Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUEDead Cells
Dead Cells is a roguelite, metroidvania inspired, action-platformer. You'll explore a sprawling, ever-changing castle... assuming you’re able to fight your way past its keepers in 2D souls-lite combat. No checkpoints. Kill, die, learn, repeat.
Why this score?
Original text · Simplified Chinese
以出色的动作反馈为核心，路线与武器差异支撑重玩；后期判定和重复开局是主要限制。
Core gameplay
Weight 25%9.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
快照一致强调移动、翻滚与武器动作的响应，武器动画赋予不同攻击节奏，动作反馈是最强项。
Builds & strategy
Weight 25%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
武器、技能和变异的搭配带来有效选择，但高难度下部分武器偏弱，构筑深度不能只按装备数量计算。
Replayability
Weight 20%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
分支区域与 Boss Cell 新机制要求调整路线和打法；固定前期区域及蓝图积累带来重复负担。
Randomness & fairness
Weight 20%8.0 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
观察动作与翻滚能稳定改善结果，辅助模式可调挑战；快照仍报告墙外攻击及判定不一致。
Polish & usability
Weight 10%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
快照肯定低配置与掌机表现、辅助选项；DLC 入口提示及个别改键限制仍打断使用体验。
- Reviewer
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Rogue by Rogue · AI 资料评测- Version reviewed
Original text · Simplified Chinese
具体构建未知；以所引资料描述的版本为准
Scope and limitations
Original text · Simplified Chinese
基于收录资料与官方页面的主观归纳，未进行试玩。资料覆盖本体与部分 DLC，并混有 2023 年评论；未逐项复测所有武器和 Boss Cell 难度。
Review sources 02
- 01Archived materialView archived external material ↓
Original text · Simplified Chinese
收录评论与社区资料（2026-10-01 快照）
使用 作者观点摘要 的 Tier list Part 1 (2023) 及 玩家好评与批评 中的机制、交互、重复与易用性反馈；未将外部分数或旧等级用于计算。
- 02Web sourceView original ↗
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Dead Cells 官方产品说明
2026-10-08 访问。确认分支道路、持续解锁、武器与变异、翻滚战斗，以及本体和扩展包分列。 官方页面不单独证明平衡或稳定性。
Video reviews
Reviews and deep dives from YouTube and Bilibili, in every language. Open the original video to watch.
Other voices, for reference.
Archived third-party reviews and community material may refer to different versions. External opinions and ratings are presented separately; consult the original videos for their full context.
Community discussion
A 2D roguelite action-platformer with Metroidvania-style exploration and fast, souls-lite combat, where each run through a procedurally assembled castle ends in permadeath and permanent unlocks.
Dead Cells is one of the most acclaimed roguelites ever made: 97% positive across about 184k Steam reviews (Overwhelmingly Positive), Metacritic 89 and OpenCritic 89 from 150+ critics, plus multiple Best Action/Indie awards in 2018. Players and critics agree the combat feel, movement, art, music and build variety are best in class. Complaints center on the unlock grind, same-y repeat runs, hard-to-read hitboxes and two-hit deaths at high difficulty, and especially the way DLC content is visibly gated inside the base game. It left Early Access in August 2018 and has sold over 10 million copies. Content updates ended with Update 35 'The End is Near' in 2024 after Motion Twin cancelled further Evil Empire work; the game is now in bug-fix-only maintenance, which still draws some community resentment.
What players praise
- Fluid, responsive combat with very tight controls and animation; often cited as the genre benchmark for game feel
- Huge weapon, skill and mutation variety that supports many distinct builds (e.g. crit, brutality, tactics scaling) and run-to-run experimentation
- Strong roguelite loop: each death unlocks blueprints, runes, and shortcuts so failure feels like progress
- Exploration with rune-gated secret areas and hidden details that reward curiosity, blending Metroidvania ideas into runs
- Beautiful, vibrant pixel art with fluid animation, and a well-regarded soundtrack
- Boss Cell difficulty tiers (BC 0-5) let players scale challenge and add new enemies and mechanics, giving endgame replay value
- Assist Mode lets players tune difficulty without disabling achievements; widely praised as true accessibility
- Runs well on low-end hardware and Steam Deck; many free updates and cheap, well-liked DLC (Queen and the Sea, Return to Castlevania)
What players criticize
- DLC zones, doors and achievements appear inside the base game with buy prompts, which many reviewers see as pushy and as making the base game feel incomplete
- Unlock grind: weapons and blueprints must be bought with cells/souls repeatedly across runs, so the grind is seen as the content
- Fixed early structure means the first biomes are replayed constantly, so runs feel repetitive despite procedural layouts
- Hitbox and move-cancel inconsistencies: weapon visuals larger than actual hit areas, tiny enemy hitboxes, and attack animation lock-in make some deaths feel unfair
- Enemies attacking from offscreen or through walls and occasional glitches are reported as cheap damage sources in later difficulties
- Weak, sparse narrative and lore that many players find underdeveloped
- Some weapons feel weak, gimmicky or are hard to make viable, narrowing the builds that actually work at high difficulty
- Controller rebinding limitations and achievement restrictions on some options cited by a few reviewers
- Some players find combat floaty and the game simple or shallow in build composition, with rewards for successful runs not satisfying enough to keep grinding
Distinctive features
- Roguelite and Metroidvania fusion: permanent movement runes open new routes in later runs instead of a fixed world map
- No checkpoints, no level-up stats: power comes from picking weapons and three-color scroll upgrades within a run (brutality, tactics, survival)
