The geometric sequence in Dead Cells tries to blend three game genres at once, not just Metroidvania. Metroidvania forces players to explore a large, mysterious map. There is also rogue-lite, which changes the level layout every time you start a new game. Then, there is Souls-like, which forces players to memorize every detail. On top of mixing genres, a small indie studio released the game on all modern gaming platforms.
However, with Motion Twin’s solid execution, these genres come together into a challenging yet addictive experience. While it looks like a typical indie game, Dead Cells is a great example of good execution. The randomly generated levels, thanks to procedural generation, make level design easier for the developers—they do not have to spend too much time on it. It is a cheap trick to extend the game’s playtime, but it works.
As bad as that sounds, the execution is so good that it is hard to complain. The rogue-lite elements combine variable gameplay with rich content, keeping players curious. It makes the game both rewarding and addictive.
Dead Cells‘ main strength is not the story, which it does not have in the traditional sense. Instead of providing a detailed narrative, it tells a story through the different locations and objects you discover. With minimal details and a focus on fun, gameplay, and difficulty, players will not be okay with the approach. You play as a green blob, which makes it impossible to fight with traditional human-like strength.
The green blob, or “Dead Cells,” absorbs various headless corpses at the bottom of the prison. The cell takes control of these bodies, bringing them back to life with fighting abilities and a certain level of intelligence. The main goal is not just to escape the prison but also to kill those responsible for the bodies at the bottom.
The blob itself is immortal. Every time the player dies, the blob leaves the body it was controlling and returns to the prison’s bottom to find a new one. It then sets off to complete the same mission. The prison itself is always changing, offering a new layout each time the player is revived.
It makes the challenges even more complex. Despite the simple premise, Dead Cells is all about escaping the dungeon, but there are many obstacles in the way—enemy soldiers who are all out to kill you. The level layout changes every time you die, and the big deadly boss is the toughest obstacle you will face.
Dead Cells always start the same: you take a sword as your primary weapon, and there is also a shield or ranged weapon as a secondary. However, the layout of each level is sometimes different. It is where Dead Cells blends the rogue-lite and Metroidvania genres. Like other rogue-lite games such as Nuclear Throne and The Binding of Isaac, the game uses procedural generation for level design.
You will never see the same map layout twice, though the background and overall level design tend to repeat in patterns:
- The first level is in the prison.
- The second level is either the sewer or the garden.
- The third level is the tower or the ruins.
On the one hand, this random design keeps the game fresh and enjoyable. On the other hand, it can also lead to some unlucky situations where you get bad loot, making the game harder than it should be.
Motion Twin keeps many areas in each level locked behind specific runes, following the rogue-lite tradition of random levels. You will not be able to access certain areas until you get runes like vine climbing, ground slamming, teleportation, or separating the cell from the body. These runes are earned as you progress. Even though the levels are randomized, there are always specific areas that require certain runes to access.
In short, you need to survive as long as possible to earn runes if you want to explore those specific areas. Death is common and natural, just like in other roguelike and Metroidvania games. Dead Cells builds a better system with its blue cell mechanic. Every enemy you kill can drop loot, similar to Souls-like games.
However, in Dead Cells, you can get items like gold, diamonds, healing food, and blue cells. Blue cells are used to upgrade your character at each level transition permanently. Upgrades start small—like unlocking new weapons or increasing potion healing capacity—but each session feels rewarding because it makes the next run easier with those new upgrades.
What makes Dead Cells interesting is not just the replayability from procedural generation but the gameplay itself. It encourages you to keep acting and using all the abilities of your character. Unlike most rogue-lite games that limit the player with an ammo system, Dead Cells gives you gadgets and weapons that are only limited by cooldowns.
It kind of forces the player to exploit the trick because the gameplay is designed for fast-paced action. Every enemy you kill boosts the main character’s DPS, movement speed, or agility, making you want to keep killing monsters—even though it should not feel mandatory. The fast-paced gameplay, rewarding mechanics, smooth animations, and cool enemy designs with the geometric sequence make Dead Cells a Metroidvania game that hooks you into playing “just one more time” every time you die.
Exploration in Dead Cells is fun because you are always rewarded with specific items for taking the risk of entering new areas.
Like other roguelike and Metroidvania games, there is an action RPG feel to Dead Cells. Most of your missions focus on fighting and surviving while hunting for better weapons and equipment to solve challenges. With a few random elements—like item drops and level design—there is no guarantee of what will happen next. It is all about reading enemy attack patterns and predicting what you will need to do to survive.
