Dead Cells now in "mid-life", as developer unveils new roadmap

There had been rumblings amongst the gaming community that Motion Twin's roguelike Dead Cells was coming to the end of its lifespan. Thankfully, this is not the case. Rather, the developer has released a new roadmap for the game that covers the rest of this year, and into 2023.

So, what can you expect to see heading your way? Well, for summer 2022, Dead Cells players should see the arrival of "the long awaited panchaku" as well as a new "flame head outfit based on our beloved animated trailers". There will also be some rebalancing for various weapons and other items, but most endearingly you will soon be able to "pet the pets".

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Following this, autumn will see a new Boss Rush area enter the game. As with boss rush modes from other games (looking at you Metroid Dread), this area will let you test your metal against a series of Dead Cell's bosses one after the other. As you progress, you will unlock new items to help you on your way.

As well as this basic premise, "there should be a few different 'modes' in the Boss Rush to expand the challenge beyond that central idea and we'll potentially be adding a scoreboard to add a bit of friendly competition," Motion Twin has stated.

The developer has then teased more content before Christmas, but what that will be is being kept shhtum for now.

This does not mean the developer does not have more ideas, however. In fact, it plans on 2023 being Dead Cells' "biggest year since the 1.0 launch".

"What we're getting at here is that we're very much in the mid-life of Dead Cells," Motion Twin has stated. "We're not sneaking out at night to get drunk on street corners anymore, but we've still got plenty of life in us before our knees start to give in, so prepare yourselves for more Dead Cells content."

As with many things in life, however, we should all be ready to give these updates and timeframes a certain amount of flexibility. Motion Twin has said that while it is "reasonably confident" about the aforementioned release times and content, there's "no guarantees in game development". As such, we should not take this all as being set in stone right now, or in the developer's words "please don't take this as gospel truth".

Eurogamer gave Dead Cells a recommended badge on its release in 2018, with Edwin calling it "one of the slickest dungeon-crawlers you'll ever play".

"If Dead Cells is glorious to behold and irresistible in the hands, what makes it stick in the long run is, firstly, the complex yet intuitive risk-reward dynamics created by its temporary boosts and permanent progression systems, and secondly, the terrific balance its stages strike between familiarity and intrigue."