Dead Cells – Nindie Spotlight – Kill, Die, Learn, Repeat
As far as rogue-likes go, Dead Cells easily stands out as one of the best. With smooth gameplay, clever combat systems, and a strong reliance on the player’s own ability to learn and adapt, I was crawling through the game’s gorgeously illustrated halls long after I first defeated the final boss. Despite that classic rogue-like punishment of sending you to the start of the game when you die, Dead Cells still manages to make each run massively rewarding as you overcome the many obstacles that the game has to offer.
My name is The Never Yak, and this is your Nindie Spotlight for today: Dead Cells.
Dead Cells has a complex lore that you’re encouraged to explore through scraps of letters, wall carvings, and small items left on the island prison where the game is set. However, at its simplest, you play as a decapitated prisoner who has the ability to respawn upon death. The gameplay is made up of you brutally slashing your way through each procedurally generated level in order to reach and defeat a final boss.
When you reach a new area for the first time, it often feels impossible and overwhelming, but after a few runs of getting there, enemies will become familiar enough that you can fly through it feeling like an unstoppable god. This sense of maintaining so much progress even after dying is massively aided by the vast sets of great weapon and skill upgrades, and a few metroidvania-like abilities that will allow you to creep through the dark halls of each level in exciting new ways and invent new tactics for combat.
Upgrades are unlocked with cells, little blue orbs that are randomly dropped upon an enemies’ death. Cells can also be obtained from locked rooms you can access by completing a level under a certain amount of time, encouraging a risky but rewarding play style. Runs can also be completed slowly and methodically, allowing you to be a little safer but not to get the rewards from the time rooms.
On top of fantastic gameplay mechanics, Dead Cells is visually stunning. Each area has its own visually distinct colour palate and mood, which helps make reaching new areas feel even more exciting than it perhaps would do otherwise. Enemy designs and attacks also change drastically throughout each area, which keeps that originality other games of the genre tend to struggle with.
Dead Cells offers a brilliant score, with pieces upbeat enough to keep you moving energetically through the game, yet still somehow really relaxing. My personal favourite track would have to be the Clock Tower music, and also the music from the animated trailers.
Dead Cells also has four fantastic DLC packs (As of February 2022) that offer bonus levels, enemies, bosses, and even weapons. They add even further to Dead Cells‘ world and lore and are very exciting to explore. Although you do have to pay for them, the pricing is very reasonable for the content you get, and they’re well worth purchasing before or after you finish the base game.
To sum it up, Dead Cells is a brutally punishing yet infinitely rewarding masterpiece of a rogue-like. Packed with upgrades and secrets, it never fails to surprise and satisfy, no matter how many times I played through it.
Although each run left me with that feeling of being painfully close to where I wanted to be, I always learned new ways to win and was ready to repeat.
There is your Nindie Spotlight on Dead Cells. Check back again next time for a look into another great Nindie title. What are some of your favorite indie games? Let us know in the comments below! Thank you for visiting Nintendo Link. Happy gaming, everyone.
