Dead Cells

Dead Cells is a 2D side-scrolling "roguevania", a combination of the roguelike and Metroidvania genres. The player controls the Prisoner, an amorphous creature who journeys across an island full of mutated monsters. When the player dies, they lose all weapons and upgrades obtained in a playthrough, excluding a few permanent items. Weapons primarily include swords, bows, shields, and placeable traps that harm enemies that come near them.

In combat, the Prisoner can dodge across the ground to avoid the attacks of enemies, or jump over the attacks. Dodging into an enemy's space allows the Prisoner to move through them and attack from behind. When falling from a height, the Prisoner can slam into the ground, allowing them to stun enemies, or allow the Prisoner to fall from heights without getting stunned themselves.

Taking place on an unnamed island, the player character is the Prisoner, an amorphous creature capable of possessing dead bodies located in the depths of the island. While the "head" of the Prisoner is immortal, the bodies it possesses are not, and dying will force the Prisoner to return to the Prisoners' Quarters to find another corpse. The Prisoner does not speak, limiting their interactions with non-player characters (NPCs) to gestures and body language alone. The player is occasionally shown the thoughts of the Prisoner through dialogue boxes.

The Prisoner awakens in the depths of the island's prison, suffering from amnesia. A soldier encounters the Prisoner and mentions that they can no longer die. The Prisoner tries to escape the prison, but their head is forced back to the depths as soon as its body is destroyed. Between subsequent escape attempts, the Prisoner learns that the island was once a mighty kingdom that fell when a plague known as "The Malaise" transformed most of the kingdom's citizens into mutated monsters.

Dead Cells' developer Motion Twin had been creating games for the browser and mobile gaming market since 2001. The studio found that competition in the mobile market required more investment to make profitable games, and decided to switch focus to develop what they considered their "passion project", a game that was "something hardcore, ultra-niche, with pixel art and ridiculous difficulty" that they thought would be a potential risk for gaining player interest.

Motion Twin initially had set out to make a follow-up to their browser game Die2Nite, which was a cooperative tower defense game for up to forty players released in 2008; for most of the game, players would work together to form defenses around a town, and then during the game's night phase, wait to see if the town survived waves of attacks by zombies. Motion Twin wanted to have improve the sequel by allowing players to take actions and fight during the night phase, while implementing free to play mechanics. While this version worked well with large number of players, Motion Twin found it was not very exciting for single players. In 2014, they stripped down the game to a single-player experience between preparation and combat, and took it to an event called the Big Indie Pitch, where the idea came in second place in a contest.

Dead Cells received positive reviews from critics. The Xbox One version received "universal acclaim", and the PlayStation 4, PC, Nintendo Switch, and iOS versions received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Brandin Tyrrel of IGN praised the game for its engaging gameplay premise, and randomized layout, declaring "The placement and order of its levels are Dead Cells' skeletal frame, but the ever-changing layouts and enemy and item placements are the blood that pumps through its heart." The action and combat of Dead Cells received acclaim as "distinct", "fluid", and "agile". Reviewers compared the game to the Dark Souls, Diablo, and Castlevania series due to its difficulty and constantly changing levels, while giving specific praise to the visuals and sound design.

The plot of Dead Cells was criticized, with critics calling it lacking and vague. Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku found the story disappointing, stating "Aside from some sparse worldbuilding, the only story here is the story of moving forward, killing things, and gradually getting better at it". Some commentators considered progression beyond the first few hours as "nebulous", and the game's difficulty "callous". Chris Carter of Destructoid noted the game's difficulty, stating "There's those moments where you have a perfect run with all of the items you prefer. Then you get to a boss you've never seen before and bam – he smashes you to a pulp."