Cover artwork I generate from the game data. I do not use publisher artwork.
Game profile
Dead Cells
In a constantly shifting castle, you fight run after run, with permanent upgrades securing your progress. The combat is butter smooth and rewards aggressive, mobile play.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Roguelike / Metroidvania, set in a fantasy world. Visually it is built on pixel art, and the overall tone stays dark throughout. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. Sessions of an hour or two sit at the sweet spot here.
It is genuinely demanding, and repeated failure is part of how it is designed. Story exists mostly as background texture rather than a reason to keep going. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- Very fluid combat system
- Permanent meta progression
- Huge weapon arsenal
This fits you if
- you are after a proper adrenaline rush
- levelling, looting and optimising a build is your kind of loop
- you want real resistance and are fine with dying a lot
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
- you like a deliberate retro look over photorealism
- you prefer a darker, heavier tone
Look elsewhere if
- you want to relax and not be punished for mistakes
- you want something light and easy going
- pixel art puts you off
- repetition wears you down instead of drawing you in
What it costs you in time
About 35 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 6 weeks, or 18 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 90 out of 100, which puts it above 85 percent of the 1206 games here and at rank 128 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, Roguelike averages 84 points across the database, so this one sits 6 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 639 collected ratings.
Released in 2018, so it has 8 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.
The facts
- Release year
- 2018
- Genres
- Roguelike, Metroidvania, Action
- Playtime
- approx. 35 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Demanding, punishing
- Story weight
- Background flavour
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Fantasy
- Visual style
- Pixel art
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 90 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Cells | 2018 | approx. 35 hrs. | 90 | Mid price |
| Sworn | 2025 | approx. 30 hrs. | 77 | Mid price |
| Halls of Torment | 2024 | approx. 20 hrs. | 88 | Budget |
| Skul: The Hero Slayer | 2021 | approx. 15 hrs. | 81 | Budget |
If you liked this, try these
- Sworn Shared: Roguelike, Action, Fantasy
- Halls of Torment Shared: Roguelike, Action, Fantasy, shorter
- Skul: The Hero Slayer Shared: Roguelike, Action, Fantasy, shorter
- Have a Nice Death Shared: Roguelike, Action, Fantasy, shorter
- Soulstone Survivors Shared: Roguelike, Action, Fantasy
- Absolum Shared: Roguelike, Action, Fantasy, shorter