no img no img

Write what you are looking for and press enter to begin your search!

Logo
live-news-icon

Live News

Asia Gaming Beat: February 15, 2025: In an intense match, the Lone Wolves came out victorious. Read all about the big night here // Elden Ring Nightreign's Network Test Went So Bad, FromSoft Had to Give It Another Go: In an intense match, the Lone Wolves came out victorious. Read all about the big night here // Valentine's Day 2025: Wishes & Messages From The Games Industry: In an intense match, the Lone Wolves came out victorious. Read all about the big night here
post-16 post-13

Dead Cells’ Castlevania DLC Is One More Reason To Go Back To This Fine-As-Heck Action Game

Platform(s): PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Mobile
Genre: DLC to 2018’s best roguelike Metroidvania slasher featuring a headless guy

Dead Cells came out in 2018 to thunderous reception due to its tight controls, roguelike nature, crazy-but-fair difficulty, and a plethora of weapons and traps at your fingertips. Due to its roguelike nature -if you die in your run at any time, you start over- everything about the game screams multiple replayability, with secrets to uncover and weapons/new buffs to unlock for subsequent runs. Dead Cells has also been kept healthy and alive with its yearly DLC drops and they’re all worthy additions.

This year’s DLC release for the search action title, Return To Castlevania, is Motion Twin’s tribute to the series that spawned Dead Cells in the first place. And it sure as heck does justice to the source material, so don’t act too shocked if you find yourself going back again to this action title.

A Miserable Little Pile Of Secrets?

Dead Cells: Return To Castlevania is essentially a bunch of new levels that are based on the iconic Konami action game series, with the Beheaded going through the outskirts of Dracula’s Castle that leads straight and then upward. Then, you’ll have to navigate inside the maze that is Dracula’s abode, and then fight a couple of Castlevania bosses. You’ll get some guest appearances from Castlevania’s Richter Belmont and Alucard through the course of the run to make sure you’re on the correct path.

Action-wise, the stages are fun, challenging without being too unfair at times, and feature a good number of awesome musical remixes from Dead Cells composer Yoann Laulan. The DLC not only brings in some new levels to explore and fun bosses to fight from the Castlevania lore, it also introduces new weapons and costumes from the series for replayability’s sake. Dead Cells is all about getting as many cells to unlock permanent power-ups and weapons in the pool; having staple Castlevania weapons like Alucard’s shield, the Vampire Killer whip, to even Death’s scythe brings in a new bunch of fun abilities. The latter is clearly my favourite for any run: it summons dead souls from enemies you killed to be made into explosive “soul” projectiles, and comes with an area-spanning 3-hit combo arc. Even the costumes are worth grinding for if only because the novelty of wearing an Alucard or 80s Simon Belmont outfit while killing bad guys in Dead Cell’s esoteric world never gets old.

Having said all that, the path to getting to the DLC’s stages is a bit odd, considering you can only access the second version of Dracula’s Castle in a separate run after you kill the first Castlevania boss. It’s a bit strange why you couldn’t do all of this in one single run, though the whole point of Dead Cells is replayability and getting a good run, so it’s a quirk that longtime fans are used to.

(Bloody) Tears Of Joy

Long story short, you should just buy the new DLC because you’re going back to playing Dead Cells with new stages, levels, and awesome weapons, alongside a secret stage where you play as one of the Belmont vampire hunter members in his own run-and-whip segment. The graphical nods, easter egg collectables like the Belmont and Belnades outfits, and remixed Castlevania music using the game’s classical strings and ambience; all of it tie in well and is catered to both search action and 90s platforming action fans involving vampire killing. Chances are you’re playing Dead Cells because you are a fan of the search action genre, so it’s only fitting you would appreciate the slice of love Motion Twin has made from this humble-sized DLC.

You don’t need more reasons to go back to Dead Cells time and again just because of how addictive the fight, die, repeat mechanics and flawless controls are. However, this 2023 tribute proves that the 2D search action roguelike’s headspace is still in the right place. Even if its main character doesn’t have one.

Final Score: 90/100

Related News

post-07
Persona 3 Music & Other Persona Soundtracks Added To Streaming Services

Sega and Atlus have announced that soundtracks from the various Persona games and concerts are now available for the first time on music streaming pl...

post-07
Dota Underlords' Big Update Finally Adds The Titular Underlords

After several months, Valve's auto chess game Dota Underlords is finally introducing the titular Underlords into the game in its first Big Update. Sta...

post-07
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection Full Patch Notes

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection gets its first major update, and it brings fan-requested features and a host of improvements. ...

Write a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment(2)

  1. SoundScape: The Fantastic Castlevania Tribute Of Dead Cells’ New DLC | KAKUCHOPUREI.COM

    March 6, 2023 at 10:40 pm

    […] It’s not every day you get to work on the main inspiration of your hit search action title with the roguelike twist to it. Dead Cells creator Motion Twin did just that with its new DLC dubbed Return To Castlevania, where they worked with Konami to create a fun Dead Cells roguelike experience with new Castlevania biomes that entertain. […]

  2. Kakuchopurei’s Best Games Of 2023 | Kakuchopurei

    December 21, 2023 at 11:36 pm

    […] #17. Dead Cells: Return To Castlevania (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch, An… […]

Tournament Tool Kit

Latest Video

Follow Us

Recent Posts

post-17
Captain America Brave New World: Five Things To Know If You’re Not Keeping Up With The MCU
post-17
Street Fighter 6 World Tour Guide: How To Find Mai Shiranui
post-17
SNK Did Mai Shiranui’s Definitive Theme Justice In Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
post-17
Daredevil Born Again Trailer Breakdown: Kingpin, Muse, White Tiger & More
post-17
Honkai Star Rail 3.0 The Herta Guide
post-17
Our Most Anticipated Games Of 2025
post-17
Kakuchopurei’s Southeast Asia Game Awards & Appreciation 2024
post-17
The Best 40 Games Of 2024
post-17
Must-Watch Animes This Winter: 2025 Season
post-17
Heroes We Need To Come To Marvel Rivals
post-17
[Updated] Comic Fiesta 2024: What You Need To Know
post-17
Marvel Rivals: The Best Heroes To Counter Iron Fist
post-17
Marvel Rivals: The Best Heroes To Counter Jeff The Land Shark
post-17
Path Of Exile 2 Early Access: All Uniques In The Game So Far
post-17
Infinity Nikki: All Dungeons & Boss Guides & Walkthroughs
post-17
Path of Exile 2 Early Access: All Ascendancy Nodes Revealed
post-17
Indiana Jones And The Great Circle: PC Specs & Southeast Asia Launch Times Revealed
post-17
Infinity Nikki Gacha & Monetization Explained
post-17
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl – How To Increase Carry Weight?
post-17
These Are The Finalist Games For Apple’s App Store Awards
post-17
The Best Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals To Get: Gaming & Hardware Edition
post-17
Asia Gaming Beat: February 15, 2025
post-17
Elden Ring Nightreign’s Network Test Went So Bad, FromSoft Had to Give It Another Go
post-17
Valentine’s Day 2025: Wishes & Messages From The Games Industry
post-17
Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii Demo Sets Sail Today
post-17
The Lord Of The Rings The Rings Of Power Renewed For Season 3
post-17
This Is When The New Gundam Is Coming To Malaysian Cinemas
post-17
Here’s Your First Look At Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves’ Season 1 DLC
post-17
Twisted Metal Season 2 Trailer Reveals Release Window & Fan-Favourite Character
post-17
Astro Bot Gets Five Brutal New Levels & A PS5 Pro Boost
post-17
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered Gets Definitive Release Date