Review for Dead Cells. Game for Linux, PC, Mac, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 07/08/2018
After a long early access on Steam, Dead Cells has finally come out in full version as a multi-platform title. It is about an independent work, made by Motion Twin, with a graphic style that refers to pixel-art and a hybrid gameplay between Rogue-lite and Metroidvania.
The protagonist of Dead Cells is an unnamed prisoner who, before being beheaded, was subjected to strange and mysterious experiments due to which he is able to regain control of one's (or others) body after death, in an attempt to escape once and for all from prison ... and its jailers.
The narrative style harks back a lot to From Software's Souls titles: dialogues and explanations reduced to the bone and loading screens and description of certain objects as the only clues to the "lore" of the game world. However, non-hostile NPCs are present, willing to trade and chat briefly with the not very talkative protagonist and some bosses can provide information and context to in-game events, both contemporary and past. Anyhow, Dead Cells remains a game that places gameplay overwhelmingly over the plot.
As The Binding of Isaac taught even the less seasoned, rogue-lite is a ruthless genre, which punishes failure with perma-death: in a nutshell, there are no checkpoints, nor manual saves that can save the player from restarting the game from the initial level in the event of a game over.
Dead Cells provides several levels of increasing difficulty, through which to advance to the conquest of one's freedom: not all are mandatory, each has its own environmental traps and different types of enemies. The aesthetics of the latter are not particularly original and not too inspired; Furthermore, if there are several creatures on the screen at the same time, it is almost inevitable that the situation becomes chaotic, with the opposing force merged into a blob of vibrant pixels, with barely legible intentions.
Excluding these extreme and unfortunate situations, the atmosphere of Dead Cells is very evocative, both for the care in the creation of the various biomes, and for the audio sector, able to create entire conversations with few sound effects and an OST always up to par.
The structure of the title areas is procedurally generated: While some sections remain fixed, each game has its own set of enemies and upgrades, as well as traps and elevation changes.
Rogue-like mechanics, but above all rogue-lite, have returned to the fore in recent years thanks to the birth and expansion of the independent gaming market, for which Dead Cells should not find players completely unprepared. If the defeat causes a return to the initial area, there are still minimal, but significant definitive upgrades that the protagonist can obtain through exploration and defeat of bosses and powerful enemies, called "Elite" and equipped with unique power and abilities, different from their standard counterparts.
Cells collected from defeated creatures and chests can be exchanged for passive upgrades (such as the ability to start a new game with a certain amount of gold, collected in the previous run) or for unlock new weapon blueprints, also obtainable by exploring and fighting. Cells and blueprints can only be converted to character enhancements in passages from one level to another, in neutral areas inside which it is possible to meet most of the NPCs. Dying during the exploration condemns the player to lose any cells and blueprints not yet offered to the Collector, as well as the upgrade scrolls for the three stats present, but does not remove everything that was obtained in the previous passage zone.
Dead Cells offers unsuspected depth in gameplay, thanks to the good number of primary and secondary weapon types, both melee and ranged. In addition to DPS, nearly every weapon has one or more side effects, which with the right amount of ingenuity (and luck) can turn an almost insignificant offensive tool into a weapon of mass destruction. The move-set and animation times for delivering shots are equally important and the approach to the environment and the adversaries varies significantly. At a certain point in the game, it is also possible to pay money and reforging this equipment (in a very "Diablo-like" style) to change its side effects randomly.
Also the prisoner can, in turn, equip several Mutations and gain unique abilities, including the mortifying as well as rewarding chance to cheat death and escape game over once ... a bonus far from a free ticket to the finish line, but still better than yet another "Desecrated Body ".
As if the already high level of difficulty wasn't enough, Dead Cells offers additional challenges to the bravest players. Moving quickly between the levels prevents effective exploration, the collection of many upgrades, any interesting projects and weapons and, of course, obtaining money from enemies; however there are some special timed doors, behind which real treasure rooms are hidden, full of all kinds of rarities and riches, but destined to seal themselves forever in case they are reached too late: "who goes slowly, goes healthy and goes far", but "who sleeps does not catch fish" ... nor cells, or rare projects.
It is possible to recover blueprints of precious and powerful objects also thanks to the daily challenge, extremely difficult for beginners but no less inviting, thanks to the speed of execution and the ability to try again and again without any malus. Dare without the thrill of loss brings out the more arcade and playful side of Dead Cells, in which the levels become real obstacle courses and slopes, extremely satisfying thanks to the excellent work done by the authors of the title in creating a simple and intuitive command binding and almost non-existent input lag.
Dead Cells is a "RogueVania" with many tricks up its sleeve, but a style too particular to be unanimously appreciated: starting from the graphic style in pixel art and continuing with a not always optimal balance of personal skills and equipment, the 'ambitious work of Motion Twin could glue the most stubborn players to the screen for tens and tens of hours, as well as putty in a few minutes due to extremely chaotic and very frustrating situations, in which the "C Factor" plays a decisive role as much as - and perhaps more - of the reflexes and the gaming experience.
► Dead Cells is an Adventure-indie-Platform game developed and published by Motion Twin for Linux, PC, Mac, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 07/08/2018
