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[Deleted member 752119]

Dead Cells is a rogue-lite, "Metroidvania" style action-adventure game that just came out of early access on PC and hit all three consoles to rave reviews (IGN plagiarized review aside).

Trailers

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Reviews

NeoGAF Review Thread
Metacritic
Opencritic

Digital Store links ($24.99)

Steam (currently on sale for $19.99)
GOG (currently on sale for $19.99)
PSN
Xbox Live
Switch eShop

Beginner's Tips

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-08-06-dead-cells-tips-5920

https://kotaku.com/tips-for-playing-dead-cells-1828166869

 

[Typhares]

Good stuff @dmaul1114 !

 

[WaterAstro]

This game is really hard. Those things that shoot through walls are a pain.

 

[onlyoneno1]

I have been looking forward to playing this one. The art style, difficulty and metroidvania make it an instant buy for me.

 

[Typhares]

I played for an hour and half yesterday, managed to get to the first boss. I raged a bit cause I died when I needed to hit him two more times to win!
Unlocked a few things but damn this game seems like it would take a long ass time to unlock everything.

 

[ienjoyrawfish]

This game is really hard. Those things that shoot through walls are a pain.

There seems to be a trend for difficult Metroidvanias these days, which is strange considering how easy Super Metroid and SOTN were.

I suppose it's because Dark Souls showed the industry that there is a market for very challenging games now.

 

[zombie_gamer87]

I've been hyped for this game for months, Very glad to see this doing so well.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Nice OT. I'm waiting for my Switch physical version to arrive. Heard there were some framerate issues so I'll wait for a patch or two before diving in.

Loved Rogue Legacy and this appears to scratch that same itch.

 

[bati]

This game is absolutely incredible. Hands down one of the most addictive games I've played, and I don't even like platformers (which I realize this isn't, not in the classic sense, anyway)! Controls and gameplay are extremely on point and the core loop is incredibly satisfying. I've tried out a variety of different weapons so far and found a few very powerful combinations, like frost bolt + heavy crossbow with extra dmg to frozen targets.

Does anyone know where to get the runes for breaking down floors and for wall running (I assume one exists because I found multiple sections that seem like they'd require it)? So far I've only found the vine and teleport rune.

edit: Also, is anyone using shields? I just can't seem to justify their use, but maybe I'm missing something obvious.

 

[Dragonraine]

I bought it yesterday for my Xbox One X and am loving it so far. Took me a little bit to get into it, but now I'm addicted.
Really fun game!

 

[Vawn]

I got this on Switch, but starting to wish I had purchased the PS4 Pro version. Anyone know how big the performance difference is?

 

[Paradicia]

OPs title should be called Rouge-lite Plagiarvania.

 

[Dr. Claus]

I ordered a physical copy, so I will have to wait a while before I can play - but everything I see of this game gets me hyped!

 

[TheSadRanger]

bati you get the wall climbing rune later on, the ice bow is still one of the most efficient weapons in the game that pairs well with pretty much anything. Shields are kinda meh.

edit: The rune is in one of the later levels typically towards the end. It's random on where it can appear, usually it's in a elite mini boss room.

 

[xviper]

i got to the

Spoiler

Hand of the king

and he kicked my ass

it's much easier to just throw the arrows trap and wait until the area is clear, the whole game depends on traps, when fighting a boss, just throw the trap and keep dodging until he dies

how many main bosses are there ? and how many optional ones ? i played over 20 hours and i haven't met any optional boss yet

 

[ThatStupidLion]

so if i have one to buy:

Hollow knight or Dead Cells?

 

[-MD-]

Just played an hour of this on PC, it's really fun.

$15 on voidu right now.

 

[Pejo]

I love the aesthetics of this game, and the gameplay looks solid, but man Rogue-ish turns me off so fast. I have given the genre a try so many times, most recently with Wizard of Legend (a kickstarter project I backed), and it's just not for me. I'd love it if the genre would open up a "level creator" for the community so people could make planned out levels with non-procedural generated content, but as is, I lose heart and just quit. Hope this game succeeds though, it looks to do a lot of things right for fans of the genre.

