. (I just started playing dead cells so I may be wrong about this) As a bonus, the lore and atmosphere in Hollow Knight is outstanding as well. Plus the free content the devs have released is very good.

Salt and Sanctuary is another one to consider and as somebody who has finished it, I will say its superb as well but I don't think its what your looking for because its not really a slasher. The combat is more methodical like a souls game as the poster above me said.

Hmmm. I'd say Hollow Knight is also more souls like personally. You still need to be methodical in combat in that game. Reason I suggested Salt and Sanctuary over Hollow Knight is coz you actually have gear and different movesets much like Dead Cells. While Hollow Knight combat is superb you are still stuck using only the nail through whole game. I found Hollow Knight more akin to megaman more than anything else. You just use a melee weapon and have a metroidvania style map. Though yea I can see someone liking Dead Cells liking Hollow Knight as well. It's just weird to me that though never even occured before I saw this. As for Dead Cells there is some platforming challanges in secret rooms but nowhere to level of White Palace in Hollow Knight. White Palace was the hardest boss in that game for me XD