Dead Cells Reviews
Dead Cells mixes elements from two different genres that are starting to oversaturate to create its own genre: the roguevania, offering refreshing originality. All of its very well-executed aspects create an experience like no other.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Dead Cells is a great new addition to the Metroidvania genre, and it’s amazing that this is Motion Twin’s first major outing besides free-to-play based browser games. Kudos to the team for creating such a memorable experience that sinks it’s claws into you and keeps dragging you back for “just one more run” at 3:00am in the morning.
With a timer and handy teleportation gates strewn about areas, Dead Cells certainly feels a lot faster paced than most of the other rogue-like games I’ve played. Even the combat, with liberal use of the dodge roll, feels a lot more fluid and technical. With a fresh soundtrack that I felt really captured the ambiance of each zone inside the castle, and some pretty dang nostalgia inducing pixel style graphics that aren’t grossly overdone or under-styled, Dead Cells is certainly a game I’d recommend for any fans of the rogue-like genre who are looking for a challenge, especially since there is such a wide array of platforms to choose from.
An utterly compelling and challenging ride, Dead Cells is a dense and consistently evolving game that is what every budding Early Access game should aspire to become.
Super Metroid, Symphony of the Night, and now Dead Cells – it easily stands with the greats in every regard.
Dead Cells is a fantastic melding of two seemingly contradictory design philosophies. A Roguelike at heart, the game utilises Metroidvania levels in a way that gives the player freedom of choice without making any style of play pointless. There’s plenty of opportunities to employ your brain cells in crafting different builds of stats and items, and even with the simplistic combat, the game is a blast to get through. I cannot recommend the game highly enough, and it may very well have cracked a gap through my cynicism for the first time since I saw Yennifer on a unicorn.
Dead Cells is a brilliant, challenging game empowered by powerful visual design and addictive combat. It’s few flaws do little to detract from the overall experience, even if the story could have done with a little more time in the oven.
Dead Cells is a punishing game that is not developed for all kind of gamers, but the adrenaline fused and joyful experience makes it a hard pass. The main reason behind the difficulty of Dead Cells is its genre, but it would be wiser of Motion Twin to rework some aspects of it as it is too easy to lose progression after hours of playing. However, it is worth mentioning that the fun gameplay that has been made by developers will keep you from leaving Dead Cells and you will end up repeating the missions with a single sentence in your mind, "One more time".
Review in Persian | Read full review
Dead Cells plays like a best-of series from many groundbreaking ideas of the last decades: artwork and gameplay are brilliant, controls are flawless, the motivation curve is surprisingly steep and all the components are so good well mixed together that you are going to forget time. Even if you just a little into one of these genres, Dead Cells is an absolute no-brainer.
Review in German | Read full review
One part rogue-like, one part Metroidvania. Mix in some speed running and you’ve got yourself a tremendous baby of a game.
Dead Cells is a fantastic game and an easy recommendation to fans of rogue-likes, or those who want a truly rewarding experience. The progression system will keep you hooked and so does mastering the game's combat. Punishing as it may be, nothing feels better than finally pushing a little further or unlocking a new upgrade you wanted. The weaker exploratory and world-building elements are negligible in the face of what the game does well. The art helps to round out the package to be one of 2018's finest games.
Dead Cells is possibly the best roguelike since Nuclear Throne, and an indie game that does nothing more than confirm the good state of form of these small studios full of talent and good.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dead Cells might not be the Metroidvania it half-heartedly professes to be, but it is a phenomenal rogue-lite and probably the best game I’ve played this year. The constant feeling of progression should be enough to tempt even those who don’t usually enjoy the genre while still being intense enough for those who lap this stuff up.
Overall, Dead Cells is a fantastic game. Some great visuals, smooth controls and satisfying gameplay that I’m sure most people will enjoy. It’s not for the faint hearted though and the difficulty may be a bit much for some so be warned of that. But it never feels impossible and the constant, drip fed progression is rewarding enough to keep playing and unlocking things. Dead Cells is great and if you’ve sampled the plethora of excellent Switch indie games like Hollow Knight, Iconoclasts and Salt & Sanctuary, then you will feel very much home with this release too. It stands shoulder to shoulder with indie game giants thanks to its visuals and fantastic, addictive gameplay. For me it’s an essential purchase whether from the eShop, the standard physical edition or the Signature Edition, I think any fans of action platformers owe themselves to play this excellent game. Buy it.
Dead Cells is one of the cases where the gameplay loop itself is pretty much flawless. The number of variables and systems within the game could disrupt the simple combination of moves, but in fact, they enrich the combat's density, making the player have critical thinking and extremely fast decisions to match their present abilities and get out of those dungeons alive. This is one of those games that I will not delete from my system anytime soon because I'm still playing and I'm sure I'll continue to visit it several times in the future.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Dead Cells is one incredible rogue-lite title providing glorious visuals that are filled to the brim with depth and a fresh take on a crowded genre.
Drawing from numerous inspirations, Dead Cells presents refreshing and new ideas from mixing established genres. Though these ideas on their own can be unique and interesting, they don’t always mix together well and are set back by a huge difficulty spike.
Dead Cells is a brutally hard game to play, not because of its combat or mechanics but rather because of the steep penalty for failure. It still feels fun and rewarding to play though, so it is worth checking it out.
Balletic combat, beautiful visuals, a grim sense of humour to it, and the progressive upgrade system that encourages completion makes this a brilliant addition to a sub-genre that continues to grow from strength to strength. Highly recommend.
Dead Cells meshes two genres without either feeling tacked-on or lacking complexity. A must-have for roguelike fans.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review