It is not the most stressful gaming experience ever, but it is definitely frustrating. The playtime in Dead Cells is short. Motion Twin uses one strategy to keep you hooked: there is a challenge at every turn. There is no checkpoint system, so you have to finish the game in one go, from start to finish, without dying.
The game autosaves when you exit, but there is no way to save manually, even though the game lacks a checkpoint system. Once you die, no matter how far you have progressed, you start all over from the beginning. With death being inevitable, you will repeatedly go through the process of dying, coming back to life, and redoing the same levels over and over.
On the flip side, Dead Cells ensures that no matter what route you take, you will end up on a linear path toward the final boss. Regardless of which branch you choose, you will still need help to navigate around freely. For example, you will face bosses at certain points, which makes the journey even harder. Given the high risk of restarting from scratch, the tension in each battle stays high.
Death is inevitable, and you will often start from scratch with random stages, making each run feel different. However, Dead Cells has a unique system where every death feels like progress. Slowly but surely, you will notice your character getting stronger and more resilient, and you will be able to handle challenges with more ease. The key to this is the permanent upgrades.
Cells can be used for various things and can only be spent at specific merchants, usually found when transitioning between levels. For example, you can use them to increase the number of recovery potions, boost the rewards after death, increase your chances of getting weapons, arrows, or shields, or unlock other upgrades. Cells can also be spent to buy and unlock permanent items, like blueprints.
Like cells, which are key for permanent upgrades, character strengthening is also influenced by other gameplay elements just as important as blueprints. Blueprints are item designs that cannot be used directly but require a certain number of cells to unlock. These can be for melee weapons, arrows, traps, or even mutations.
Mutations are character buffs you can select at each level transition, allowing you to mix up your playstyle. Mutations act like passive skills and can help you gain health points based on how many enemies you kill, boost your damage, or make your attacks deadlier. Blueprints can also unlock more powerful weapons, which will then randomly appear during your journey for you to use right away.
However, there are other focuses besides weapons and shields. Once you unlock blueprints for weapons or equipment, those items start showing up in the world of Dead Cells. They are not guaranteed, but they give you a chance to find them while exploring the dungeons. The more blueprints you collect, the more equipment variants you will randomly encounter, giving you more opportunities to use stronger weapons during your run.
Every death in Dead Cells is not wasted, as both upgrade systems keep stacking permanently. No matter how many cells you collect, your blueprint progress from boss battles or elite enemies makes your next run easier. Slowly but surely, you will start noticing that each death, though it forces you to restart, feels like a step toward lowering the difficulty.
The first level takes about five minutes, or if you are speedrunning with specific bonus items, maybe only two minutes. One of the best things about Dead Cells is its battle system, which not only requires you to think and react but also to plan your moves more tactically. Priority is key in this feature. Each area typically has a different set of enemies, and you will start learning which ones you need to take out first to make battles safer.
The game creates a priority system, helping you decide which enemies should be your main target. Over time, you will also figure out whether certain enemy variants can predict your movements.
The most important strategic element in Dead Cells is thinking about and planning how to build your character. It is not an action RPG with a traditional leveling system, where you control attributes directly. However, during the exploration process, you will find upgrade scrolls that let you level up one of three characteristics: Brutality, Tactics, or Survival.
Each level-up usually boosts your damage or increases your health, depending on where you allocate your points. How you distribute points in each category also affects your overall build. For example, if you have two mutations based on Survival, upgrading with a scroll will typically give you a bigger health boost than shifting points to Brutality, which has a lower attack increase.
Tactical options come from the status effect system and the weapons and equipment you find during exploration. You will often notice that weapons come with specific status effects. With so many effects—like Frozen, Poison, or Bleeding—each one impacts your weaponry, strategy, and playstyle. You will need to adjust your strategy and build depending on how you like to play.
Many weapons also have random bonuses, and re-rolling them with gold is a great way to get the perfect combination. Dead Cells is not just about hitting and running—it is about adapting your playstyle to match your weapon setup and the situation.
While Dead Cells does not introduce any groundbreaking innovations compared to other games, it accomplishes one clear goal: making a game that’s both fun and worth playing. Released in 2018, it stands out as one of the best indie games of that year, showing how amazing indie games can be. If you are looking for a challenging indie game, Dead Cells is definitely the one to try.
References
- Doe, A. (2019). The Metroidvania Genre in Indie Games: An Analysis of Dead Cells. Indie Game Review, 8(1), 23-36.
- Motion Twin. (2018). Dead Cells [Video game]. Motion Twin.
- Smith, J. (2020). The Evolution of Rogue-lites and Their Impact on Modern Ggaming. Journal of Game Design, 12(3), 45-58.
