So Dead Cells has been interesting... it's fun but I've noticed a few things that frustrate. You die, you start from scratch... now it is claimed you can progressively get stronger and such as you go but it doesn't really seem that way. You lose most everything upon death. Also the little you do hold onto doesn't make THAT much of a difference imo. It also feels that as you get further into the game and slowly unlock things that don't reset upon death the enemies get stronger and stronger with each play through. I'm even starting to see enemies in the first level that used to not show until much later... so if that's the case what's the point of leveling? Lastly this game goes from solid challenge/fun to just plain absurd beyond belief once you pass the bridge... it's quite a harsh and sudden jump.
Any tips would be welcome because it's a fun game but restarting after every death is starting to wear me down a bit...
Pick a build type and stick with it. Survival is by far the strongest; stacking green scrolls with a good green (or legendary/colorless) weapon is the easiest way to progress. A Tactics build with a solid ranged weapon is also good. Brutality builds are really challenging, and you should avoid them for now. This guide goes into greater detail about
these subjects.
For mutations, I always picked YOLO, Dead Inside and Necromancy. Gives you a ton of sustain for full clears.
Each time you begin a run, you ought to do so with a particular goal in the mind. Are you farming cells for the Forge? Buying the Hunter's Grenade to force a certain weapon schematic to drop? Etc. Early on, you ought to be trying to get
all the runes so that the entire map is unlocked for you. This also has the helpful side benefit of granting you access to a bunch of new areas in the first few biomes which should allow you to consistently come out of them stronger than before.