For fans of exploration and progress built from familiar ideas. For fans of combat-heavy sidescrolling games. Less so for anyone put off by slow access to some of the better upgrades.

Ray’s summary of 3 sources, including Polygon, PC Gamer

On other sites

Metacritic89/100critic reviews
IGDB · players90/10012 ratings

Awards

The Game AwardsBest Action · 2018
British Academy Games Awards nominationNew Intellectual Property · 2019
The Game Awards nominationBest Indie · 2018

Other honorsPégase, Pégase

Pégasebest mobile game · best game as a service · 2020

Source: Wikidata.

Critics, verbatim, with sources

This is an ambitious act of synthesis, successful because each of its component pieces has been executed beautifully.
Chris Thursten, PC Gamer · August 6, 2018positive
What’s important is that Dead Cells steals good ideas from beloved games and executes them well, mixing well-worn concepts together in a way that feels familiar in tone and content, yet still provides the thrill of exploration and progress.
Ben Kuchera, Polygon · August 6, 2018positive

All critic voices6 reviews from Polish outlets

In fact, the only real issue with the adventure is that some of the better upgrades can take substantially longer than they should.
Ivan Ho, GameSpot · December 20, 2018mixed
The indie 'roguevania' evolved a lot in Early Access, and is a better game for it.
Jody Macgregor, PC Gamer · August 11, 2018positive
The third of our GOTY awards goes to Motion Twin's excellent combat-heavy sidescrolling game, Dead Cells.
Features By PC Gamer, PC Gamer · December 19, 2018positive
It’s impressive how it all comes together without a hitch, especially given that the persistent character growth found in games like Dark Souls or Metroid squarely conflicts with the randomized resets emblematic of Rogue-inspired games.
Daniel Starkey, GameSpot · August 6, 2018positive

What is the game about? Dead Cells

Dead Cells is a 2D side-scrolling action platformer combining roguelike and Metroidvania design. Players control the Prisoner, an immortal creature that possesses corpses and fights through procedurally generated levels filled with mutated enemies. Combat centers on melee weapons, bows, traps, and dodging, with enemy patterns that reward careful observation. Death is permanent for each run, stripping the player of most collected items, though an in-game currency called Cells allows for purchasing upgrades that persist between attempts. Levels are assembled from pre-designed sections in randomized configurations, and progression through the game unlocks new traversal abilities via collectible Runes.

Genres: platformer, adventure, indie, fantasy.

Screenshots, 5

Gameplay and languages Dead Cells

15 languages15 with full voice-over
Single-playerNo online or co-op mode
ESRB TViolence · bad language
ControlsController or keyboard and mouse
121 achievements

Platforms

PC: May 10, 2017
Mac and Linux: June 26, 2018
PS4, Xbox One, and Switch: August 7, 2018
iOS: August 28, 2019
Android: June 2, 2020
PS5: June 29, 2023

Expansions and editions Dead Cells

Credits Dead Cells

Studio and publisherMotion Twin
StudioEvil Empire
PublisherPlaydigious
Engine
Heaps

Trailer Dead Cells

Trailer

After finishing Dead Cells

For those who already know the ending. Spoilers are marked and hidden.

The endings: what decides themspoilers

the game's multiple endings

Contains spoilers

Quests that are easy to miss

The Cavern key is hidden behind a secret door in the Prisoners’ Quarters. antewise.com
The Emergency Door blueprint requires reaching the end of a specific room without breaking any doors, and this room may not spawn in every run. fandom.com
A secret area containing the Masochist mutation blueprint is hidden in a wall near a vertical spike passage. fandom.com