The Indie Informer

In a development update on Steam, Motion Twin has announced the conclusion of updates to the breakout roguelike, Dead Cells. Update 35, aptly titled “The End Is Near,” will be the final addition to the game.

While Motion Twin developed the base experience of Dead Cells, French studio Evil Empire has been in charge of creating additional content for the game for years. Update 35, which is currently in alpha testing, will be released sometime in the future, along with Update 34 for the mobile version, which is stated to be coming later this year.

Here’s the crux of the announcement provided by Motion Twin:

“Update 35 for Dead Cells marks the end of our creative journey on the game. After an incredible 5-year collaboration in bringing additional content to Dead Cells’ live-ops, Evil Empire will be pursuing new adventures and we can’t wait to see what they come up next. This comes after much reflection, especially following the awesome success of the “Return to Castlevania” DLC last year. Our commitment to avoiding the “more of the same” trap and keeping Dead Cells fresh and original has led us to this point; 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. This change explains the recent quiet period on updates, as concluding such a partnership required careful planning to ensure a smooth process for everyone, including the community. As always, we will of course continue to find solutions to make sure that all quality of life issues and bugs are properly fixed across all platforms to provide a worthy experience to all of you.”

– Motion Twin on Steam

Evil Empire took to Twitter to give its goodbye to Dead Cells. The complete statement, which includes a hint at multiple upcoming games for the team, can be read in the image below.

What does this mean for the pair of studios who have given life to Dead Cells and kept the game saturated with content for the past five years? With Evil Empire leaving Dead Cells behind after creating plenty of content including last year’s Return To Castlevania expansion, it will be taking on new projects. No details on what those projects might be have been clarified at this time, but according to a post on Twitter/X, there could be multiple games in the future.

Motion Twin has its hands full with the 3D action roguelike Windblown and continues expanding the Dead Cells IP outside the main game. Currently, an animated Dead Cells television show is in the works, along with a board game. The studio also teased an appearance of Dead Cells’ parasitic protagonist, the Beheaded, “appearing in another world.” A guest spot in Smash Bros is obviously out of the question, but considering it showed up in the platform fighter Brawlout, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Beheaded and its versatile toolkit in another fighting game.