Dead Cells will forever be my favorite roguelike. Hades 2 might show a lot of promise and Balatro might reinvent the genre, but the frenetic combat and ever-expanding world of The Beheaded is unmatched. Originally developed by Motion Twin, the studio handed the reigns over to Evil Empire to continue making DLC and updates, with excellent results. With that free time Motion Twin is now working on Windblown, which looks like the perfect follow-up to Dead Cells. The new roguelike isn’t quite out yet, but we just got 15 minutes of uncut footage to keep us busy.
With the Windblown release date still set for an early access launch in 2024, we’re closer than ever to Motion Twin’s next roguelike. The team behind Dead Cells is trading 2D platforming for isometric co-op action, and I couldn’t be more excited. Windblown is fast, so getting new, extended footage is a joy to get stuck into.
You’ve got two weapons to switch between, trinkets with abilities on cooldown, potions for healing, and gifts that act as stat upgrades. It all looks very Dead Cells, but alongside the shift in perspective Motion Twin sprinkles in some new ideas. Your two weapons have their own unique Alterattack, so activating this when switching between them mid-combo opens up new moves.
Even though the footage is only in alpha, it’s clear to see that Motion Twin is leveraging what it already knows from Dead Cells. Combat is as frenetic as ever, upgrade choices follow a similar progression, and you’ve got multiple paths to take and builds to choose from. While the Dead Cells DNA is there, taking fights to the third dimension is a huge leap. Also, that dodge mechanic might just be the most satisfying I’ve ever seen, and I’ve not even got my hands on it yet.
If you play Dead Cells for the challenge, you’ll be glad to know that Windblown isn’t skipping out on this either. You move and fight faster than ever, but so do your enemies. There’s more to consider with the extra dimension, but if you’re an expert at dodge rolling, weapon switching, and build maxing you’ll be fine.
If you want to know even more about Motion Twin’s newest roguelike, our Windblown preview from GDC is as dense as it gets. Nat sat down with the team to hear about how they’re “pushing [Dead Cells] with another dimension in multiplayer.”
With Motion Twin working on Windblown, fellow Dead Cells developer Evil Empire is working on its own new roguelike. In collaboration with Ubisoft, The Rogue Prince of Persia just had a huge weapons update, so if you love DC, and can’t wait for Windblown, you owe it to yourself to try this as well.
While you wait for Windblown we’ve put together all the best co-op games you can play in the meantime, alongside the biggest upcoming PC games to watch out for.
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