Dead Cells

Motion Twin first set out to make a different game, a free-to-play multiplayer tower defense and a follow-up to its browser game Die2Nite. When the alpha was shown to people, it turned out it just wasn't fun, and the studio was ready to cancel it.

A single-player prototype saved it. A friend of lead designer Sébastien Bénard said it was more fun than the multiplayer one. Multiplayer, the mobile version and free-to-play were cut.

Dead Cells entered early access in May 2017. After just one month, players had sent so much feedback that the team reworked how the hero is built and how the world is laid out.

Critics praised the combat, the visuals and the way death works. One reviewer found each new area almost indistinguishable from the last and the story paper thin. It has sold more than 10 million copies. Players leave 97% positive out of 157,438 reviews; critics give it 89 on Metacritic. By our Recommended Score it is #59 of 4,736 games.

Liked it? Try Hades, where the son of Hades escapes the underworld run after run, and Hollow Knight, where a nameless insect warrior explores a fallen kingdom.