Last played on: October 15, 2020.
My verdict is at the bottom
Read the full review, with pictures[raggartsreviews.com]
Dead Cells is a 2D rogue-like metroidvania, e.g. a platformer where the player moves the protagonist and makes him jump, dodge, block or attack in order to progress and eventually beat the game. The game features many unlockables which boost your power or survivability as well as some purely cosmetic ones. The game is very fast-paced and requires quick reflexes.
So Dead Cells uses some kind of pixel graphics. It’s not the old-school type of 8-bit or 16-bit graphics, but rather a style that’s very specific to this game. I think by pixel graphics I mean that the edges of characters, monsters, effects, etc. are not clearly well defined. Everything is still super identifiable and I don’t mean that the graphics are blurry. Just that they are not as crisp as they could be.

That being said, I think the game is beautiful. The colors are vivid, which helps identify items on the screen in milliseconds. This is really important with a fast-paced action game such as Dead Cells. I have no idea how a person with a vision impairment such as color blindness might see this game but I know the developers have made efforts to make the game more accessible to differently abled people.

The levels, called biomes, are procedurally generated. However they each have repeating areas and each biome comes with its own distinctive flair (as well as enemies, traps and bonuses). I found that the style of each biome was carefully crafted for a beautiful experience all-around.
The basic mechanics of Dead Cells are the same as other metroidvanias: move, jump, roll, attack and dive (when falling). However the game introduces some fun twists as well as additional mechanics. For example, if you kill multiple enemies in a short period of time, the main character will move faster, allowing the player to reach enemies faster and keep the bonus going. Being able to run the whole course of a level at maximum speed felt gratifying.

Dealing a lot of damage to an enemy (proportionally to its level) will stun them for a second or so, allowing the player to evade an attack or simply ramp up more damage. Some weapons will push back enemies, while others will draw them in. The Beheaded can also unlock a backpack which allows them to carry an additional item. There are also multiple status effects, the most dangerous one being Cursed. When cursed, a single hit is all it takes to kill the main character.

Finally, Dead Cells allows players to boost their character’s health and damage with a weapon type through the use of scrolls, which are disseminated throughout the game, with usually at least one in each biome. There are currently three weapon and consequently damage types: Brutality, Tactics and Survival. Some weapons will benefit from two types while others are “colorless”, meaning they will benefit from the highest level of damage available. Choosing how to assign each scroll is called a build and lines up the player for a particular type of weapon the further the game progresses.
A fast-paced explosive metroidvania, I would definitely want Dead Cells with me if I were stranded on a deserted island. Fun, challenge, action, this game checks all the right boxes.
The speed boost one gets after killing 8 enemies in 10 seconds! It motivated me to kill enemies as fast as I could to keep the fun going.

The building up of the three abilities was also refreshing. Sometimes I would prefer focusing on one area to maximise my damage while other times I had more success with a more balanced build. It brings the capacity to adapt which helps mitigate dead builds (e.g. when one gets items that cannot be used because of the current attributes or strategy).
On the other hand, item selection is mostly based on luck and some items are clearly better than others. This means you might start to build a certain way and end up with items that are not boosted by your build, which makes for a quick game over in later levels. Some sort of reset or stat transfer available once or twice (maybe at the store?) would be great.
Absolutely! One of my friends called this game “Da bomb” (thanks Alex!) and it stuck with me because it’s a good way to describe it and fits with its theme. At the time of writing, Dead Cells is available on EA Play as well as Xbox Game Pass. I find its Steam price of $25 very reasonable, especially since the development team is constantly updating the game, adding more stuff and fixing bugs.

[b]Last played on: October 15, 2020.[/b] [i]My verdict is at the bottom[/i] [url=https://raggartsreviews.com/reviews/dead-cells/]Read the full review, with pictures[/url] [h2]Quick reflexes required[/h2] Dead Cells is a 2D rogue-like metroidvania, e.g. a platformer where the player moves the protagonist and makes him jump, dodge, block or attack in order to progress and eventually beat the game. The game features many unlockables which boost your power or survivability as well as some purely cosmetic ones. The game is very fast-paced and requires quick reflexes. [h2]Colourful and detailed[/h2] So Dead Cells uses some kind of pixel graphics. It’s not the old-school type of 8-bit or 16-bit graphics, but rather a style that’s very specific to this game. I think by pixel graphics I mean that the edges of characters, monsters, effects, etc. are not clearly well defined. Everything is still super identifiable and I don’t mean that the graphics are blurry. Just that they are not as crisp as they could be. That being said, I think the game is beautiful. The colors are vivid, which helps identify items on the screen in milliseconds. This is really important with a fast-paced action game such as Dead Cells. I have no idea how a person with a vision impairment such as color blindness might see this game but I know the developers have made efforts to make the game more accessible to differently abled people. The levels, called biomes, are procedurally generated. However they each have repeating areas and each biome comes with its own distinctive flair (as well as enemies, traps and bonuses). I found that the style of each biome was carefully crafted for a beautiful experience all-around. [h2]Simple mechanics, many possibilities[/h2] The basic mechanics of Dead Cells are the same as other metroidvanias: move, jump, roll, attack and dive (when falling). However the game introduces some fun twists as well as additional mechanics. For example, if you kill multiple enemies in a short period of time, the main character will move faster, allowing the player to reach enemies faster and keep the bonus going. Being able to run the whole course of a level at maximum speed felt gratifying. Dealing a lot of damage to an enemy (proportionally to its level) will stun them for a second or so, allowing the player to evade an attack or simply ramp up more damage. Some weapons will push back enemies, while others will draw them in. The Beheaded can also unlock a backpack which allows them to carry an additional item. There are also multiple status effects, the most dangerous one being Cursed. When cursed, a single hit is all it takes to kill the main character. Finally, Dead Cells allows players to boost their character’s health and damage with a weapon type through the use of scrolls, which are disseminated throughout the game, with usually at least one in each biome. There are currently three weapon and consequently damage types: Brutality, Tactics and Survival. Some weapons will benefit from two types while others are “colorless”, meaning they will benefit from the highest level of damage available. Choosing how to assign each scroll is called a build and lines up the player for a particular type of weapon the further the game progresses. [h2]Verdict[/h2] A fast-paced explosive metroidvania, I would definitely want Dead Cells with me if I were stranded on a deserted island. Fun, challenge, action, this game checks all the right boxes. [h3]What I liked most about the game[/h3] The speed boost one gets after killing 8 enemies in 10 seconds! It motivated me to kill enemies as fast as I could to keep the fun going. The building up of the three abilities was also refreshing. Sometimes I would prefer focusing on one area to maximise my damage while other times I had more success with a more balanced build. It brings the capacity to adapt which helps mitigate dead builds (e.g. when one gets items that cannot be used because of the current attributes or strategy). [h3]What I liked the least about the game[/h3] On the other hand, item selection is mostly based on luck and some items are clearly better than others. This means you might start to build a certain way and end up with items that are not boosted by your build, which makes for a quick game over in later levels. Some sort of reset or stat transfer available once or twice (maybe at the store?) would be great. [h3]Should I buy this game?[/h3] Absolutely! One of my friends called this game “Da bomb” (thanks Alex!) and it stuck with me because it’s a good way to describe it and fits with its theme. At the time of writing, Dead Cells is available on EA Play as well as Xbox Game Pass. I find its Steam price of $25 very reasonable, especially since the development team is constantly updating the game, adding more stuff and fixing bugs.