 

[Smasher89]

I'd love it if the genre would open up a "level creator" for the community so people could make planned out levels with non-procedural generated content, but as is, I lose heart and just quit. Hope this game succeeds though, it looks to do a lot of things right for fans of the genre.

It does have a daily challenge, that i think is made by the devs intentionally, and you can retry it as many times you can that day to optimize.
Regarding daily challenges, is the rewards worth it?, since it seems to take a couple of days until you get the reward. If it's not then the cells for dying in the regular game at least would give a small bit of progress instead of retrying the same level.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

I've owned it for the past year, and did it play it until now.

Excellent so far. I'm a sucker for hand-drawn animation

 

[Deleted member 752119]

I've played just under 4 hours of the GoG version so far and I'm really liking it! Last run of the night was the best, made it to a boss for the first time--the . I didn't fair very well against him, probably only got a third of his health down. But I look forward to trying again.

The game has that addictive "one more run!" quality too it for sure, and I prefer rogue-lites like this or Rogue Legacy where you gradually unlock things and make it a bit easier as time goes on (along with getting better over time). I also like that the areas have random layouts in general, but certain things seem to be in the same-ish spot which helps it feel both new and familiar each run.

so if i have one to buy:

Hollow knight or Dead Cells?

Both are super well regarded so you really can't go wrong if you like hard Metroidvania type games. Just a matter of whether you want a straightforward, traditional one (HK) or a Rogue-like with more randomness (DC).

I gave up (for now) last month on Hollow Knight after 12+ hours as the difficulty combined with getting lost and spending so much time figuring out where to go next was wearing thin for me. This is just as hard, but the areas (at least the 4 I've found) are relatively straight forward so there's not much getting lost--just exploring the random areas each time looking for chests and power ups and the way to the next area.

 

[Vawn]

I wish there was a little more definitive progression like higher permanent, HP, attack, etc.

I'm also worried about unlocking poor weapons, as that will only make future runs more difficult. It's hard to know which weapons should be prioritized, especially since a lot of the stuff online about the game was from alpha before weapons were nerfed or buffed.

 

[SpaceNoodles007]

Anyone recommend this game? If so, what's your preferred platform? I still gotta play and beat Hollow Knight... and I'm playing Doom now (finally)

 

[xviper]

this game is driving me insane, i hate it and yet i keep playing it

it's really annoying when you play a run for over an hour collecting weapons and items and when you die all that is gone and you have to start over without gaining anything from the previous run

the game's progression is a big mistake, could have been an amazing game, but no, they had to fuck it up

they want me to play hundreds of hours for a random starting weapons instead of permanently increasing your stats so you'd feel satisfied about the time you spent on the game and how far you've gone

once Death's Gambit comes out i'm gonna delete this overrated shit

 

[Typhares]

this game is driving me insane, i hate it and yet i keep playing it

it's really annoying when you play a run for over an hour collecting weapons and items and when you die all that is gone and you have to start over without gaining anything from the previous run

the game's progression is a big mistake, could have been an amazing game, but no, they had to fuck it up

they want me to play hundreds of hours for a random starting weapons instead of permanently increasing your stats so you'd feel satisfied about the time you spent on the game and how far you've gone

once Death's Gambit comes out i'm gonna delete this overrated shit

You can never have an hour run wasted since you can bank your cells and give the blueprints to the collector between each biomes so I'm not sure what you are saying.
And it's strange there is no stat increase but the starting area feel so much easier than they used to. I'll probably start going quick through the first one to get to the time door in my future runs.

I finally had a good run, died on the last biome. Surprisingly using a tactics build with traps and long range DOTs. The mutation to reduce cooldowns for skills in that instance is godly.
Extra health potion is definitely a must as soon as the next level unlocks for sure.

 

[AntsaK2]

In a nutshell what are the things you will have and will lose after each run? For example do you lose your weapons but keep your skills?

 

[WaterAstro]

I hate one shot mechanics. I just done three runs and got killed by some elite room in one hit. I had a lot of health. It's definitely very frustrating to have this happen and start from the beginning.

Also had that chest curse where you will die in one hit unless you kill ten things. Well, never opening them again. What's the point?

