History VideoGame / DeadCells

''Dead Cells'' is a 2D {{roguelike}} {{metroidvania}} developed by Motion Twin. It was released for open beta on May 10, 2017 on Steam's Early Access, GOG on November 13th, 2017, and was formally released on August 7, 2018.

In June, 2023, it [[https://youtu.be/LMVH49-VUOc was announced that]] ''WesternAnimation/DeadCellsTheAnimatedSeries'' was be created by Bobbypills, the French studio behind the animated trailers for game.

** Even before the DLC, there were already a ton of references to ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}},'' including the Valmont's Whip weapon, the The Death Orb skill (which closely resembles the Malachi’s attack from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', and the entire design of the Clock Tower and Castle biomes.

** The Death Orb skill closely resembles the Malachi’s attack from ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''

** The November 22, 2021 free update is called [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate "Everyone is Here"]].

* AchillesHeel: Shieldbearers can only be damaged from behind, [[WeaksauceWeakness unless you have a whip.]]

* AlwaysAccurateAttack: Throwing Knives, Electric Whip, and Magic Missiles always target the closest enemy; if it's in their ranges, it will hit them.

* LightningLash: the Electric Whip, which auto-targets a nearby enemy, deals splash damage, and deals shock damage over time.

* WhipItGood: There are a couple of whip items in the game. Though their damage is low, they have higher range than most weapons and can attack in multiple directions rather than just to the sides. The Wrenching Whip and Valmont's Whip also ignore shields and Thornies' spikes. The ''Return to Castlevania'' DLC adds ''the'' whip, the Vampire Killer. It also ignores shields and deals critical hits to burning enemies. If you acquire the Valmont's Whip while wearing any of the Belmont costumes from the Castlevania DLC, it turns into the chain whip from the series.[[spoiler:[[KonamiCode You can also input the Konami Code during gameplay to unlock the Morning Star weapon]]]]

* WhipItGood: There are a couple of whip items in the game. Though their damage is low, they have higher range than most weapons and can attack in multiple directions rather than just to the sides. The Wrenching Whip and Valmont's Whip also ignore shields and Thornies' spikes. The ''Return to Castlevania'' DLC adds ''the'' whip, the Vampire Killer. It also ignores shields and deals critical hits to burning enemies.

** Like wise Before facing off against the DLC boss The Scarecrow, the Beheaded has to bounce on some giant flowers, a game mechanic not seen before facing off against him.

** The Cursed Sword has the highest DPS value in the game. The catch is that the Beheaded is permanently inflicted with curse while carrying it, so every single attack in the game is lethal.

** There is also an abundance of crows just hanging around the island's outsides, only flying away when the Beheaded startles them.

** The second "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_kmohIc-b4 Everyone Is Here]]" update adds ''VideoGame/SlayTheSpire'', ''VideoGame/KatanaZero'', ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'', ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' and ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}''.

** Ugly Worms, found in the sewer levels, also [[TakingYouWithMe drop explosive eggs when they die]].

%%* TurretMaster: You can load up with Sinew Slicers or Crossbow-o-Matic's and let them do the fighting for you. As long as you stay close enough to power them, that is.%%

** And then there's the ''true'' true ending, obtainable by [[spoiler:defeating the Collector once, then going through the game and possessing the King's body before entering the Astrolab]], which manages to be both this and a MindScrewdriver. [[spoiler:The Beheaded finally remembers their past: They are in the fact the King's mind, separated from his body (which explains why the King makes no struggle whenever the Beheaded "kills" him). The King returns to his body and confronts and defeats the Collector once again. Afterwards, the King returns to his throne, convinced that his journey is finally over...only for a new, "glitched" Beheaded to suddenly appear before him. The two prepare to square of, with the game cutting to credits just as the two engage.]]

** Tactics has mainly long-range weapons, but give the lowest HP out of the three stats, eventually giving nothing at high levels.

** The Acceptance schematic is even tougher, [[spoiler:by proxy of requiring the three Gardener's Keys. To obtain it, obtain all three Gardener's Keys then go to the Ramparts, Graveyard, and Forgotten Sepulcher, all of which have one hidden Moonflower keys locked behind doors that require one Gardener's each. On a normal run however, one cannot access the Graveyard from the Ramparts - you need to inject three Boss Stem Cells to access the alternate path.]]

* HardModePerks: [[spoiler:The Hand of the King drops Boss Cells upon death.]] Inject them, and the game will become harder but will also provide bonuses; most notable increasing the level of the Legendary Forge, which makes a portion (or all) of items spawn with a certain quality. On 4 and 5 Boss Cells, every item will be S-rank if you sink enough cells into it. More Boss Cells will also unlock doors in level with various bonuses behind them, such as shops, cell containers, chests, and alternate exits.

* MoneyForNothing: Oddly enforced on the highest difficulty. At 5BSC, you don't get to spend the Cells you've collected. [[spoiler:The Collector is gone and he steals all your Cells before his boss fight, and unless you for some reason decide to end your run early after killing Hand of the King, you don't get the carry them to your next run.]] This was addressed in a later update [[spoiler:where the Collector's Intern takes over his functions in his absence]].

-->'''Dracula''': Perhaps the same could be said of all bosses. (...) What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk, have at you!

* OneHitKill: While cursed, any hit at all with instantly kill you. Taken to the extreme with Cursed Sword which turns you into a constant {{One Hit Point Wonder}}.

