…but pixelated
If your favorite thing about Elden Ring is how it made you feel, you should try Dead Cells next. Thematically, the roguelike game asks the same questions molded to the core of Elden Ring: who dies and why? Like in Elden Ring, immortality is crucial to Dead Cells, which has you play as a parasitic body of armor that runs around bursting enemies until they kill you first. And they will kill you, at least temporarily. As in FromSoftware games, death in Dead Cells is more of a tool than a condition. Its recurrence asks players to consider their power and decisions carefully while pushing them to tear through a resplendent pixelated environment. The game’s plentiful blood drops are crisp red cubes, and jewel tone backgrounds glow as you run toward your lofty goal to kill the king. The soundtrack, punctuated by plucked guitars and airy, aching drums, is pretty nice, too.
