CASTLEVANIA BUT WITH DEAD CELLS DEVS WHEN, KONAMI?

“Oh hey, Imagine if there’s a roguelite or a roguelike game that has… A collaboration between Castlevania. Maybe it’ll be fun, or maybe better than how Castlevania is being treated nowadays…?”

-Triff, in 2020

Oh, guess what happened. THAT COLLAB IS REAL AND IT BLEW MY EXPECTATION.

Before we begin, this review comes from someone that has skill issues (still stuck at 3BC btw)… and someone who hasn't played Dead Cells in 3 years. I also played Castlevania: SotN, Aria of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Curse of Darkness and a bit of Dawn of Sorrow. Alright, let’s begin, shall we?

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is a Collaboration DLC with the glorious, one of the founders of the sub-genre Metroidvania. Now with the addition of Return of Castlevania DLC, it includes two new (and cool!) biomes, more of Castlevania’s iconic monsters and bosses, and some remixed music.

Let’s start with the gameplay, and yeah, Castlevania’s design does translate really well to Dead Cells. The ever-rampaging dire werewolves, and Death boss that literally killed my run so many times that I have to change to 1BC because I have skill issues, the platforming areas and so many things they’ve already added, made these two biomes feel challenging and stays true to Castlevania’s difficulty. Of course, as a fan of challenging games, I absolutely loved this.

Just like other reviews that I made, I always touched the graphics mixed with its artstyle. So, as for the artstyle? For so many years already, they never failed. I’ve played this game since 2018 (though I took a break for 3 years until this DLC was released). The mix of the retro-style animation and Dead Cells’ fluid animation does fit so well, too. What I also like is… the mix of how the lighting works in this game alongside the way the entire biome looks is so great, especially on the Castle’s Outskirts.

There are some good touches here and there, like that dancing couple inside the castle, and the fact that Dracula does change its dialogue depends on your character, and others as well. I always loved that kind of thing, really.

As of soundtracks… Even the Castle’s Outskirt's theme is just… great. An epic remix of Vampire Killer on Dead Cells? Why the hell not? And there’s also many good soundtracks from classic Castlevania games as well, the ones are just as good. Some notable ones are Prologue, Dracula’s boss fight theme, and the ghost couple dance’s theme.

There are so many things that can be praised for its quality in this DLC, but the one that I loved the most is (Spoiler Alert) Dracula’s fight. It’s straight up something that I really ever wished for in Dracula's absolute threatening fight. The second phase is something I might remember for so long, really.

And there is some other stuff as well, like Richter Mode. To access this mode, (Spoiler Alert)you have to go back to the same painting where you save Richter. Interact the same cage that you’ve destroyed, and you’ll access Richter Mode. Don’t worry though, it won’t be that hard.

But yeah, in short:
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania DLC is a love letter to Castlevania and the fans of Castlevania, with lots of addition to the game. It does stay true to Castlevania with some few changes to fit Dead Cells’ fast paced combat and I’m glad that I played and covered this game.

As for the rating, I’ll give it an S out of S rank. It does blow my expectation, where my expectation does set up pretty high for this kind of DLC. For this price and the content alone, I’ll highly recommend this, especially for those who are into Castlevania as a whole.

This review is made for our Steam Curator group, ReArchivu.
For more details, please check our Steam Group and Steam Curator page.

[strike]CASTLEVANIA BUT WITH DEAD CELLS DEVS WHEN, KONAMI?[/strike] [i]“Oh hey, Imagine if there’s a roguelite or a roguelike game that has… A collaboration between Castlevania. Maybe it’ll be fun, or maybe better than how Castlevania is being treated nowadays…?” -Triff, in 2020[/i] Oh, guess what happened. THAT COLLAB IS REAL [b]AND IT BLEW MY EXPECTATION.[/b] [i]Before we begin, this review comes from someone that has skill issues (still stuck at 3BC btw)… and someone who hasn't played Dead Cells in 3 years. I also played Castlevania: SotN, Aria of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Curse of Darkness and a bit of Dawn of Sorrow. Alright, let’s begin, shall we?[/i] [b]Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania[/b] is a Collaboration DLC with the glorious, one of the founders of the sub-genre Metroidvania. Now with the addition of Return of Castlevania DLC, it includes two new (and cool!) biomes, more of Castlevania’s iconic monsters and bosses, and some remixed music. Let’s start with the gameplay, and yeah, [b]Castlevania’s design does translate really well to Dead Cells.[/b] The ever-rampaging dire werewolves, and Death boss [i]that literally killed my run so many times that I have to change to 1BC because I have skill issues[/i], the platforming areas and so many things they’ve already added, made these two biomes feel challenging and stays true to Castlevania’s difficulty. Of course, as a fan of challenging games, I absolutely loved this. Just like other reviews that I made, I always touched the graphics mixed with its artstyle. So, as for the artstyle? [b]For so many years already, they never failed.[/b] I’ve played this game since 2018 (though I took a break for 3 years until this DLC was released). The mix of the retro-style animation and Dead Cells’ fluid animation does fit so well, too. What I also like is… the mix of how the lighting works in this game alongside the way the entire biome looks is so great, especially on the Castle’s Outskirts. There are some good touches here and there, like that dancing couple inside the castle, and the fact that Dracula does change its dialogue depends on your character, and others as well. I always loved that kind of thing, really. As of soundtracks… [b]Even the Castle’s Outskirt's theme is just… great.[/b] An epic remix of Vampire Killer on Dead Cells? Why the hell not? And there’s also many good soundtracks from classic Castlevania games as well, the ones are just as good. Some notable ones are Prologue, Dracula’s boss fight theme, and the ghost couple dance’s theme. There are so many things that can be praised for its quality in this DLC, but the one that I loved the most is (Spoiler Alert) [spoiler]Dracula’s fight. It’s straight up something that I really ever wished for in Dracula's absolute threatening fight. The second phase is something I might remember for so long, really.[/spoiler] And there is some other stuff as well, like Richter Mode. To access this mode, (Spoiler Alert)[spoiler]you have to go back to the same painting where you save Richter. Interact the same cage that you’ve destroyed, and you’ll access Richter Mode. Don’t worry though, it won’t be that hard. [/spoiler] But yeah, in short: Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania DLC is a love letter to Castlevania and the fans of Castlevania, with lots of addition to the game. It does stay true to Castlevania with some few changes to fit Dead Cells’ fast paced combat and I’m glad that I played and covered this game. As for the rating, I’ll give it an S out of S rank. It does blow my expectation, where my expectation does set up pretty high for this kind of DLC. For this price and the content alone, I’ll highly recommend this, especially for those who are into Castlevania as a whole. [i]This review is made for our Steam Curator group, ReArchivu. For more details, please check our [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/rearchivu]Steam Group[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41641470/]Steam Curator page.[/url]