Dead Cells is calling it quits 7 years after its meteoric early access release

Key art for Dead Cells' Bad Seed DLC, showing the Beheaded stalking through a room full of monstrous plants..
(Image credit: Motion Twin / Evil Empire)

Seven years after its early access release and five years after Evil Empire took the reins from the original devs at Motion Twin, Dead Cells is hanging up its spurs. In a statement earlier today, Evil Empire announced it "will no longer be working on Dead Cells" following a half-decade of work on the game. A corollary statement from Motion Twin declares Dead Cells' upcoming update 35 "the end of our creative journey on the game".

Evil Empire is handing in its notice after "4 DLCs, 18 updates, some epic crossovers and a mobile release with Playdigious," but says it's freeing up its Dead Cells devs to "pump their talent into our secret projects." Unsavoury phrasing aside, the studio says we can expect to see what they've got cooking next very soon. The devs also apologise for "any broken controllers caused by the Derelict Distillery." I, for one, do not and will never forgive them.

With Evil Empire packing its bags, oversight of Dead Cells is once again entirely the domain of original developers Motion Twin, but that studio is content to leave the game as-is after update 35 gets out the door. After all, a key reason Evil Empire spun up in the first place was because Motion Twin wanted to move onto non-Dead Cells things. It doesn't look like that's changed.

"Our commitment to avoiding the 'more of the same' trap and keeping Dead Cells fresh and original has led us to this point," wrote Motion Twin, "as we've seen with other long-running series, it's crucial not to overextend and risk diminishing the unique charm that makes Dead Cells special to us all."

Honestly? I think that's 100% correct. Dead Cells is excellent, but there is already a lot of it, and I don't think either Evil Empire or Motion Twin should feel that they're leaving anything undone by walking away now. Plus, Motion Twin promises it'll "of course continue to find solutions to make sure that all quality of life issues and bugs are properly fixed across all platforms," so no worries there.

Motion Twin announced its next game, a high-speed roguelike battler called Windblown, back in December, and we'll hopefully hear more soon. The studio also has plans to keep Dead Cells going in content outside of the game itself, including an animated series, a board game, and "the Beheaded appearing in another world?!" Evil Empire's next project is a beautiful mystery, but I don't doubt we'll hear more soon.

Joshua Wolens
News Writer

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Read more
Minute of Islands
Just 2 weeks before the release of its next game, another studio falls victim to the relentless drive to be 'agile'
Dauntless, the monster hunting game we had before Monster Hunter came to PC, will shut down in May
A spaceship jets away from the camera, into an asteroid field illuminated by a distant blue sun.
Vanished for a year, early access dev returns to announce a crisis taught them 'videogames ain't it' and end development on 'singleplayer EVE' they've been making since 2017
Earthblade screenshot detail - two characters standing in front of a giant chained crow
Celeste developer starts 2025 with a 'huge, heartbreaking, and yet relieving failure' as creative difficulties and internal conflict lead to the cancellation of Earthblade
Afia pointing a gun in Shadow Gambit
With Mimimi closing shop, Hooded Horse will take over publishing for Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
No Rest for the Wicked Steam early access screenshots
No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios is now 'fully independent' after acquiring the rights to the game from Take-Two
Latest in Roguelike
A busy marketplace in The Bazaar.
The Bazaar could be the future of autobattlers, if it stops strangling itself to death with its own microtransactions
A vampire with a dark castle and swarms of bats in the background.
We need to decide on a genre name for Vampire Survivors-like games before a really terrible one sticks
Three heroes stand against a tide of skeletons
The Hand of Fate devs are back with a bullet heaven called Hordes of Fate
An angry dwarf and a sword-wielding elf with various villains in the background in Absolum.
This mash-up of side-scrolling beat-'em-up and fantasy roguelike feels like it could be the future of a classic genre
Three adventurers readying for battle in Knights in Tight Spaces.
Knights in Tight Spaces review
Facing an enemy in No-Skin
No-Skin is an incredibly simple horror roguelike about the worst party ever, full of strong booze, bad conversation and eldritch violence
Latest in News
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam
Possibility Space concept art.
Possibility Space owners sue NetEase for $900 million over allegations it spread 'false and defamatory rumors' of fraud at the studio that ultimately forced it to close