Dead Cells Review

Dead Cells
Developer: Motion Twin
Publisher: Motion Twin
Reviewed On: PlayStation 4
Available On: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

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Motion Twin describes Dead Cells as a “rogue-lite metroidvania with some souls-lite combat”. Close your eyes and that could sound a handful of other games in the genre of action platformers. Open them, spend just fifteen minutes with Dead Cells, and you realize that description does the game little justice. Quite simply, Dead Cells is a beacon of light in a genre that has been heavily saturated with titles long-inspired by Castlevania. Not only that, it’s currently one of the best action titles in my library.

Dead Cells isn’t new. In fact, it’s been in Early Access on PC for over a year now, with the full release of the game coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch tomorrow. It’s easy to rack up hours upon hours with Dead Cells without even realizing it, but rest-assured, it’s definitely time well-spent. You play as an unnamed prisoner, who awakens in the prison quarters of a grimy castle that changes with each play through. The goal is to fight your way through the castle to unlock new levels and pathways, all while slashing through a variety of enemies who have their unique patterns of attack.

Though there is a looming threat of permadeath, Motion Twin has done something smart with this concept. Yes, if you die you’ll have to begin in the Prisoner’s Quarters again, but most of your progression, in terms of upgrades are still available. Near the end of each level, the prisoner will visit a creature known as The Collector to unlock different items like health flasks. If you’ve unlocked two health flasks, for example, those will remain with you if you are killed and have to start over again.

Just prepare yourself now to be killed several times. There is no real “learning curve” in the traditional sense with Dead Cells, as the game forces you to jump right in and hit the ground running. The levels change each time, so it’s impossible to learn from your mistakes in a specific area of the level. Instead, what Motion Twin has done is encourage you to learn from your own style of gameplay, adjust it where necessary and when facing a particular group of enemies. Playing repeatedly will certainly help you familiarize yourself with enemies’ attacks and learn your way around a shiny sinew splicer and wolf trap, but combat is so intense and fast-paced, it’s easy to quickly find yourself in a sticky situation where one of the only outcomes is death.

I’ve found, though, that each death is fair; and the controls are so responsive, I was never in a threatening situation, surrounded by numerous enemies, that wasn’t one-hundred percent my own fault. Each death makes you think just a little bit harder about how to approach certain enemies, and which items to keep in your four-limit arsenal. If up being up-close and personal is more your thing, you can opt to keep two daggers with you, instead of one. Better at attacking from far away? You might learn it’s best to keep a sinew splicer and a nicely-upgraded arrow.

The experience of learning which weapons work best for you isn’t tedious, and they can easily be switched out when you come across new weapons, or simply want to try something a little different. The more you play, the smarter and faster you become, and mastering the combat is satisfying in a way few games have been. What makes it even more satisfying is how smooth the combat and controls are. Jumping from platform to platform, rolling away from enemies, climbing up chains, ducking and shooting your arrow- it’s completely seamless in a way that makes everything about Dead Cells that much more enjoyable.

Scattered throughout the levels to help you out and hopefully keep death at bay, are “Scrolls of Power”. These cater to the prisoner’s three main upgrades- Brutality, Tactics, Survival. Each one raises your HP bar at the bottom a certain percentage, while also delivering a nice boost to your weapons. The freedom is yours to choose how you upgrade and adjust the prisoner according to your style of gameplay. During my time with Dead Cells, it seemed no matter how much I upgraded Brutality, I was still never as strong as I thought I should be. Even with upgrading Brutality a couple times throughout the first level, the prisoner still needed several slashes to defeat the common enemies.

What’s interesting, though, is how Motion Twin was able to ease my sentiments of frustration each time I died (and I died a lot). Call me patient, I guess, but instead of grumbling, I found myself enthusiastic about tackling the levels in a difference manner whenever I died, honing new methods of attack, and finding new pathways to unlock.

Each level is well-designed and though progression is linear, the environments sprawl in several different directions. Going farther down or higher up in any given place can lead to hidden pathways, weapons with high DPS, or enemies that drop cells. Each level keep you on your toes in its own special way, whether you are waiting for rotating spiked balls to pass in the Promenade of the Condemned, or dodging floating attacks in the Ramparts. The fact the level layouts change slightly when you die, keeps Dead Cells feeling fresh each time you play it.

 

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Final Thoughts:

Dead Cells is a unique platformer, with smooth gameplay and fast-paced combat that make each play through enjoyable. In the sea of metroidvania-style games, this one manages to carve a name for itself and won’t soon be forgotten. Dead Cells is, quite frankly, one of the best action games I’ve played in a long time.”

*Review code for Dead Cells provided by publisher*