Can't believe this game is free

Better than almost all of the smash games

FPS, dungeon-crawler roguelite. Unique idea. Guns are fun. Character identity and skill variety are great.

Only thing lacking is Adventure mode biomes, bosses, and mob variety. Adding more could lead to a lot more variance and replayability. Unfortunately, the devs are currently focused on Spiritual Assault, an unlockable mode that plays more like a hero siege--think vampire survivor. Still a great game nonetheless.

Dead Cells is a tough game, with a steep learning curve.

Consistent clears necessitates the proficiency of movement, (a) weapon(s), and mob/boss patterns.
Not many platforming rougelites reach this level of skill expression.

The game doesn't get dramatically easier over time, like many other roguelites where much of the content is trivial at max level. Instead, YOU get better over time, those same monsters will probably still one-shot you, but your mastery and understanding of the game makes your runs go smoother and smoother. Combined with the quick and responsive movement-methodically running through each map and killing mobs hits those dopamine receptors like no other.

All hype

The title of this game is funny, because i'll always be alone.

This game reminds me of To Your Eternity.

Finally, just a train full of monsters headed straight for my acehole.
If you liked slay the spire, you'll probably like this bad boy.

Nobody reads my reviews for sure, so I'll say I'm gay!

The star here are the boss and miniboss fights. Unfortunately, there are segments where it's tedious just to get to these parts. Animations look cool, and ♥♥♥♥ looks badass when you're fighting a group of enemies on point. The fatality animations have a lot of work put into them for each of the mobs (unique animations), and when you get them off they look and feel really impactful. Stealth is heavily rewarded, BUT the stealth mechanics are terrible--I get that i'm a ninja, but im literally sprinting up to peoples backs and instantly killing them in front of other mobs that have a hard time seeing you...and if you get caught you just run away for a bit and repeat. Also, apart from a few, most of the mobs are just sandbags that you can braindead spam r1 on to break their posture. After experiencing trash mobs once, i found myself just sprinting past everything just to get to the next miniboss or boss.

Unlike the other souls games, this game is a rhythm game in disguise. It becomes way easier if you think of it, and treat it as such. If you're looking for a bloodbourne type game, or enjoy the dodging from the souls games this isn't for you lol.

PROS
- npcs move their mouths when they talk
- weeb voiceacting is on by default
- bosses are A+++, fun to learn and fight
- grappling can be fun to move around and 'explore' with, think spiderman games
- kill animations feel good
- there are a decent amount of mob types, mechanics, and variations

CONS
- you have to hold x after every killed mob to loot, really hard to understand this decision by fromsoft
- the stealth feels like an afterthought
- grapple markers are basically spoonfeeding the player to "go here!"
- if you don't get mobbed, most of the nonboss enemies are a joke
- can be inconsistent when you stagger enemies with an attack--the game wants you to parry
- regarding the above, combat can feel a bit braindead (for most enemies): parry parry parry (the window is huge, if you err on the side of early you'll just auto block), r1 r1 or spoiler-monji. occasionally you do other stuff, but if you know when to go aggro, you can disregard some mechanics of some mobs/minibosses/bosses