Sadly, It Seems a Dead Cells Sequel Isn’t in Our Future
Released for consoles earlier this year, Motion Twin’s Dead Cells has seen massive success in the industry and it even took home Best Action Game of the year at The Game Awards 2018! Despite this success however, it seems the developer isn’t set on a Dead Cells sequel just yet.
Though it might seem hard to believe, game designer Sébastien Bénard himself shut down the idea in a recent interview with Game Informer. When asked about the possibility of a Dead Cells sequel he had this to say, “In terms of a sequel, we know for sure it’s not a good idea to dwell on your success. If you create a big hit, it’s best to use this energy to make something different. I don’t think we’ll make a Dead Cells 2. We’re more open to creating more content and opening the game up more to the community. If we did make a Dead Cells 2, it’s because we really need the money (laughs). We don’t want to stick to the same thing though, so I think if we did come back it would be something quite different, not a platformer or roguelike along these lines.”
Though it should be noted that Sébastien Bénard didn’t answer in definite terms, it doesn’t sound like there’s much hope that there will be a sequel unfortunately. With that said, it is good news that Motion Twin will still be working on post-release content and will have continuous support for Dead Cells.
What’s even more curious is that Dead Cells might not have even been such a huge success had Motion Twin not changed their original build of the game. According to Bénard, the game was originally built as a free-to-play tower defense game rather than a Metroidvania roguelike. When asked how they transitioned the game from its original build to what Dead Cells is today Sébastien Bénard explained that it was quite a hectic process. “At the beginning, the first version of this game, which used to be called Hordes Zero, was started like three or four years ago. We had lots of issues with it because it wasn’t fun, especially for that type of game. We struggled with this for quite a long time, until a friend at a different company told us that a prototype section we made was more entertaining than the actual game. It was a realization for us because we understood we should focus on the single-player experience first, instead of making it multiplayer or that game. From this point, it was a matter of cutting a lot of elements from the original project. We gave up everything that was related to tower defense, and went in the direction of a platformer like Metroidvania instead.”
Are you glad that Motion Twin decided on making Dead Cells as a Metroidvania instead of a free-to-play tower defense title? And how do you feel about the probability that there will never be a Dead Cells sequel? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to keep it locked for updates!