Dead Cells Dev Discusses Crossovers with Games Such as Hollow Knight
Dead Cells Dev Discusses Crossovers with Games Such as Hollow Knight
Dead Cells: A Roguelike Gem with Indie Crossovers
Dead Cells has become a beloved name in the roguelike genre, enchanting players with its quality and innovative take on the genre since its early access days in 2017. But what sets Dead Cells apart from other games is its delightful crossovers with various indie titles, spreading the word through mutual cameos and references.
We had the opportunity to chat with Benjamin Laulan, the COO of Evil Empire, the studio behind Dead Cells. Laulan shared his insights on the game’s crossovers and collaborations, including content from fan-favorites like Hollow Knight, Hyper Light Drifter, and Risk of Rain. According to Laulan, these collaborations are not only a way for indie games to compete with larger AAA releases but also a chance for studios to support each other in the industry. However, he emphasized that Dead Cells doesn’t aim to become a “crossover game” like Fortnite or Dead by Daylight.
Indie Games Unite!
Indie game developers thrive on their close-knit communities, both with their audiences and fellow developers. They exchange advice, provide feedback on works in progress, and, most importantly, occasionally create exciting crossovers between their games. Laulan revealed that the process of featuring other games in Dead Cells is often as simple as shooting an email to a friend working on another indie game and asking for a collaboration. By teaming up with titles like Hollow Knight, these studios can reach wider audiences, while the content itself brings unexpected gameplay twists.
“And at some point, I was like, ‘Okay, we have a lot of indie friends. We love and respect a lot of those studios. Why shouldn’t we do that for our audience?’ And the plan at the beginning was to do that as Christmas presents because it was around Christmas time. So I just started to shoot emails to my contacts like, ‘Hey, dude, I’m a big fan of your game. We’re doing Dead Cells, and we have this idea for an indie friends update, and we would love to have your character and weapons from your game as well.’
It went super nice. Having Hollow Knight in the game or Hotline Miami was one of my dreams, and we were like, ‘Can we have that in the game?’ ‘Just send an email, and we’ll see what they say.’ Sometimes it’s as easy as just asking, you know.” – Benjamin Laulan, COO of Evil Empire
Laulan also mentioned that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night served as one of Dead Cells’ main inspirations. Thus, the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC was a way to pay homage to a game that has influenced metroidvanias, roguelikes, and other sidescrolling action games for years.
Dead Cells: Forging Its Own Path
While crossovers have been a fun and exciting part of Dead Cells, the team behind the game doesn’t want it to define their identity. Unlike Fortnite, where crossovers are a major selling point with countless skins from various franchises, Dead Cells has its own universe, storyline, and characters that they cherish. Benjamin Laulan made it clear that they want to explore different ways of playing and take their time to create a fresh approach to Dead Cells.
“We’ve been doing quite a few, and it was fun, and we loved it, but we don’t want to be that game that’s only doing crossovers.
We’re not Fortnite.
We have our own universe, storyline, and characters, and we love them, and we want to do more with them. So the idea is not just to do crossovers. Obviously, there are amazing games that we’d love to bring into Dead Cells, but right now, I think we really want to focus on different ways of playing. We want to take our time, and that means maybe bigger development time than we had before to really create a new approach to Dead Cells.” – Benjamin Laulan, COO of Evil Empire
This doesn’t mean that crossovers are completely off the table for Dead Cells. However, players can expect future updates to be more focused on the original universe and story, as well as general gameplay improvements. With 35 major updates already released, Dead Cells continues to evolve and captivate players across multiple platforms.
Dead Cells is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Read More: A Dead Cells Crossover Inspires Hope for Mainline Castlevania Games
