Developers Motion Twin and Evil Empire have supported Dead Cells in seriously impressive fashion since the game's launch way back in 2018. Players have enjoyed a wealth of free updates alongside a smattering of paid-for DLC expansions, but most enjoyable of all is that the creators don't just add more stuff. Instead, they try to come up with a new mechanic or idea that whole new runs can be built around.
There had been some speculation among players that this run might be coming to an end: this has been a well-supported game, but it is now getting on, and how long will the developers be content to work on it? January's The Queen and the Sea was the last major content update, and there didn't seem to be anything of that size on the horizon.
Dead Cells' developers have a new blog post "to kill off the belief that, with the latest DLC 'The Queen and the Sea', we are at or near the end of Dead Cells' lifetime. We can see how people ended up thinking this, but reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated..."
In order to assuage any doubts the post includes a basic roadmap for the rest of the year, with appropriate caveats about it not being a pinky promise, showing that the update currently being tested in alpha is due for release in summer, i.e. imminently, while in the autumn the game will be getting a boss rush mode.
The summer update... there's a tonne of system reworks and general game balancing in there, but the main thing is the panchaku. This is two frying pans joined by a nunchuk-style chain on the handles, which just sells itself really. You'll also be able to pet the pets between levels, which is nice.
As for the boss rush, you'll fight those you've met one after the other with unlockables showered upon those who fell many of them. There will be different modes it can be played in beyond that core idea, and the dev says it will "potentially" have a competitive scoreboard.
Perhaps most surprising is that, as well as making clear it plans to support Dead Cells for some time to come, Motion Twin and Evil Empire are upping the ante. "Heading into 2023 we won't be slowing down, in fact we'll be stepping things up! It's going to be by far our biggest year since the 1.0 launch and we're thrilled to show you what we've been cooking up behind the scenes."
Then, a rather choice metaphor for a roguelike that spent some time in early access. "What we're getting at here is that we're very much in the mid-life of Dead Cells," write the developers. "We're not sneaking out at night to get drunk on street corners anymore, but we've still got plenty of life in us before our knees start to give in."
