Dead Cells
Perhaps disappointingly, Dead Cells is not a game
based on the 2000 Papa Roach song. Neither is it a
game about Metal Gear Solid 2’s special forces unit.
But wait, come back! It might actually be better than
both of those.
Dead Cells is, in fact, an intriguing indie effort from
developer Motion Twin, a studio mostly known for
its mobile and browser-based games. It’s a heavily
stylised Metroidvania-esque action platformer, with
Roguelike elements and a dash of Dark Souls to boot.
If that sounds like a lot of influences to throw into
the mix, well, it is, but Motion Twin does a great
job of balancing them out and turning them into
something unique, a ‘RogueVania’ as it likes to call it.
The art style is gorgeous, and creates a wonderful
sense of atmosphere.
You play as a headless warrior who has a glowing orb
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(PC, Early Access)
for a face, and are let loose into a crumbling castle
full of diverging paths and monsters to kill. As you
progress, you’ll earn money from slaying enemies,
collect the titular Dead Cells which you can spend
on upgrades (if you make it to an NPC at the end
of each area) and find powerful weapons and skills.
Then you’ll die and lose them all and have to start
again. All you’ll get to keep are any Cells that you
already spent and whatever upgrades they unlock.
It’s a very run-based experience, similar in format to
Rogue Legacy with its randomised layouts for each
area and the ever-present threat of permadeath, with
only upgrades persisting between runs. But as with
Rogue Legacy, each run you do, you get that little bit
more powerful, and can progress that little bit further.
Where Dead Cells differs is with its Metroidvania
trappings; you’ll come across Runes that unlock
new traversal abilities (like creating vine ladders
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