Game Review: Dead Cells

Roguelikes are a genre of video games I’ve admittingly been too afraid to get involved in. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with the genre, in fact I’d go so far to say they are probably one of the more refined experiences you can have in gaming. I think for me the main reason I was so hesitant to get involved in the genre is its notorious difficulty. The whole idea of a roguelike is you are given a challenge to overcome with no checkpoint or save points. In essence you are given one chance to get from the start of the game to the end of the game and if you die it’s ‘game over and you’re sent right back to the beginning. This one-shot concept behind it’s gameplay is what always intimidated me, because the idea of losing all that progress to overwhelming odds or a clumsy mistake was always so off putting. Despite all the time I spent avoiding the genre however, all I kept hearing was how good the games were within it. Hollow Knight, Hades, Returnal are all game experiences I keep hearing nothing but praise for and at some point, I started realising that by avoiding the genre I was missing out on some really great games. I knew I had to break this separation and I decided on one particular game to do it with and that game is called Dead Cells.

Developed by France-based studios Motion Twin and Evil Empire; Dead Cells is a metroidvania roguelike game which was originally released back in 2018 on most major platforms Utilising a 2-D, pixel-animated visual style, the game is noted as one of the most acclaimed roguelikes out there to play. Just for context I decided to pick up and play this entry on the Nintendo Switch which I felt was an ideal system to benefit from the pick up and go playstyle which this game is so well known to encourage. 

The story of Dead Cells takes place in an unnamed fantasy setting in which a dark plague has infested the kingdom. You start out already dead, so it feels like the game’s wasting no time reinforcing the bitter reality that awaits you for the duration of your time with it. You are a sentient sludge-like creature which happens to find and inhabit the body of an unfortunate prisoner who was beheaded in the dungeons of the king’s grand castle. Finding yourself with a new lease of life, your job from here on out is to navigate the many horrific sections of this cursed castle to confront the cursed king in an attempt to end the corruption. 

The narrative aspect of the game is sadly not the most compelling. I appreciate there are those out there who would argue narrative should not be a focus of the roguelike genre as it’s all about the gameplay but I hardly feel that’s a justified exception. Hades and Returnal are two games I hear constant praise for not just being brilliant technical experiences but also ones that are driven by their narratives. The main reason with Dead Cells’ story is that it is so fragmented and poorly delivered. You are given no context to the world you’re in and instead are expected to piece together the story through your exploration.  It’s a game which relies on the gameplay to deliver the player enough of an understanding of the story so that it doesn’t have to pull the breaks to deliver it in a more conventional way.  As you explore the levels you can come across environmental sections which you can interact with to help add some glimmer of worldbuilding but it is summed up in the prisoner’s self-thoughts and doesn’t give much time to flesh out the context behind these segments.  It’s such an underwhelming attempt to define this world that it adds an unfortunate sense of friction when you come to fight the final boss and are expected to just understand the stakes and why what happened in the end happens. It’s obviously the developer’s creative choice to keep the gameplay the core focus of the game and let the narrative take a backseat but I feel there could have been a better balance here. I have a desire to learn about this world and its story, it shouldn’t be so vague and difficult to follow it if the player wants to.

The underwhelming negative behind the story isn’t likely to put much of a dent in your overall experience with this game however. As the reality of it is the game’s gameplay is the core foundation of what will keep you coming back to Dead Cells over and over again. Dead Cells’ gameplay design is based around the three core principles; progress, fight and die. You will be doing all three in tandem throughout the many, many hours you will sink into this game. The metroidvania style means you are given these procedurally generated layouts to navigate and fight through with the games 17 distinct locales. Each destination in the game becomes increasingly more difficult as you progress, throwing enemies at you with more aggressive tactics and damage output. The idea of this game’s gameplay is to encourage you to accept death as an inevitability but to always learn from it. The nice thing about the way the game works is you’re not robbed of the entirety of your progress in death. As you kill enemies throughout each level you gain a collectable currency called cells. The idea of these cells is you bank them in-between levels. These cells unlock abilities, weapons, mutations and extra content which all will help towards you overcoming the dangers that await you. It’s a clever way of keeping the player constantly engaged while still looping back to the beginning of the game and losing your collected gear and stats. The mechanics of the game are all woven so tightly to give the player an experience which offers you increasing difficulty but never at the expense at what you may consider fair game. You are going to die over and over but you aren’t going to lose every aspect of your progression, just enough to keep you pushing forward and keep trying new techniques. That constant loop is the heart and soul of Dead Cells, you fall only to get back up and try again. That difficulty is embedded into every measure of the games responsive combat and it’s unrelenting at times.  However difficult the game’s enemies and bosses may feel though, there’s always a way to work around them and overcome the threat they possess.  The gameplay is Dead Cell’s most distinguished offering and it just never falters in providing you a truly addictive and engaging experience to play through time and time again.

I am no where near close to beating Dead Cells, which is mainly due to its requirement to beat multiple runs on increasingly difficult modifiers. But after 15+ hours and finally getting my first proper run completed I can confidently agree that this game has so much value! You will scream and shout and probably swear every now and then when you get unceremoniously killed off, but that itch to get back at it and perfect your run once more never leaves you. That’s the beauty behind Dead Cells, it’s a game which invites you to push yourself over and over and overcome every cruel challenge it puts in front of you. Yeah, it’s narrative isn’t all that compelling but it more than makes up for it with a gameplay offering which is truly distinct. I am so glad I choose to break my avoidance of roguelikes with this game, because if this is the level of quality all the other roguelikes out there present, I’m going to be in for a very frustratingly fun time.