The Agony and the Ecstasy: Dead Cells

When I first saw the trailer for Dead Cells, with its title character getting crushed, stabbed, and splattered repeatedly on the way to a distant castle, only to respawn in a dungeon for another try, I didn't think I would like it. After downloading the game from Xbox Live Game Pass and being given the same rough treatment, I'm still not sure I should.

Objectively, Dead Cells is a good game. Hell, it's a great game, scratching that Symphony of the Night itch better than anything I've played since Dawn of Sorrow was released nearly fifteen years ago. Oh yes, I'm aware of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. I've played it, I've beaten it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But that was merely a copy of Symphony of the Night, with some of the assets shifted around a bit. Dead Cells takes inspiration from the later Castlevania games, but the combat is more kinetic, demanding that you be sneaky and light on your feet. You take a couple swipes at an enemy, roll away as they warm up their response, then run in for another couple of strikes, until they explode in a shower of blood and gems. Better yet, toss a trap near where they're standing and watch with perverse glee as they're set ablaze or filled with crossbow bolts. There are dozens of weapon types, and while not all of them are especially useful, they're all plenty imaginative. A personal favorite is the beam of electricity which hones in on enemies and turns pools of water into crackling death traps.

Welcome to Stilt Village, filled with such colorful
residents as cannon-wielding pirates and zombies
with a nest of carnivorous worms for a head.
(image from New Game Network)

Unfortunately, just as you begin to appreciate the spritely and ever so sadistic gameplay of Dead Cells, and admire its desolate backgrounds, with shafts of light peeking from behind trees and through prison bars, you're hit with the bitter aftertaste. Dead Cells isn't just a search action game in the style of Symphony of the Night... it's also a rogue-like, which means that every playthrough is randomized and any progress you make can be ripped out of your hands at the whim of the developers. If you lose a life in the first stage, it's right back to the start you go, with minimal health and a couple of crapsack weapons. If you make it halfway through and get blindsided by unfamiliar monsters and obstacles, it's right back to the start you go! If you reach the end of the game after two long hours and get dusted by the comically overpowered final boss in a couple of minutes, it's... yeah, you see where this is going.

You remember the scene in Groundhog Day where
Bill Murray gets sick of living the same day over
and over, so he invites a marmot to drive him
off the edge of a cliff? You'll not just remember
it after Dead Cells, you'll empathize.
(image from Lion's Roar)

In all fairness, some of the game's most hard-fought items can be kept forever, particularly the runes which open paths to new areas. These new stages, including a subterranean graveyard where straying too far from a source of light leads to profuse bleeding and certain death, keep Dead Cells from becoming too tedious. Nevertheless, it's hard to stick with a game like this, which feels like a Mobius strip made of sandpaper. It's rough all the way through, and after a while, you're not really sure if it ever ends.