 

[eot]

In a nutshell what are the things you will have and will lose after each run? For example do you lose your weapons but keep your skills?

You lose almost everything, though you can carry over some gold to use in shops. The main form of progression is unlocking things as available upgrades during your next run, and that includes better starting weapons (but it's randomized). You also have a form of permanent character progression in the form of traversal abilities that allow you to access otherwise locked off areas, but you won't be unlocking those frequently. There's also a healing flask that you can upgrade the number of uses of permanently.

 

[gifgaf]

I hate one shot mechanics. I just done three runs and got killed by some elite room in one hit. I had a lot of health. It's definitely very frustrating to have this happen and start from the beginning.

Also had that chest curse where you will die in one hit unless you kill ten things. Well, never opening them again. What's the point?

I love those chests! Its a Risk/Reward mechanic, You get some good items from the chests but you have to slow down and be methodical until you kill 10 mobs. Please don't give up because you got pwned quick, just switch up your style until the curse is gone, its worth it.

I just cant pass one of those chests and not open it unless I have some blueprint I want to keep. Sometimes it bites me in the ass but its always my fault.

 

[Typhares]

You can unlock several things permanently with cells:
-General improvements (more health potions, more kept gold after death, random starter weapons)
-Mutations So that the guy in between levels has more choices of mutation you can pick from
-Weapons you first need to find the blueprints and bring them back to the collector and then use cells to unlock them
-Skills same as weapons but for skills

And finally (small spoiler)

Spoiler: More things to unlock

The Legendary forge where the player can spend cells at the Forge (which only appears after bosses) to permanently upgrade ALL weapons and skills. Investments at the Forge persist through death, allowing cells for upgrades to be collected across multiple runs.
When you upgrade the forge, items that are dropped, or appear in shops have a chance to be of a +, ++, or S quality. The max for + is 100%, meaning everything that appears will be of + quality. The max for ++ items is 60%. With S being the lowest at only 30% maximum chance.

 

[MMaRsu]

this game is driving me insane, i hate it and yet i keep playing it

it's really annoying when you play a run for over an hour collecting weapons and items and when you die all that is gone and you have to start over without gaining anything from the previous run

the game's progression is a big mistake, could have been an amazing game, but no, they had to fuck it up

they want me to play hundreds of hours for a random starting weapons instead of permanently increasing your stats so you'd feel satisfied about the time you spent on the game and how far you've gone

once Death's Gambit comes out i'm gonna delete this overrated shit

so edgy!

 

[Vawn]

This game is difficult. My biggest issue is with the leveling system. I'm scared to unlock any weapons, as if they're not the best options, it will make future runs more difficult, not less (by making it less likely to get the actual weapons I hope to find).

I don't mind failing a lot, if I'm making definite progress each run. That's not as much the case in this game as something like Rogue Legacy. Outside of a few general skills like more options and holding on to gold, the upgrades you get from cells seem less and less useful despite requiring absurd quantities to upgrade.

I'm still enjoying the game for the most part. The combat is fun. But spending 45 minutes getting to a boss, getting wrecked and finding myself back at the start is getting mentally taxing - especially when I don't feel like future runs would play out any differently.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

This game is difficult. My biggest issue is with the leveling system. I'm scared to unlock any weapons, as if they're not the best options, it will make future runs more difficult, not less (by making it less likely to get the actual weapons I hope to find).

I don't mind failing a lot, if I'm making definite progress each run. That's not as much the case in this game as something like Rogue Legacy. Outside of a few general skills like more options and holding on to gold, the upgrades you get from cells seem less and less useful despite requiring absurd quantities to upgrade.

I'm still enjoying the game for the most part. The combat is fun. But spending 45 minutes getting to a boss, getting wrecked and finding myself back at the start is getting mentally taxing - especially when I don't feel like future runs would play out any differently.

Yeah I worry a tad with the weapons too. I'll just keep putting my cells in things like the healing flask, keep gold when dying and random starting weapons until I use more weapons and see what I like best and then spend some time reading up on best weapons in the weapon/trap types I like before unlocking blueprints.

