23. Dead Cells

“First 14 Minutes of Dead Cells”

Within the first five or so minutes, you’re thrown into an underground labyrinth of enemies and allies alike, armed only with the weapons that you pick off the bones of fallen adventurers. Not for the faint of heart or those who prefer to take their time exploring, Dead Cells is a high-octane breath of air that’ll make sure you don’t put your controller down.

With its graphic depictions of blood and gore using 2D graphics, Dead Cells is a combination of roguelike and dungeon crawling. Imagine if Dark Souls had a baby with Starbound and you'd get this challenging and unique game that has little room for players who simply rush into the dungeon without any idea of what they're gearing up to do. Open world, side-scrolling goodness, difficult bosses and difficult enemies leave the player learning to wait and memorize the fast-paced but equally destructive combat system in Dead Cells. Its release date is scheduled for 2018. It’s nothing short of rewarding when players manage to finally get the correct combination of hits in on the mega-sized bosses in this 2D, side scrolling dungeon crawl.

A lot of dungeon crawler games take their time and allow you exploration, but Dead Cells is unforgivingly fast paced. Taking your time to look around your surroundings is not encouraged and is sure to give you a game over. It’s a thrill through and through, and it’ll even be traveling to other platforms such as the Nintendo Switch and the XBOX One. The fast paced action and unforgiving enemy patterns makes this a game worth waiting for.

I’m not sure what the player character is doing here, but it looks like he’s teaching these enemies some funky dance moves.

The nostalgic feeling of this screenshot is reminiscent of the days when Castlevania was all the rage.