Dead Cells
A 2D roguevania blending permadeath with Metroidvania exploration.
Dead Cells is a 2018 game that blends roguelike and Metroidvania elements, created by the French independent studio Motion Twin. Players control the Prisoner, a shapeless being who must fight across a disease-ridden island to kill its King. The game uses procedurally generated levels, where players find weapons, treasure, and tools through exploration. A permadeath system means that dying strips the player of all items and abilities gained during that run, except for a few permanent upgrades. Defeated enemies drop a currency called Cells, which can be spent on lasting improvements.
Development began after Motion Twin planned a follow-up to their browser game Die2Nite. They shifted from cooperative play to a single-player action focus, taking inspiration from the Engineer class in Team Fortress 2. They rebuilt Dead Cells as an action platformer where players combine various weapons and skills.
The game launched on August 7, 2018, for Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. An iOS port arrived on August 28, 2019, followed by an Android version in 2020. A PlayStation 5 version was added on June 29, 2023. Post-release, the game received updates and expansions handled by Evil Empire. Critics praised its combat, visuals, and permadeath system. By June 2023, it had sold over 10 million copies.
**Gameplay**
Dead Cells is a 2D side-scrolling "roguevania"—a mix of roguelike and Metroidvania genres. The Prisoner, an amorphous creature, travels across an island filled with mutated monsters. Upon death, all weapons and upgrades from that run are lost, except for a few permanent items. Weapons include swords, bows, shields, and placeable traps that harm nearby enemies. The Prisoner can dodge on the ground to avoid attacks or jump over them. Dodging through an enemy lets the Prisoner attack from behind. Falling from a height allows a ground slam that stuns enemies or prevents the Prisoner from being stunned.
Combat resembles the Dark Souls series, with tough enemies that have learnable behaviors, and frequent death is a core mechanic. As players explore levels and fight creatures, they collect Cells from defeated foes. Cells buy permanent upgrades, like health-restoring potions or extra weapons that appear randomly in future runs. Cells can only be spent at the end of a dungeon section; dying before that loses all collected Cells.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Motion TwinUpdates and downloadable content developed by Evil Empire since 2019
- Publisher
- Motion Twin · PlaydigiousiOS and Android
- Designer
- Sébastien Bénard · Mathieu Capdegelle
- Programmer
- Sébastien Bénard · Mathieu Capdegelle · Pascal Péridont · Mathieu Pistol · Christophe Rautou
- Artist
- Gwenaël Massé · Noémie Szmrzsik-Cohard · Thomas Vasseur
- Composer
- Yoann Laulan · Thomas Chastagnol
- Platforms
- Linux · macOS · Nintendo Switch · PlayStation 4 · Windows · Xbox One · iOS · Android · PlayStation 5
- Released
- Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Windows, Xbox One · August 7, 2018 · iOS · August 28, 2019 · Android · June 3, 2020 · PlayStation 5 · June 29, 2023
- Genre
- Roguelike, Metroidvania
- Modes
- Single-player
- Title
- Dead Cells
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Dead Cells was developed by Motion Twin after they planned a follow-up to their browser game Die2Nite. The developers replaced Die2Nite's cooperative gameplay with a single-player focus on combat and action, taking inspiration from the Engineer class from Team Fortress 2. The game was remade into an action platformer where the player uses varied combinations of weapons and skills. After release, developmental duties were handled by Evil Empire, which supported the game with several updates and expansions.
The player controls the Prisoner, an amorphous creature whose head is immortal but whose possessed bodies are not. The Prisoner awakens with amnesia in an island prison and learns that a plague called 'The Malaise' transformed most citizens into monsters. The Prisoner seeks to kill the island's King, believing his death will cause something to change. Expansions such as Rise of the Giant and The Queen and the Sea add alternative endings, revealing that the Prisoner is actually the King himself, and introducing new areas, bosses, and narrative branches.
Gameplay features procedurally generated levels created by merging predesigned sections, a permadeath system that resets most items upon death, and a currency called Cells that can be spent on permanent upgrades. Combat is compared to the Dark Souls series, with difficult enemies whose behaviors can be learned. The player can dodge, jump, ground-slam, and use weapons including swords, bows, shields, and traps. Hidden Power Scrolls increase hit points and weapon damage based on three classifications: Brutality, Tactics, or Survival. Runes provide permanent travel upgrades obtained by defeating Elite enemies.
Reader's Guide
Dead Cells is significant as a defining example of the 'roguevania' subgenre, successfully merging the procedural generation and permadeath of roguelikes with the ability-gated exploration of Metroidvania games. Its development began as a follow-up to Motion Twin's browser game Die2Nite, shifting from cooperative to single-player action inspired by Team Fortress 2's Engineer class. The game's combat system, which critics praised for its difficulty and depth, draws comparison to the Dark Souls series, emphasizing learning enemy behaviors and frequent player death as a core mechanic. The permadeath system is central to the experience: players lose all weapons and upgrades upon death except for permanent items purchased with Cells, a currency collected from enemies and spent at the end of dungeon sections. The game's legacy is underscored by its commercial performance—over 10 million copies sold by June 2023—and continued post-release support by Evil Empire, which added expansions like Rise of the Giant and The Queen and the Sea, each introducing new levels, bosses, and narrative endings. Dead Cells received positive reviews from critics, who highlighted its combat, visuals, and permadeath system as standout features.
Did You Know?
- Dead Cells was developed by French independent developer Motion Twin as a follow-up to their browser game Die2Nite.
- A currency called Cells can be collected from defeated enemies and used to purchase permanent upgrades.
- By June 2023, Dead Cells had sold over 10 million copies.
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