Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Publisher

Motion Twin

Developer

Motion Twin

Genre

Action, Platform

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

636 MB

Release Date (NA)

Aug 7, 2018

Purchase From

Amazon

Best Buy

Target

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

A fast-playing 2D “roguevania” where death comes often, Dead Cells will have players begging for mercy throughout its procedurally generated areas full of hidden areas, enemies, and brutally difficult bosses.

The Unknown

A green biomass falls into the Prisoners’ Quarters on an unnamed island. The biomass rolls to a human corpse and assumes its body and the headless, nameless hero emerges. Nothing more is known about the corpse, the hero, the biomass, or the Prisoners’ Quarters. The hero only knows that there is a secret to uncover, and sets forth on the path to discovery.

No Story So Far

Dead Cells tells no story when starting, leaving all story hints and clues scattered about the areas and loading screens. The hero is merely dropped in to the Prisoners’ Quarters, and the action begins. The first time through, the hero will learn how to maneuver, attack, and dodge. The hero handles perfectly, with controls that are tight and responsive. After learning the ways of the hero (and of resurrection), the hero goes forward to solve the mysteries of the island, with two items granted at the start.

While Dead Cells always starts the hero from the Prisoners’ Quarters, the path is always different, thanks to the procedurally generated areas, meaning paths, enemy locations, weapons, and scrolls are randomized each run. However, the order in which you visit the different areas is always the same. Progression through each area will require many deaths, as many roguelike games do. However, thanks to the coherent enemy spawns and level design, none of the deaths will feel like they were cheap or forced.

Tools of Survival

Throughout each area, the hero will come across various weapons, offensive items, and defensive items that will aid the hero with stronger attacks or studier shields. Yet, the hero can only hold and use two weapon/shield type items, and two other items, such as bombs or a turret. Scrolls will also be found, which allow an upgrade to one of the three main stats: Brutality, which impacts red items, Tactics, which impacts purple items, and finally Survival, which impacts green items. This makes each run unique to the approach and style of gameplay. One run may be heavy with purple ranged and green defensive items, and the next could be strong in swords for more red-colored melee-based combat.

In addition to items, weapons, and scrolls, the hero will find blueprints along the way. These blueprints will represent an unfound item or weapon to be spawned on a future run. Be on the lookout for them, as blueprints will generally unlock a stronger weapon or item that will be appreciated the farther the run progresses. This adds another another layer of randomization to every run.

Beautiful but Deadly

Every area has its own beautifully styled backdrops and scenery. From caverns to rooftops, no area is repeated through the run. The combat flows well from enemy to enemy, with each different type having a unique visual appearance, attack, and pattern. These range from large ground-based monstrosities to small flying foes, and each new area introduces more dangerous enemies looking to end the hero’s run.

Multiple enemies will attack at once from any angle, and while the hero can jump and move as the player pleases, the main defensive move in the hero’s arsenal is the dodge. The dodge has the hero perform a ground roll, which grants the hero invincibility throughout its duration. This maneuver, while easy to use, will require mastery in order to proceed through the bosses and later areas of Dead Cells.

The bosses of Dead Cells can be absolutely brutal. While the hero chips away at the boss’s heath, taking a few hits from the boss drains the hero’s health rather quickly. That combined with never-before-seen attacks means the first meeting with a boss usually results in quick death. The bosses will require the hero to learn the attack and movement patterns for each boss and utilize the items discovered along the way. Defeating these challenging bosses will allow well-deserved progress to the next area.

Your Money or Your Souls

Each area has multiple explorable paths, some containing items, a shop, or a (seemingly) dead end. Shops appear randomly and contain weapons and items you can purchase with gold, which is dropped from enemies and or found on the journey. Along with gold, enemies can also drop souls, which are spent on character upgrades.

Players can only spend souls at the entrance of each new area reached during the run. However, the purchased character upgrades will persist throughout each run. These upgrades allow for the hero, for example, to carry an additional potion that restores HP, or to get a better starting weapon or shield. Souls should be spent as soon as possible, as they will be lost when the hero perishes.

The area entrance also lets the hero spend gold to power up weapons and items in their possession. This makes these items and weapons more effective in battle, and can also grant a bonus, such as additional poison damage applied when striking a foe. Finally, the hero potion, which heals HP when consumed, can be refilled if it has been used in the previous area.

Once the hero’s HP has been exhausted, the run ends. As mentioned previously, any collected souls collected will be lost, as well as all the gold that the hero has collected. The hero will be resurrected in the Prisoners’ Quarters with their beginning stats, and the next run begins.

Changing the Pace

For those wanting more, daily challenges and a custom mode (unlocked after certain requirements are met) add even more replayability to an already replayable game. Daily challenges are a nice addition, requiring the player to kill as many enemies as possible in a short preset time limit, while the custom mode allows for modifiers to be changed to the player’s liking, such as unlocking all items.

Dead Cells is also actively updated by the developer, bringing bug fixes, game balances, and new modes of play. Plus, the game runs fantastically whether playing in docked or in handheld mode on the Nintendo Switch. Other console versions such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One still play great.

Final Thoughts

Masterfully crafted pixel-based visuals, replayability galore, and great controls make Dead Cells a must have for fans of the roguevania genre. For everyone else, be prepared for endure countless deaths, but know that you’ll feel like a badass by the end. Docked or on the go, Dead Cells earns itself a solid 4 meows!

A review code was supplied by Evolve PR for this review.