Dead Cells is a “soulslike” but also a “roguevania” (sorry)
Souls pitch
The upcoming slash-and-splore Dead Cells [official site] has been dubbed a “roguevania” by its creators, which is either a creative and welcome blending of genres or an obscene new marketing word that we should refuse to acknowledge lest it catch on. I haven’t decided which yet because it’s still the morning for me and I haven’t even had my daily egg. The good news is: it has a release date and looks nifty enough for a quick post, which you can see in the trailer below. You are an immortal flock of manipulative cells in control of a lifeless yet servile human body. AND IN THE GAME HAHAHAHA KILL ME
Thank you for allowing me my low-hanging joke. Here is some more information about the videogame.
- There is permadeath
- But there are also permaupgrades
- There are hidden areas
- There is “souls-like” combat (“invincibility frames when rolling, pattern-based bosses and monsters, and of course, punishing difficulty”)
- There are more than 10 levels
- There is a castle
- It is out on May 10
I’ve been very thorough with this, but if you want more information you can glean some brief impressions from Kate, who tried it at Indiecade. She died a lot. She also said that the procedural level generation is akin to Rogue Legacy. There are no checkpoints here and when you die you might receive new goodies and abilities but that level you were playing is gone. I’m not sure that’s the hook for me. What I adored about (most of) the Souls series was its very deliberate level design, worlds that felt like they were made by a gang of mad cartographers. But if the combat and challenge was the thing that brought you to the smashed and burning table, then keep your eye on this one.