Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Reviews
Dead Cells fans will find a lot of value in the add-on, as will any Castlevania followers willing to tolerate a considerable amount of repetition and randomness.
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is a remarkable crossover packed with quality. Content from the Vampire Hunter series is creatively introduced into the Dead Cells universe, with new stages and gear that further enrich the experience. The numerous references are the highlight of the expansion, but it lacked a bit of identity, as the stages and bosses are not so different from what is already offered in the main campaign. Either way, this DLC is essential for both Dead Cells and Castlevania fans.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Return to Castlevania is an obvious and great mix between Dead Cells and Castlevania. This new DLC is a great tribute to the Konami historic video game saga. If you already a Dead Cells player, you will obviously like playing with all the new toys Motion Twin is offering and if you never played Dead Cells but love Castlevania, now it's now or never to try out this incredible Roguevania!
Review in French | Read full review
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is another excellent expansion for the base game. It’s remarkable that nearly five years after its initial release, the development team continues to provide so much additional support, making one of my favorite games of 2018 even better. There’s a ton to like here for fans of both sides of this crossover, but you do have to appreciate both to get much out of it, as the difficulty of this new content will mean its best experienced after gaining some experience with the base game and upgrading your character.
Return to Castlevania is a lovingly crafted expansion for Dead Cells that fans of both games shouldn’t miss out on.
Return To Castlevania integrates into Dead Cells without distorting it, revealing itself as a heartfelt tribute and well inserted within the flow of the main game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is an immaculate love letter to one of its inspirations, but it still retains so much of its own identity and humour as you explore Dracula's castle as The Beheaded.
What makes Return to Castlevania better is that it essentially allows you to turn Dead Cells into a Castlevania roguelike, and a damned good one. The DLC serves as a fantastic love letter to one of the series that helped inspire Dead Cells, and that love absolutely comes across. I honestly wish that more games would let me just turn them into a Castlevania spin-off. What’s the matter, Mario? Think you’re better than Castlevania? Well, you’re not, so put on this leather cuirass and carry this whip. Wait, that sounded weird.
The newest expansion to Dead Cells is an action-packed homage that injects Castlevania flavor into Dead Cells' familiar roguelike structure.
A loving homage to Castlevania and another great slice of DLC for Dead Cells, with the two games working together in perfect harmony.
The best parts of Return to Castlevania are all the times the DLC says, “hell yeah, Castlevania!” The not so best parts are whenever the DLC tries to invoke Castlevania in its gameplay. Chasing the unlockable outfits, listening to the music and exploring the new biomes were all awesome, but most of the new items didn’t feel good and Richter Mode was kind of a bummer. I appreciate the love and scale, and the commitment to the idea of a “Return” to Castlevania. But now I want to put Dead Cells down and play more Castlevania.
The DLC has issues trying to accommodate new players, but it’s still worth playing for its fun weapons, fantastic boss fights, and great usage of iconic music.
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is a great excuse to get back into the game with its great atmosphere, impressive soundtrack and gameplay variety.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is an impressive DLC that adds a lot of new content to an already excellent game. The attention to detail, new weapons and abilities, and challenging bosses make this expansion a must-play for fans of the series. However, the difficulty spike may be a turnoff for some players.
To put it simply, if you’ve ever been waiting or wanting to find a reason to play Dead Cells, there has definitely never been a better time. And the absolute best outcome from this content? Konami agree to let Motion Twin make a full new Castlevania game. Because this is definitely something we need in the world, like, yesterday. Even if that never comes to pass, we’ll always have this DLC to remind us how good it could have been and just how at the top of their game these developers truly are.
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is pitch-perfect revival of a franchise we're desperate to see anything new from and a perfect excuse to spend another week of sleepless nights back inside this iconic roguelite. If Motion Twin and Evil Empire decide to hang up their Dead Cells hat after this, this would be just about the best way to say goodbye. (The only thing they could do better is announce that they're developing a new full Castlevania release themselves...) Fans of Castlevania need to hop into this as soon as they can. Fans of roguelites who haven't played Dead Cells at all yet need to use this DLC as their excuse to get into this game immediately. And those that aren't either... well you might just become mega fans of both franchises after a few runs through this DLC. WHAT IS A MAN? A MISERABLE LITTLE PILE OF GOOD VIDEO GAME IDEAS?
Chances are you're playing Dead Cells because you are a fan of the search action genre, so it's only fitting you would appreciate the slice of love Motion Twin has made from this humble-sized DLC.
At $9.99, Return to Castlevania is the most expensive DLC for Dead Cells yet, but it is substantial enough to be worth it. The new areas are a ton of fun, and the number of new weapons and costumes is hefty enough to add extra value to the game. It might not hit as hard for those who don't have nostalgia for Castlevania, but even then, the extra biomes and boss fights are pretty darn great.
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania DLC is an absolute triumph that everyone should play. It's one of the few times we get a DLC to a modern game that absolutely nails the classic gaming franchise it took inspiration from. The game looks, sounds, and absolutely plays like a classic Castlevania adventure. The soundtrack will leave you jamming in your head for hours at iconic Castlevania tunes. Its overall shorter game length will ultimately disappoint you, as the DLC is so good you wish it didn't end as soon as it does.
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is a fun and challenging action-platformer that will stimulate the part of the older gamers’ brains that loves nostalgia, while teaching a new generation that a 2D game can still be great, even in 2023.