Dead Cells

The main character tries to reach the end of a large castle, but on the way, he will encounter a whole horde of various monsters that will hit, throw, burn, and simply kill him in a multitude of ways. In response to such unfriendly treatment, one can bash a monster with a frying pan or, in the old-fashioned way, use swords, whips, and other classic types of weapons.

The single-player platformer Dead Cells is a hybrid of several genres: roguelike, metroidvania, action, and souls-like games, with the camera positioned to the side, offering a view of the two-dimensional medieval castle.

Dead Cells was released in early access on Steam in May 2017, and the full version was released on August 7, 2018. Throughout this time, the developers closely monitored fan feedback, fixed bugs, and carefully balanced the gameplay mechanics, taking the best from each genre. As a result, Dead Cells has earned high praise from players.

There isn't a conventional story in Dead Cells. Short dialogues with neutral NPCs explain that the hero is on a fictional island, whose inhabitants have been affected by the Khor virus and have begun to change.

Thus, in the prison, the first game level shows guards and prisoners transformed into the undead. Leaving this cursed place does not make things easier — the player encounters various monsters, creatures, and strong bosses.

The island is ruled by the King, who is the main antagonist. The hero seeks to leave the island and kill the King to bring about some changes in this sleepy realm. As the game progresses, he meets different characters — Ghulian, the Collector, the Chronicler, and others.

The game world consists of two dozen levels, each of which is always generated slightly differently, while their sequence remains the same. Thus, it won't be possible to memorize the layout of rooms and enemies, various boosters, and simply useful items.

Often, one must choose to pass through one of two levels that differ in content. Dead Cells rewards those who like to explore every corner, as well as speedrunners — some rooms close in a matter of minutes, but if you manage to reach them in time, you can obtain elite weapons or gear. It is entirely up to the player whether they will explore every nook or rush ahead.

Each session in Dead Cells starts the same way — a new corpse has "brain goo" dripping from it, after which it jumps up and begins to explore the game world, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and simply smashing everything in sight. Secondary characters call the hero Headless, sometimes the Prisoner or the Fallen.

There are no saves or checkpoints in the game; it must be completed from start to finish without losing health. Death is a matter of time, and the character respawns at the very beginning with an empty inventory. To survive, one must collect gear — weapons for the first and second slots, runes, mutations, and amulets.

The gameplay style is defined by four types of weapons (melee and ranged, shields, and spells), three types of skills (setting up turrets and traps, using grenades, magical abilities), and specialization — Brutality, Tactics, or Survival.

Dead Cells offers extremely varied gameplay along with simple controls. The traditional metroidvania movement back and forth is complemented by crouching, jumping up and down, diving at enemies, rolling, blocking hits, or parrying them.

The combat mechanics take into account numerous post-effects on enemies — critical hits, bleeding, burning, stunning, freezing, slowing, and others. Items are divided by specialization, quality, and level, and high-level items have modifiers for specific actions (attacks).

A full completion of the game is only possible after several runs, when the player finds all the runes, mutations, and amulets, preserving upgraded items. Over time, access to the most secret rooms will open, locked doors will be unlocked, and the most unusual enemies will be defeated.

The game features over 50 enemy variants, each regular version has a strong and elite counterpart, with new dangerous abilities and higher damage. Each enemy can be killed using one's own powers, employing tactics with abilities or by setting them up for traps.

The latter will not hesitate to take advantage of the player's inattention — balls on chains, spikes, fire jets, crumbling platforms, and other traps can easily kill the character. The varied gameplay allows Dead Cells to remain engaging even after 10-15 attempts to complete the game, with a full playthrough taking about 30 hours.