February2024
News Dead Cells Lead Designer Isn't Happy With "Abrupt" Decision To End Development
"...it’s a one-way strategy that leaves people behind"
Former lead designer on Dead Cells Sébastien Bénard has spoken out over Motion Twin and Evil Empire's announcement to end creative work on the hugely popular indie roguelike. Bénard, who left as an associate with Motion Twin to form Deepnight Games in 2020, shared a post on his official...
News Dead Cells Will Receive No New Content After Next Update, Confirms Devs
Dead Cells is... dead?
After five years of post-launch support, Motion Twin and Evil Empire have today announced that there will be no new Dead Cells content added to the game after the release of Update 35. The announcement was made via a post on the game's Steam page and on the Evil Empire Twitter account, with both teams thanking players for...
August2023
Anniversary Dead Cells Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving Five Years On
Look at that fire grow
Today marks the fifth anniversary of Dead Cells on the Nintendo Switch in North America, and what a five years it has been. From humble indie beginnings to releasing a wave of DLC with Castlevania developers Konami, it is fair to say that the game we see today is rather different from the 'roguevania' (a phrase that we are...
June2023
News A Dead Cells Animated Series Is In The Works For Next Year
Bringing the heat
Animation studio Bobbypills is teaming up with Evil Empire and Motion Twin, to create a Dead Cells animated series which will air in 2024. The series will consist of 10 seven-minute-long episodes and will initially stream on ADN (which is also co-producing the show) in France before being made available worldwide afterwards. We...
May2023
News Dead Cells: Return To Castlevania Physical Edition Launches This August
Pre-orders are now open
Merge Games and Motion Twin have today announced that physical copies of Dead Cells: Return To Castlevania are heading our way from 11th August. We had a great time with this latest batch of DLC when it launched back in March, awarding it a 9/10 in our review and describing it as "an intense, brilliant nostalgia trip to...
April2023
News New Dead Cells Update Is Heading To Switch Soon, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Prepare for Clean Cut
After the expansive 'Return to Castlevania' DLC last month, we imagined that it might be a little while before we get our next big update for Dead Cells. Clearly, we were wrong. Publisher Motion Twin has today announced that a lengthy new patch, 'Clean Cut', is now available on PC and will be heading to consoles soon. This...
December2022
News Return To Castlevania In The Next Dead Cells DLC, Arriving Q1 2023
"Thank you Konami"
Motion Twin's award-winning roguelite Metroidvania Dead Cells was the first game to receive an announcement at The Game Awards' pre-show this year. In a brief trailer, it was revealed Dead Cells would be collaborating with Konami's long-running Castlevania series with the upcoming Return To Castlevania DLC. Fans can expect a new...
September2022
News Dead Cells Huge 'Enter The Panchaku' Update Finally Arrives On Switch Today
Pan nunchaku? Sign us up
After hitting "a snag" (along with a few more delays) with the release of Dead Cells' latest free update, Enter the Panchaku, Motion Twin has announced that Switch owners — and other console players — can at last experience this latest batch of new content! There are a ton of new features in Enter the Panchaku — not...
June2022
News Dead Cells' Accessibility-Focused Update Adds Assist Mode, Difficulty Options, And More
Called 'Breaking Barriers'
Motion Twin and Evil Empire's fantastic roguelike Dead Cells has received another new update as of yesterday, and it's a pretty important one too. The studios have partnered with AbleGamers and members of the Dead Cells community to help bring in tons of new accessibility features to the game. A spokesperson for Evil...
May2022
Soapbox Free Game Updates Are Fantastic For Everyone, Except New Players
I want my money back
You wouldn't complain about a free lunch, would you? Well, maybe you would — if the lunch was something you'd never eaten before, and it came with utensils you'd never used before, and no one told you how to actually consume it. That's a bit like how I feel picking up Dead Cells for the first time. Although it's technically...
March2022
News Dead Cells 'Break The Bank' DLC Adds New Enemies And Weapons, And It's Free
Freecell! No wait that's already a game
If you've got a copy of Dead Cells, or even if you haven't, make sure to check out the latest DLC for the game, which is A) totally free and B) a bunch of new content including new enemies, weapons, and mutations. Did we mention it's free? Here are the things that have been added, plus the full patch notes...
April2021
News Dead Cells' Free 'Whack-A-Mole' Update Is Out Now, Bringing Big Swords And New Mutations
Compensating for something?
We are officially on Dead Cells' 23rd update, which is incredible, but what's more incredible is that they're still adding actual (free!!) content to the game ahead of its fourth birthday on the 10th May. The latest update is named "Whack-A-Mole", presumably because it involves getting a melanoma screening. What's that?...