I don't mind the diffiuculty in Rogue-like/lite games though. I just accept that many of them I'll never truly beat and just have fun with them as a pick up and do a few runs here and there type games. I've quit playing MP games for the most parts, so Rogue-like games have kind of filled that pick up and play game void for me for when I don't feel like dumping a few hours into an SP, story-driven game (I dislike playing those if I don't have at least a couple hours to play).

 

[Vawn]

Well, I made it to the final boss and got destroyed fast.

The thought of going through the entire game again for another shot has me considering throwing in the towel.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

What I want are runes that persist in every run.

Tired of encountering that squishy green thing only to find the rune after I went up a floor and can't go back.

And don't get me started on the hourglasses. "This locked 4 minutes ago." FOH.!

 

[Typhares]

What I want are runes that persist in every run.

Tired of encountering that squishy green thing only to find the rune after I went up a floor and can't go back.

And don't get me started on the hourglasses. "This locked 4 minutes ago." FOH.!

Hmm what? The runes are permanent, once you can tickle the green thing you can do it forever.
The hourglass thing is a choice really, I made it past the first boss getting all of them on a run I tried to but sometimes I prefer exploring properly.

 

[xviper]

This game is difficult. My biggest issue is with the leveling system. I'm scared to unlock any weapons, as if they're not the best options, it will make future runs more difficult, not less (by making it less likely to get the actual weapons I hope to find).

I don't mind failing a lot, if I'm making definite progress each run. That's not as much the case in this game as something like Rogue Legacy. Outside of a few general skills like more options and holding on to gold, the upgrades you get from cells seem less and less useful despite requiring absurd quantities to upgrade.

I'm still enjoying the game for the most part. The combat is fun. But spending 45 minutes getting to a boss, getting wrecked and finding myself back at the start is getting mentally taxing - especially when I don't feel like future runs would play out any differently.

this is exactly my thoughts on the game

the progression and upgrades are useless and it's a huge turn off

 

[Deleted member 752119]

I get these type of complaints about rogue-lites/likes in general, but I'm surprised so many are emerging for this game. It was clear that it was a rogue-like game and a pretty hard one. Many rogue-likes have no progression at all beyond unlocking things that may or may not randomly appear in future runs. The "fun" of the genre is the randomness, and that's of course not for everyone. For people wanting true progression, a challenging, traditional Metroidvania game is likely more their type of game. Which is fine as not every game is for everyone. It just seems like a lot of people didn't know what they were getting into which is a bit odd for a game that had been in early access for a long while and had tons of impressions and details and gameplay videos etc. available.

 

[Naked Lunch]

This game is better than I expected. I am hit or miss with Rogue-lites, but this one is definitely hitting the mark. The gameplay is just so smooth - I feel in complete control. At this point, deaths seem more my fault (lack of skill) than luck of the draw - the items are a bonus. I love the graphics and overall style. Metroid and Symphony of the Night were such landmark games - still emulating them over and over.

Its got a much better progression system than many other Rogue's ive played especially a game like Gungeon (which doesnt respect your time at all). Im not too deep into Dead Cells but already it seems theres plenty of options for extra health potions or even extra lives.

 

[-MD-]

Well, I made it to the final boss and got destroyed fast.

The thought of going through the entire game again for another shot has me considering throwing in the towel.

I heard someone say a full run is like 40 minutes long.

 

[Vawn]

I heard someone say a full run is like 40 minutes long.

I made it to the final boss in about 1hr 15 min. If you rush, skipping enemies, etc, I'm sure it can be done much faster. I'm scared to miss anything, as that lowers my chance of beating the next boss.

 

[Punished Miku]

I've been enjoying the combat, but it really is grindy and repetitive. Shame they couldn't make a real action game with fully designed set levels.

A Roguelike is the perfect bonus mode to unlock after you beat the game for replayability. But as a standalone product, it seems like a bit of a waste to have this good of a combat system but no real level design.

 

[camelCase]

The game is fun, and off the heels of playing castlevania for the first time recently, it's pretty good. I just, as of a few hours playing, don't like the rogue aspect of the game. Playing the same thing over and over (those beginning levels, even if it is different in some way each time) is just eh. Hope I can get over the hump.

I've been enjoying the combat, but it really is grindy and repetitive. Shame they couldn't make a real action game with fully designed set levels.