- Player-controlled route choice between biomes each run, with a nonlinear branching castle
- Curse mechanic (one hit kills until you clear enough kills) as a voluntary risk-reward system
- Originally designed as a 3D project by Motion Twin and reworked into pixel-art 2D, which fans credit for its animation quality
- Long post-launch life: five years of free updates, crossovers (Castlevania, Hollow Knight, Hades, etc.) and mobile/console ports
Divided opinions
- Difficulty: many call it fair and skill-based, while others feel two-hit deaths and Curse make higher tiers frustrating
- Grind and repetition: fans feel constant progression, while critics feel the core run structure barely changes after 30+ hours
- DLC and monetization: many say DLC is cheap and optional, others feel base game is gated and incomplete
- Motion Twin vs Evil Empire after update cancellation: some players negative-review to protest the studio, others defend the decision or praise the game regardless
Repetition and friction
- Repeatedly grinding the same early biomes just to fund blueprint unlocks
- Dying at high Boss Cell difficulty to two hits after a long run, where a single mistake wipes the run
- Buy prompts for DLC content interrupting fast runs, including timed door challenges
- Luck-dependent weapon drops that can leave a run without a workable build
- Runs that feel deflating after the early game: ramping back up after each death feels barely worth it to some players
Hoped-for improvements
- Less intrusive DLC presentation (or hiding DLC content/prompts for non-owners)
- Faster or less repetitive unlock economy so the meta progression feels less like a grind
- More variety in early-game biomes and route structure so runs diverge earlier
- Clearer, more consistent hitboxes and animation-cancel rules
- Better balance for underused weapons and more build-defining synergies at high Boss Cell levels
- Deeper story and lore delivery and more bosses (base game has few bosses, per critics)
Launched in Steam Early Access in May 2017 and quickly passed 1 million sales; 1.0 launched August 2018 on PC and consoles with very strong reviews and Golden Joystick Best Indie and Game Award wins. Motion Twin later sold over 10 million copies (announced at GDC) helped by 34 free updates and a mobile release; third-party revenue estimates (Steam-only, Boxleiter method) give roughly $178M gross / $52M net. Publishing duties shifted to Evil Empire for live ops from 2019 and they produced the DLC (Rise of the Giants, Bad Seed, Fatal Falls, Queen and the Sea, Return to Castlevania). In 2024 Update 35 'The End is Near' became the last content update; Motion Twin said it wanted to avoid 'more of the same', but co-creator Sebastien Benard publicly called the explanation misleading and pointed to an economic cut in favor of Motion Twin's new game Windblown. Recent Steam reviews show a small wave of protest negatives against Motion Twin and notes that the final update shipped unfinished from beta. Metacritic page cites platforms PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (local file) ↗
- Steam appid 588650 store data: 97% positive, Metacritic 89, SteamSpy owners, revenue estimate ↗
- Metascore 89 (35 critic reviews on PC); user score 8.3 (1,450 ratings, shown as Switch-specific) ↗
- OpenCritic 89, 95% recommend, 152 reviews, IGN 9.5, GamesBeat 98 ↗
- Aggregated Steam review themes: DLC gating, permadeath, weapon balance, weak narrative, RNG ↗
- Update cancellation story and deepnight's public reaction ↗
- Evil Empire ending support; Update 35 is final content update ↗
- Dead Cells sales passing 10 million copies ↗
- 10 million sales announced at GDC with long-tail factors ↗
- Estimated Steam gross/net revenue (Boxleiter method) ↗
- Critic review coverage of combat, art and story ↗
- Steam community discussion surfaced in search (not fetched) ↗
Archived creator commentary 1
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Dead Cells is a fast-paced action roguelite where you always play the same character and build each run around the weapons and gear you find. He considers it very popular for good reason, with distinct weapons, great balance and superb game feel. He also praises the developers' constant stream of updates and DLC. He disputes the metroidvania label but still calls it one of the best action roguelikes and places it in S tier.
What the creator praises
- Every weapon feels distinct, with its own animations and clearly careful design
- Excellent balance: almost any weapon is viable for a successful run
- Game feel is outstanding; you are fast and feel powerful, cutting through enemies
- Each run feels unique even with few passives, since weapons carry the variety
- Developers keep releasing updates and DLC, adding bosses, biomes and weapons
- Developers published a talk explaining how they designed it to feel good
Issues raised by the creator
- Marketed as a metroidvania, which he disagrees with; it is effectively a standard roguelite once the traversal abilities are unlocked
- Only three to four hours of ability unlocking gate the world traversal, after which the metroidvania element fades
- Few unique passives, so variety relies almost entirely on weapons
Design observations
- Variety comes from weapon design rather than passives or differing characters
- Weapon animations and feel are individually designed, making each one a different playstyle
- Ongoing content updates keep the game fresh for years
