Some prolific content additions include collaborations with other properties, from Shovel Knight, Terraria, Risk of Rain and Hyper Light Drifter to Konami’s Castlevania in the Return to Castlevania DLC. Developer Evil Empire is “exploring the path forward for the title as a whole” and “tinkering with its time-tested methodology, experimenting with ideas for future updates and new ways for fans to enjoy one of their favorite roguelikes,” per a recent press release.

The latest update for Dead Cells is the Clean Cut Update, which added new weapons, a Speedrun Mode, and enhanced versions of bosses from Return to Castlevania in Boss Rush. What shape future updates will take remains to be seen, but regardless, fans can look forward to even more. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

The new weapons are the Sewing Scissors, a Survival weapon where killing one enemy will instantly kill all the others, and the Giant Comb, a Brutality-focused weapon which launches enemies and deals critical damage while they’re in the air. The Beheaded can now have the “Bobby” head on all skins, adding much more flair to their approach.

Other new additions include Speedrun Mode to track the time of each run and a DIY option for Boss Rush, letting you choose the exact bosses to fight. You can also face Return to Castlevania’s bosses in Boss Rush, including enhanced versions with new abilities. This is all in addition to balance changes and reworks for Mutations like Combo and Disengagement. Check out some of the patch notes below.

Clean Cut

Update 34.0: 2023-04-17 (ed00760a)

Important features

New Survival Weapon: Sewing Scissors.

• Instakills all enemies it hits, as long as at least one of them dies to the weapon’s standard damage.

New Brutality Weapon: Giant Comb.

• Throws your enemies upwards, and deals critical damage to airborne mobs!

New NPC: Tailor’s Daughter.

• Find her in the Tailor’s Room, and talk to her to freely change the look of your head.

New Speedrun Mode option.

• Activate it to track and display the completion time of each biome. Also tracks your previous bests and compares them!

New Boss Rush DIY Mode, that lets you choose whichever bosses you want to face in a run.

• The 3 Bosses from Return to Castlevania are now accessible in Boss Rush.
• Lots of rework on the Training Room! We added a bunch of options to streamline the experimentation process, such as:
  – New UIs to spawn a specific weapon with a set Level, Quality and Legendary-ness.
  – New UI to choose a certain number of scrolls
  – New UI to choose the overall scaling level of the Training Room, based on the values of a selected biome.
  – Added the mini-bosses to the mob spawners
  – Added a bunch of different traps to the mob rooms.
  – Added the Return to Castlevania Bosses.
  – Bosses aren’t scaled down to level 1 anymore! (no more 20 minutes fights)
  – Changed the UI to select mobs to a grid-based one.
  – Added a Training Dummy for DPS calculation.

Balancing

• Slow effects now stack up to 5 times. Each stack has a greater slowing effect, then the affected enemy is frozen at the fifth stack.

Bunch of Mutation Reworks:

• Combo: Enable a damage increase with every melee hit in a 2.5 sec window (of course the window refreshes after every hit). It scales exponentially, go crazy with it!
• Tainted Flask: Can recharge even if your flask is not totally empty. It also adds 1 more elite into every biome when equipped.
• Networking: Marks enemies with ranged attacks now, there doesn’t need to be an actual projectile stuck in the mob’s body anymore.
• Berserker: Can now stack, and renders you immune to stuns.
• What Doesn’t Kill You: Now grants recovery instead of healing.
• Necromancy: Also now grants recovery instead of healing. It scales with the max health of the mobs you kill, which means you can get more recovery by killing a stronger enemy. The cap has been removed, but it’s less effective as you get closer to max health.
• Frostbite: Now stacks with slow effects and acts as a full stack on frozen targets.
• Dead Inside: Doubles your life but prevents ALL healing sources.
• Disengagement: No more cooldown!.. but can only trigger once per biome.

More specifically, it seems like a native, physical version of Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is in the works for PS5, courtesy of Merge Games. That’s as per an ESRB rating for the same, spotted by Gematsu over on Twitter. Dead Cells is, of course, playable on PS5 via backward compatibility, but it seems like this release will bring the game to the console natively, while also bundling its Castlevania expansion right out the gate.

