Dead Cells review — the apotheosis of the Roguelike

I didn’t love Spelunky when I reviewed it (apologies for that headline). After writing that review, I began to see what other people like about it, but it still wasn’t for me. Spelunky is awkward to play. The whip is too short and the sprinting is too wild. I’ve always regretted that I don’t love Spelunky in the way so many other people do — but now that I’ve put dozens of hours into the similar action game Dead Cells, I feel vindicated. It accomplishes many of the same things as Spelunky while also providing locomotion and battle systems that are kinetic, fast-paced, and precise.

Dead Cells launched on PC through Steam’s Early Access portal for unfinished projects in May 2017, and developer Motion Twin is unleashing the 1.0 version August 7 for PC and consoles. I’ve spent my time with the PC and Switch versions. It uses procedural generation to mix up a number of stages that are packed with a variety of enemies. These stages all exist in pre-determined biomes, and even with the random elements, each space has consistent mechanics and design each time you play through it.