It was clear to everyone that Dead Cells had the Castlevania series as a source of inspiration. It's been this way since the game launched in Early Access on Steam, with only a fraction of the content it has now. The arrival of a DLC with Officially licensed Konami series. It is therefore the classic squaring of the circle, the extra content that you do not expect, but that in some way you have always wanted, which definitely reveals and celebrates what is, ultimately, one of the natures of the game, where also the title of the french MotionTwin continues to reap successes while the Castlevania series has been frozen for years.
La Dead Cells Review: Return to Castlevania Therefore, it can only be a story of elective affinities, rather than mere extra content, both in terms of atmospheres and cross-references.
Two tickets
A handful of new enemies, two new biomes, three bosses, a new story, fourteen weapons, twenty clothes and sixty-three audio tracks taken from Castlevania and others reinterpreted by the game's authors. This, on paper, is what you get when you install Return to Castlevania. Quantitatively we are not very far from DLC the previous ones for additions, but as you play you discover that in this case the developers have thought a little more about how to exploit them, creating double access to the new biomes, the surroundings of Dracula's castle and the mansion itself, which somehow multiplies the experience. and allows you to make the most of them. Let's explain: the first access is located at the initial level and allows you to face the two biomes with a relatively low level of challenge (however, they are more challenging than the others in the same range), because they replace the second and third levels. , as well as the first boss.
The second access, which is unlocked after the first, is found in the Clock Tower, after defeating the Guardian of Time. In this case the second biome overlaps with the final part of the game, becomes much more difficult and allows you to fight two different and much more challenging bosses. This is a very smart way to take advantage of new content, which is therefore more layered and requires you to play it several times to discover everything, with finalists who will literally have to sweat a little to have it all.
The multiple contents of Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania
Naturally, the DLC biomes are full of references to the Castlevania series, starting with the first access, which is done by talking to Richter belmont, the protagonist of Rondo of Blood. We then come into contact with other characters from the Konami series: Alucard, who you may remember from Symphony of the Night, and Maria Reinard, who also appeared for the first time in Rondo of Blood, the former in particular having a decisive role. in the new story. As you play the levels you face three new boss, Death, Medusa and Dracula, all decidedly famous and predictable for a DLC like this, with Dracula in particular reprising some of his original transformations, which makes the combat very varied, and you come into contact with many generic enemies taken from Castlevania , such as spear or harpy armor, adapted to the mechanics of Dead Cells. By playing you can also unlock an extra mode, Richter Mode, in which you control Richter, who has his own specific moves and, in turn, can unlock items that can also be used in normal mode. Altogether we are talking about many hours of extra gameplay (difficult to quantify, given the nature of Dead Cells), which are further expanded by adding cells at the beginning of a game.
In terms of game systems Don't expect big news. Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania doesn't aim to revolutionize anything, just add content that will make fans of the Konami series happy and make the game sell a few thousand more copies. Of course, there are some of the new weapons that are especially tasty, like Maria's cat or the whip sword, and it must be reiterated that the overall healing is actually very high, but they remain in line with the rest of the game. . The design of the new ones is particularly well done. biomes, with the "Castle Surroundings", which includes an access section and a section of ascent to the bastions, the latter built around a long central elevator whose different sections must be reactivated, and the "Dracula Castle", which instead It offers a certain degree of free exploration, as if to recreate the structure of a mini metroidvania, and in advanced access we see Dracula himself take a more active role throughout the level.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam, epic games store, GoG, playstation store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop Price 9,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.0 Readers (10) 8.3 your voteDead Cells: Return to Castlevania is a great DLC that does exactly what it says: it brings a bit of Castlevania to Dead Cells. Intelligently it makes it for everyone, although it is designed to primarily satisfy fans of the Konami series. Overall, the added content is excellent and worth it, even if you just want to extend the Dead Cells experience a bit. Therefore, expect very challenging and well-designed levels, spectacular bosses and many nods to Castlevania, to the point that playing it will make you want to wait for a new official chapter of the series.
PRO
- The levels are well designed.
- The boss fights are spectacular.
- In general all the new content is very good.
AGAINST
- Does what it has to do
