Dead Cells is Motion Twin's roguelite action-platformer — a high-speed, high-skill game that fuses Metroidvania-style exploration with the randomized layouts and build diversity of roguelikes. It entered Early Access in May 2017 and released in full on 7 August 2018. You play as the Prisoner — a consciousness inhabiting a dead body — escaping a diseased island prison across procedurally generated biomes. Death is permanent but permanent upgrades gradually expand your capabilities across runs.
The weapon variety is large: dozens of weapons across swords, bows, shields, whips, spears, and more, each with distinct combo timings and special properties. Skills (traps, turrets, grenades) combine with weapons, and community guides describe a Brutality/Tactics/Survival color system that rewards build coherence.
Four paid DLC expansions have been released: The Bad Seed (February 2020), Fatal Falls (January 2021), The Queen and the Sea (January 2022) and Return to Castlevania (March 2023). Free updates such as Rise of the Giant and Everyone Is Here added further content. Creative updates ended with update 35 in August 2024; Evil Empire, a studio spun off from the team, co-developed later updates and DLC.
Swords, bows, shields, whips, traps, turrets, and grenades — each with distinct timing, combos, and special properties. Runs vary a lot.
Community guides describe Brutality (red), Tactics (purple), and Survival (green) stat colors that power synergistic builds.
Cells earned on each run fund permanent upgrades that expand your weapon pool and passive options — making every run count even in defeat.
Beating bosses earns Boss Stem Cells (up to five) that raise the difficulty: tougher enemy tiers and less healing at each level.
Release facts, mechanics and boss details on this page were checked against these sources on 12 October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.