Dead Cells Review

Lose your head.

Dead Cells is one of those games that you inevitably hear about as it bounces across the astrosphere raining it's prominence upon the gaming world, but which you never actually pull the trigger to pick up and try for yourself. I guess for someone like me, the sense that everyone else is playing the same game that I am is actually a little bit of a turn-off within my pretentious, main character syndrome, mind; in fact, I'm only now considering finally getting around to Cyberpunk 2077 for that very reason. In fact, the most that I ever knew of this game before diving into it was the whole situation with the IGN reviewer who 'accidentally' plagiarised some independent reviewer's article on the game. Now since that seems like such an easy way to get your work done, I would absolutely be down for doing the exact same thing but unfortunately I just don't have the verbose foundation to sell that illusion. Shame, I really would love to save myself a Saturday of work.

When I picked up Dead Cells it was with the entire package attached, because I always said to myself that when the time came to dive into this particular ocean, I would do so with the intention to experience everything the game has to offer in it's current state. That's because Dead Cells is, at it's heart, a Roguelite game where 'runs' through the core campaign are randomised in map layout, enemy density and, should you have the appropriate DLC, the biomes that you pick through on your journey through the island. Although, Dead Cells does keep it's adherence to some basic principles of design in order to promote the second side of it's dual-genre body- the castlevania framework. That's right, Dead Cells litters it's world with a few opportunities to improve one's movement set for the sake of being able to visit some previously unexplorable biomes or secret rooms with wall jumps or teleportation runes you can pick up. Quite a fascinating combination given the typical rigors that a Castlevania would demand and the relative free-form chaos that a Rougelite invites.

In it's gameplay, Dead Cells presents a surprisingly heavy-feeling combat platformer where the player is expected to find three styles of weapon to battle with- melee, ranged and a shield. This pairs with the dodge button to make a very basic but broadly applicable combat system of dodges, parries and slaps that most people will find instantly familiar if they've played any platformer or even a Souls game before. Speaking of Souls, Dead Cells' own RPG-like improvement system is based around randomly dropped 'Cell' spat out from slain enemies, or from bosses, or from special challenge doors between biomes that reward either passing through a level as quickly as possible or killing a certain amount of enemies without being hit. Reinforcing those types of playstyles for those who may not have even considered taking the game as 'fast-paced' or 'kill carefully'.

The Rougelite comes to play in the weapons and tools you pick up on each run that are selected from an ever expanding pool of items you'll find off drops, boss weapons and a large amount of cross-over weapons borrowed from a plethora of indie platformers from all over. Every single one of these weapons change up the gameplay significantly with unique attacks, effects and, yes, flavour text bonuses, rarities and levels for those who like that style of looting. Now I knew a decent chunk of this starting the game, but what I came to be utterly astounded by was the amount of seriously incredible platformers and indie games in general that Dead Cells has crossed over with in order to add some really cool meaningful items. It's more than just throwing in a little reference here or there, it's like the game has positioned itself as the Smash Bros of the indie space with the amount of connections they've made.

I was ecstatic to find the Pure Nail from Hollow Knight dropped from a wrought-iron bench lent from that game, just as I really enjoyed cosplaying as Slay The Spires' 'Ironclad' through just one of the several dozens of skins available in the game. Gordon Freeman's iconic outfit and Crowbar spawned in one of my runs, and the shrine from Blasphemous dropped a face-smashing flask from that universe to play around with. I am quite sad that the crossover item for Blasphemous wasn't 'Mea Culpa', but I suppose the team needs to make every item stand out as something special and unique in gameplay, not just for how it looks as a sprite. (I actually appreciate that design integrity.) And, of course, the most recent DLC for Dead Cells brings the 'Return to Castevania' crossover which not only introduces items from that legendary franchise into Dead Cells, but also new bosses, a whole new biome and a simply incredible remix of the iconic Super Castelvania IV track- Vampire Killer.

Yet through all of it's crossovers, Dead Cells manages to retain a decently consistent high quality pixel palette style that compliments well with the popping colours of differing biomes and enemy types and weapon effects to create an aesthetically pleasing game. Even the crossover games items don't clash when slightly redesigned to work within Dead Cells art style, further cementing the game's curious point as a nexus meeting pinon from which all other franchises connect. In fact, the only visual problem I have with the game is from the vanilla main bosses, all three of which carry the same visual theming which not only doesn't gel with their chosen biomes, but which stands out in their 3D models in a manner I would honestly describe as a little ugly. Every other boss the game has added since is more thematically appropriate and interestingly designed in general, but I wonder why the core route never got a redesign.

Perhaps that might tie back subconsciously to the somewhat flippant relationship that Dead Cells maintains with it's own narrative. Our hero, the Beheaded, seems to be something of a detached protagonist from the relatively grim kingdom brought to it's knees by Malaise and the draconian measures of a king out of his depth. He communicates only through thoughts and hand gestures, with those gestures mostly being comically rude or upbeat and his thoughts on lore snippets discovered between runs typically being light-hearted or pithy. It's a cuddly way to approach a world like this and one that is definitely of it's own style- but I won't lie to you and say that I like it. Personally, I'm more a fan of the platformer titles that treat themselves with a degree of seriousness that allows me to get immersed within that world, but it's much more this team's style to wink at the camera and tell a joke. But to each their own, I relent- I know somebody would find this style of narrative endearing.

As with any run-based game, Dead Cells is designed from the ground up to be replayable and not just through the randomness of map spawning and layouts. There are special Boss Stem Cells earned by beating final bosses which make the game harder and introduces new enemies, (And even a true final ending down the line apparently) the DLC add totally distinct routes with their own bosses to contend with and it's actually impossible to experience everything in a single run through of the game. For this Dead Cells situates itself with so much content to keep a player occupied, with daily runs and boss rushes to throw in there as well, that the game can easily serve as one of those titles you keep installed for years to come and throw on whenever you're doing something else for a quick under-one-hour run. Not because the game has you tied to it through some daily reward system, but because you want to see how far you can get exploring some far corner of the game that you've never touched before. That's what a forever-style game should feel like to play.

Summary

Dead Cells is a supremely robust and polished Rougelite Metroidvania action platformer that knows exactly what it is and revels in being just that to the best of it's ability. It presents fantastic gameplay variety, biome + enemy diversity and miscellaneous activites to keep the player always hooked doing something. I can see in this game a gem that has been cut over years of love-stricken development to remove every lingering impurity from the gleam and leave a near perfect gem. At this point I honestly think that the only holdups the game still has are stylistic decisions that differ from what I would have preferred, but not in a manner significant enough to detract from what is a wholly spectacular package. Action platformer lovers and rougelite fans: you need to play this game. Metroidvania diehards may find the very nature of the constantly regenerating world a little less appealing. Lionized off my first complete run-through, which even then just feels like scratching the surface of this game, I'm happy giving Dead Cells a whole hearted A Grade on my arbitrary scoring scale for being a fantastic example of a genre pinnacle.  I genuinely hope this title remains a touchstone of indie gaming for many more years to come, because the industry needs more monoliths like this representing it's best.