Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Review

If you have been gaming at all the last few years, I am sure that you have heard of Dead Cells before. This indie title took the award for best action game of the year at The Game Awards back in 2018. Developer Motion Twin have done a great job updating the game ever since with DLC to add new content to the base title. In 2019 Rise of the Giant — free DLC — was released with The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls, and The Queen of The Sea one year after the previous one. Now in 2023 we get brand new content that complements this Castlevania-inspired action platformer in a way we never expected, the DLC is called Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania. Motion Twin’s spin-off studio Evil Empire works on Dead Cells DLC to make this crossover between the two titles come to life.

The Dead Cells base game is the same as it was before. You start off in The Prisoners’ Quarters just like you do with every run in the game. At first I was wondering when the Castlevania content was going to appear, after exploring you come across a staircase where you will run into Richter Belmont, one of the heroes in Castlevania. He asks if you can help him vanquish the evil in Dracula’s Castle, promising loot and riches if you agree to assist. Richter isn’t the only character from the iconic series that shows up. You accidentally awaken Alucard by knocking on his casket, he tells you that his father Dracula is about to come back to life and they have to prevent that from happening. If you want you can even “borrow” Alucard’s trusty shield that works as both a weapon and an object for self-defence. Though I suggest getting out of there as fast as you can before he realises you stole his stuff…

The Return to Castlevania DLC contains two new levels from the Castlevania universe, three bosses, and a whole new storyline that you have never experienced in the past playing Dead Cells. These new levels capture the feeling of the Castlevania series with secret rooms, beautiful — albeit evil — paintings on the wall, corridors lit by candlelight, and of course food hidden in the walls. It was always fun finding meat hidden in the walls! Though it’s sure to be incredibly old meat… These levels are full of monsters that you would have faced off against in the original series like werewolves, haunted suits of armour, bats, and skeletons that throw bones at you. If that isn’t enough of a challenge for you, there are two very difficult/intense battles against Death and Dracula. If you make it through these two enemies there is one more ultimate fight that is waiting for you.

To fight off these foes there are 14 weapons that you can find, or are given to you that are straight from the Castlevania series: Throwing Axes, Holy Water, and even the Vampire Killer can be acquired to use to fight off Dracula’s collection of monsters including the lord of darkness himself. Though if you are remembering how slow some of these weapons were to use in the retro titles you may be a little concerned, but they have been adapted to fit the faster-paced combat of the Dead Cells game.

This classic castle looks absolutely beautiful, the aesthetic has been altered slightly to fit the feeling of the Dead Cells game but it works very well for this world of gothic fantasy. There is no voice acting from our unknown hero or the characters from Castlevania, but they have the mumbling speech like you see from the teacher or adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon. One of my favourite parts was the kick-ass soundtrack that is in this DLC; there are 51 different songs from the original Castlevania series that have been kicked up with awesome guitar riffs. Some of the more iconic songs like Simon Belmont’s Theme, Bloody Tears, and Vampire Killer have been recreated to give them more of a Dead Cells feel. This music alone is more than enough reason to pick up this DLC! When I came across areas of the world that weren't from Castlevania but from the Dead Cells game I was a bit bummed since that awesome soundtrack was gone. 

As you explore and progress through Dracula’s Castle, you can unlock 20 different outfits that allow your character to cosplay as their favourite Castlevania character. You find clothing for Richter Belmont, Simon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, Alucard, Sypha Belnades, Maria Renard, and even the castle owner Dracula. It will be fun running through the original levels in Dead Cells dressed up as your favourite character! 

There is so much in Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania for fans of both series to enjoy. Being a huge retro game fan, I was so excited to see everything from Castlevania brought into the Dead Cells universe, this is one of the best game mashups that I have ever seen. If you haven’t had a chance to play Dead Cells in the past, make sure you check it out. No matter your skill level, Dead Cells has a huge amount of accessibility options to change to make it fit with you, it doesn’t always have to be a ridiculously hard and punishing game, unless you are a fan of that! For me this is a no-brainer and must-play DLC for a great title, there’s a reason it was the action game of the year! Now excuse me as I go back to play more and unlock the 13 new achievements that have been added.