* OrcusOnHisThrone
** Taken to its [[LogicalExtreme logical extreme]] with The King, as not only does he not appear at all until the end of the game, [[spoiler:he offers no resistance whatsoever, even after you kill his bodyguard and destroy the force field that protects him]]. The reason for this is simple, [[spoiler:he is merely the King's body, while the protagonist is the king's head/sentience.]]
** Zigzagged with Dracula. If you take the normal route to Dracula's Castle, he's content to sit on his throne and doesn't do anything to stop you [[spoiler: because he knows Death will take care of that]]. If you take the alternate path to Dracula's Castle, however, he doesn't wait for you to come to him and actively harasses you throughout the biome by buffing enemies, summoning bats, vertically flipping the screen, or just outright attacking you with fireballs.
* ThePlague: From the little story tidbits scattered throughout various biomes, [[spoiler:A "malaise" began to spread through the kingdom, which involved reanimated bodies and aggression in the citizens. More specifically, the prisoners in the catacombs you start in were especially contagious, and were forced to stay in the Prison, even if their sentences were up.]]

** Cursed treasure chests. They give a high tier weapon, a lot of money and a Power Scroll to upgrade on of your three stats, but they inflict the cursed status aliment. This curse can be lifted by killing ten enemies, but until then, [[OneHitKill any hit at all will be fatal]].

* PuppeteerParasite: The [[spoiler: player character]] is a slime piloting a decapitated corpse.

* ShockAndAwe: Lightning, Electric Whip, Thundershield, Tesla Coil and Wings of the Crow all have electric damage as a base part of their effects.

* ShopliftAndDie: Through many of the areas there are rooms containing items protected by a locked door; payment is necessary to get past and take the item. The doors can be destroyed to steal the item for free, but doing so inflicts you with a curse.

*** Unlocking the Ancient Sewers and visiting them for the first time nets you the "Who needs an Italian Plumber?"

** The Derelict Distillery is a dead ringer for 25M, the first stage of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', with slopes going back and forth in a vertical direction, and you having to dodge barrels. Though the spring[[note]]explosives[[/note]] are from 50M.

* SpitTake: During the True True Ending [[spoiler:the Beheaded, having reclaimed his original body and resumed his role as the King, takes a large sip of wine only to spit it out in shock when a glitched version of himself as the Beheaded approaches the throne.]]
* StarterEquipment: The starting equipment is a [[WithThisHerring rusty sword]], a wooden bow and a wooden shield. However, if you unlock the "random starter item" upgrades, these can be any one of the items you've unlocked.

* StoryBreadcrumbs: Nobody ever really outright explains everything, but there's a lot of lore to piece together from special rooms in the different areas. The lore seems to be that [[spoiler:a deadly plague known as "the malaise" formed in The Sewers from dead bodies disposed there, eventually contaminating the waters surrounding the populated port residence of the Stilt Village. Here, the outbreak ''exploded'', between the village's large population and the popularity of fishing as a pastime, and to deal with this the king ordered anyone suspected of being afflicted to be sent to the prisons as quarantine. Despite this and a focused effort to find a cure, even High Peak Castle fell to the disease, leaving few survivors, and even fewer who haven't been driven mad by its effects.]]
* TacticalDoorUse: Doors can be open, closed, or outright destroyed, and enemies can hear the player through closed doors, so one can kite foes back and forth this way. Breaking doors down will stun foes directly on the other side, and if you have the [[VideoGame/HalfLife crowbar]] it'll even give you a few second of [[CriticalHit critical hits]]

* ThreeStatSystem: The items and mutations of Dead Cells scale with three different stats: Brutality, Tactics, and Survival. Some items scale with two stats (using the larger of the two for damage calculation), and all items can drop as an alternate Colorless and Legendary tiers (the former scales with whichever stat is the highest, and the latter with the combined sum of your two highest stats).
** Brutality weapons tend to be close-range weapons with above-average DPS, while Brutality skills are either short-ranged grenades or items to promote moving into close range. Brutality mutations incentivizes melee combat. Examples include the [[BackStab Assassin's Dagger]], [[TrickBomb Oil Grenade]], and [[FlashStep Phaser]].

* TimeCrash: If you [[spoiler:kill the Collector]], at the start of your next run [[spoiler:the Time Keeper teleports you directly to the Clock Room to berate you for killing the only person capable of creating the cure for the Malaise and resets time before kicking you back to the start of the game. However, something goes ''very'' wrong this time around. When you return, the Tutorial Knight is alive again, but heavily glitched and repeating her opening speech ad nauseum, and certain parts of the game are glitched as well. The King even returns to life, allowing you to possess his body.]]

--> '''Cursed Chest''': I've been a naughty chest. I deserve to be punished.

* UndergroundMonkey: There are a couple different kinds of bats that all work pretty much the same. ''Return to Castlevania'' has a few more of these; the Armor Knight and Dire Werewolf are the Lancer and Rampager enemies in all but name and look, while the Werewolf is a less aggressive version of the Rampager. Notably, you can run into these enemies much earlier than you would the originals. The Lancer is a late-game enemy, but Armor Knights can appear in the Castle Outskirts, which would be your second level, while Rampagers only appear with three boss cells but Dire Werewolves can appear with one.

** Enforced when using a Rapier which guarantees a {{Critical Hit}} after rolling.

** The ''Who's The Boss?'' update adds weapons based on each of the game's bosses, that you gain upon beating them for the first time.

*** Death drops Death's Scythe. When it kills an enemy its soul follows you around and strikes at the nearest enemy, dealing damage in proportion to the maximum hit points of the soul.

* CrypticBackgroundReference: Why is there a corpse of a dead giant in your cell at the start? It's a mystery. [[spoiler:As of the Rise of the Giant update, it turns out it's a powerful boss that comes to life and heads for the Caverns after you beat the game for the first time. And it’s apparently very far back since at first it looks twice your size, only for the fight to show his FIST is twice your size!]]