A Roguelike is the perfect bonus mode to unlock after you beat the game for replayability. But as a standalone product, it seems like a bit of a waste to have this good of a combat system but no real level design.

Yeah man, it feels like it's supposed to be a grind from the outset, like wtf lol

 

[xviper]

just killed The Final boss

now i'm completely done from the game

what a huge disappointment, it has the worst and most useless "progression" i have ever seen in any game ever made, this game is a big waste of time

my final score is 5\10

now i can delete this trash and wait for Death's gambit which i'm sure will be an amazing game with an actual progression

 

[Bodom78]

Not a fan of the rogue genre but I did buy this to give it a shot since there was a lot of positive hype around it.

Well, I'm not dissapointed. The gameplay is so good and makes me keep on playing.

I probably won't finish it but I'm enjoying my time with it and that's enough for me.

 

[Vawn]

I've found a build I love.

Primary weapon - Unlimited Bow
Secondary - Freeze bow
Double cross-b o-matic × 2

Mutations - Efficiency, Support and either extra life or x2 ammo

Freeze > throw down turrets > Spam arrows

Or if a dangerous mob below, just throw down the turrets and watch them annihilate mobs without help.

 

[Typhares]

I don't quite understand the complaint about progression. Your character definitely gets stronger right out the gate over time.
After only a 4-5 hours I can definitely rush the first two biomes getting the upgrades and hitting those time gates (if I don't go toxic sewers).
There are 4 difficulty levels to unlock as well.
It is grindy and I guess if the gameplay and experimenting with new weapons is not enough for you I can see the issue.
I loved rogue legacy and this feels very similar with better combat.

I've found a build I love.

Primary weapon - Unlimited Bow
Secondary - Freeze bow
Double cross-b o-matic × 2

Mutations - Efficiency, Support and either extra life or x2 ammo

Freeze > throw down turrets > Spam arrows

Or if a dangerous mob below, just throw down the turrets and watch them annihilate mobs without help.

So far tactic trap build seems the most effective to me too. I haven't even tried a shield once!

 

[eot]

This game is difficult. My biggest issue is with the leveling system. I'm scared to unlock any weapons, as if they're not the best options, it will make future runs more difficult, not less (by making it less likely to get the actual weapons I hope to find).

I don't mind failing a lot, if I'm making definite progress each run. That's not as much the case in this game as something like Rogue Legacy. Outside of a few general skills like more options and holding on to gold, the upgrades you get from cells seem less and less useful despite requiring absurd quantities to upgrade.

I'm still enjoying the game for the most part. The combat is fun. But spending 45 minutes getting to a boss, getting wrecked and finding myself back at the start is getting mentally taxing - especially when I don't feel like future runs would play out any differently.

It's definitely worth unlocking things, the best weapons come later on. It's true though that aside from the health flask upgrades they don't offer especially tangible benefits, but that's because it's not really about upgrading your character over time. Those unlocks are more about adding variety (you unlock a lot of new areas as well).

I think the mindset of wanting to make progress each run will ruin the fun with the game. It's more similar to a more rougelike game like Spelunke than a 'roguelite'. Each run is its own separate thing and over time you'll naturally get better at the game.

 

[MMaRsu]

just killed The Final boss

now i'm completely done from the game

what a huge disappointment, it has the worst and most useless "progression" i have ever seen in any game ever made, this game is a big waste of time

my final score is 5\10

now i can delete this trash and wait for Death's gambit which i'm sure will be an amazing game with an actual progression

U killed the boss on the easiest mode, probably collected 1/10th of items and you say u are done with the game. You probably havent even seen all the levels and enemies either. Or unlocked all the runes

How is it a 'big waste of time' if u can get to the boss in 1 hr? lol

we get it, you dont like it.

stop being such an edgelord

 

[Spukc]

just killed The Final boss

now i'm completely done from the game

what a huge disappointment, it has the worst and most useless "progression" i have ever seen in any game ever made, this game is a big waste of time

my final score is 5\10

now i can delete this trash and wait for Death's gambit which i'm sure will be an amazing game with an actual progression

Lord of the edge Xxx_VIPER_xxX