March2021
News Dead Cells Has Now Sold 5 Million Copies Worldwide
Recent Chinese launch is attributed to latest sales milestone
Dead Cells has been with us for nearly three years at this point, and its still going strong. Launched back in 2018, Motion Twin's action-platformer has received some tremendous post-launch support ever since, including January's Fatal Falls DLC. Having previously reached
January2021
News Nintendo Switch Online Members Get Free Trial Of Dead Cells In Europe Next Week
Free trial goes live on January 26th
There's no denying Dead Cells' success at this point. Having now sold over 3 million copies, we called Motion Twin's action-platformer a "masterclass in excellent roguelike design" when it launched back in 2018, awarding it 9/10 stars. It's seen significant post-launch support ever since and we'd absolutely...
December2020
News Dead Cells January Update Brings Festive Outfits, New Mutations And Cheese-Only Diet
More like Dead Smells
Prepare yourself, folks: it's time to go deep-diving into the patch notes for Dead Cells' upcoming 'Update 21', destined to hit consoles (including the Nintendo Switch, obvs) in January 2021. You would be forgiven for thinking that 2021 is still a few months away, but apparently there are only ten days left in the year. Smell...
January2020
News Dead Cells Gets Its First Paid DLC Pack On 11th February
Designed to support development
The highly praised indie hit Dead Cells will be receiving more downloadable content, according to its developer Motion Twin. On 11th February, "The Bad Seed" DLC will be released for $4.99. Here are the details: Explore a relaxing Arboretum, wade through a noxious Swamp, and take on a new boss in this new early...
June2019
News Merge Games Releasing Dead Cells - Action Game Of The Year Edition
Includes Rise of the Giant DLC
Update: Merge Games has now clarified the Rise of the Giant DLC will still need to be downloaded. The Action Game of the Year Edition is aimed at players who haven't tried the game yet, and celebrates Dead Cells' 1 year anniversary! If you haven't picked up a physical copy of the wonderful roguelike / Metroidvania...
May2019
News Motion Twin Brings Dead Cells: Rise Of The Giant DLC To The Switch Next Week
A free update
In February, the talented team at Motion Twin revealed Dead Cells: Rise of the Giant, a substantial new DLC update for last year's Dead Cells. This content is entirely free and has been available on the PC since the end of March. More than a month later, Motion Twin has now confirmed this extra content will become available to Switch...
April2019
News Motion Twin Still Thinking About A Multiplayer Component For Dead Cells
More players, more fun
The team at Motion Twin has done a wonderful job on Dead Cells, even if the Switch version did get off to a bit of a bumpy start in terms of performance. While the current focus for this small French-based developer is the game's downloadable content - Rise of the Giants, it has been considering a multiplayer component for...
March2019
Video Motion Twin Promotes Dead Cells: Rise Of The Giant DLC With Humorous Animation
Lovely stuff
The small team responsible for Dead Cells has done a tremendous job improving the game since it was released on the Switch in August last year. Last month, the friendly folk at Motion Twin even revealed a substantial new DLC update was on the way. To promote this free downloadable content, officially titled Dead Cells: Rise of the...
News Dead Cells Surpasses One Million Sales, Switch Version Leads The Way On Console
Well deserved
Motion Twin's Dead Cells didn't have the best launch on the Switch eShop. In fact, when it arrived, the French-based developer had to acknowledge frame-drops and performance issues with a public apology. It spent the next six months reworking the game engine, to bump the framerate up to 60fps and since then, it's been recognised as one...
February2019
News Dead Cells Is Getting A 'Huge' Free DLC Pack Soon
Nine months in the making
Hit ‘roguevania’ Dead Cells is soon to receive a substantial free DLC update across all platforms. Developer Motion Twin has been working on the pack for nine months and, although the base game is complete, it’s looking to add some more flavour and provide explanations and a ‘proper conclusion’ to the story with...
News Dead Cells Switch Update Adds 60fps And Custom Game Support
It’s finally here
Shortly after the Switch release of Dead Cells in August last year, the game's developer Motion Twin was forced to issue an apology because of the frame rate issues. In certain areas of the title, players were reportedly experiencing significant dips in performance, resulting in entire sections of the game running well-below...
January2019
News Dead Cells Sold More Than 100,000 Copies In Its First Week On Nintendo Switch
Impressive
Alongside Celeste and The Messenger, the roguelike game Dead Cells by French-based developer Motion Twin was one of the indie success stories of 2018. In September last year, we heard how the Switch version of the game was
December2018
News Motion Twin Not Interested In Making A Sequel To Dead Cells
No need to dwell on success
Reflect on the indie releases of 2018 and one of the standout games was the roguelike action title Dead Cells by French-based developer Motion Twin. The title was praised by critics and sold incredibly well, especially on the Switch eShop where it managed to outsell the PlayStation 4 version. When a game has this level...