Dead Cells is really great at not withholding information from the player. What separates the great roguelikes from the poor ones is how well they inspire you to pull up your bootstraps and keep going. Then there’s those moments where you have a perfect run with all of the items you prefer and think “these last 30 meticulous minutes are going to pay off.” Then you get to a boss you’ve never seen before and bam - he smashes you to a pulp. It’ll probably last forever because of the raw human element of indomitably. You get a little better, both in terms of raw numbers and skill, until you edge out that boss you’ve been struggling with. And it’s not in the general, sometimes RNG-filled sense of a lot of other roguelikes that entice you to locate the best overpowered items (this feels more balanced) - if you kill enemies you will find cells and will level up. It’s a welcome compromise.ĭead Cells has a very satisfying reward loop because it constantly encourages combat and exploration. While they are generated each run for the most part they retain the same general layout and the interconnected series of levels are always the same. It’s a fairly robust set of spokes on wheels: you could run through the entire game without actually seeing some of its areas. The Metroidvania bit comes in with Dead Cells‘ several permanent abilities like growing vines to reach new heights or using specific totems to teleport to new areas, which in turn unlock additional zones connected to earlier maps.

Oh and it has a purely aesthetic vegetarian food power-up option (among others like “Castlevaniaesque”) which rocks.Įvery run starts the same: in a holding cell that houses a challenge mode door and the main entrance, which presents two items initially (a bow or a shield) before you unlock the power to pick up randomized weaponry for each run. Horrific Lovecraftian horrors can be pelted by ACME-esque Looney Tunes crates, and the main character, an immortal blob, has a quirky, morbid sense of humor. I dig the juxtaposition of humor and profane imagery too. The sprite work is phenomenally done and wrapped up in myriad animations, the weaponry is easy to identify in a pinch and its properties are part of said color-coded scheme, and the concept that the island setting is “constantly evolving” is cute and practical.

Dead Cells instal the new