Whether other Dead Cells DLC will be included in this package and whether physical releases for other platforms are also planned remains to be seen. There’s also no word yet on when this will be officially announced, though one would presume that, with an ESRB listing having surfaced, that’ll be happening in the near future. Stay tuned for more updates.

Along with two new biomes, there are boss fights against Dracula (who has a wicked second form) and Death. It also includes fourteen new weapons, including Vampire Killer and the Throwing Axe, and 20 new outfits that see players dressing up as Alucard, Sypha (from Netflix’s Castlevania) and other Belmont family members. Fans can also enjoy 51 original tracks from Castlevania, with 12 remixed to fit Dead Cells.

If all this isn’t enough, there’s Richter Mode, where players control the hero, complete with his old moves and weapons, while traversing a level based on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is available for Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Stay tuned for more details on further updates.

There are candles to destroy, hearts to collect and tons of classic enemies, from skeletons to living armor to battle. A boss battle is also available against Medusa, and you’ll unlock abilities like the Double Jump to explore around. As for fans playing as The Beheaded, you’ll spot clues and homages to the series while battling Dracula and Death using classic weapons.

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is out on March 6th for $10. In addition to the new biomes and weapons, there are 20 new outfits to unlock and 51 tracks from Castlevania to listen to (with 12 remastered in the Dead Cells style).

The trailer sees The Beheaded meeting Richter Belmont, who requests his help, and it’s not long before Alucard (stylishly) joins in. There are two new biomes set in Dracula’s Castle and 14 new weapons based on the Castlevania franchise, including Vampire Killer, the Throwing Axe, and more. The boss fights with Dracula and Death are also briefly showcased, and both look incredible.

However, the highlight is the soundtrack with the reimagined Vampire Killer theme. The DLC includes 51 tracks from Castlevania, and 12 are revamped in Dead Cells style. A price hasn’t been announced, so we’ll need to wait for more details. Stay tuned for updates and more gameplay in the coming weeks.

Adding a new story which sees The Beheaded working with Richter Belmont, the DLC adds two new biomes based on Dracula’s Castle, filled with familiar enemies rendered in the Dead Cells style. Fourteen new weapons, including the Throwing Axe, Holy Water, and Vampire Killer, are also being added. You can also look forward to boss fights with Dracula and Death.

Castlevania fans can also look forward to 51 original songs from the series, with 12 tracks reimagined for Dead Cells. Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania doesn’t have a release date yet, but it is coming “soon.” Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

The Steam listing for the DLC has offered tons of new information and screenshots, which you can see below. In addition to adding two new biomes, the DLC provides 14 different weapons based on Castlevania. Holy Water, Throwing Axe, and Vampire Killer are here and adapted into Dead Cells’ gameplay style. Dracula’s Castle offers some familiar layouts (including food in the walls), and you’ll face off against werewolves, harpies, enchanted armor, and so on.

Further adding to the atmosphere are 51 original Castlevania tunes, with 12 tracks – like Simon Belmont’s Theme and Vampire Killer – reimagined with a Dead Cells twist. There also may be a fight against Richter and Alucard. After all, there are three boss fights, and two of them are against Death and Dracula.

In addition to this are 20 new outfits for the Beheaded, including clothing from Alucard, Sypha Belnades, Dracule, Simon, Richter, Maria Renard, and even Trevor. Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is out in Q1 2023 for consoles and PC. Stay tuned for more details.

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania launches in Q1 2023 for PC and consoles, and seemingly sees the Beheaded venturing to Dracula’s Castle, meeting Simon Belmont and Alucard. While he may end up trading blows with the two heroes, all three eventually go up against Dracula.

How the gameplay works and whether it’s a brand new map or simply reusing Dead Cells’ castle remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it’s yet another high-profile collaboration for the side-scrolling rogue-lite in addition to Terraria, Shovel Knight, Hyper Light Drifter, Katana ZERO, and many more. Stay tuned for further updates on the DLC in the coming months.