Supergiant Games’ *Hades 2* has been quite the triumph, as was all but inevitable. The original’s full release arrived in 2020 and has since cemented its place in history as one of the greatest roguelike/roguelite titles ever made. That’s certainly a wide field to distinguish yourself in, but Zagreus succeeded in flamboyant style—and then his sister Melinoe followed in his footsteps.
Any conversation about the genre will inevitably turn to the *Hades* series, but there were genre superstars before that. One of the most notable would have to be *Dead Cells*. Motion Twin’s effort arrived two years before *Hades*, and though it didn’t boast the charismatic cast of characters and involved story that series would, it established a rock-solid set of gameplay mechanics.
The color-based upgrade system, whereby the player could choose which stats or combination of stats to focus their build around, tied together the responsive controls and satisfying, varied combat of *Dead Cells*. A sequel would surely have been a smash, but the team decided against taking that route.
In an interview with PCGamesN, Motion Twin designer and co-creative director Yannick Berthier revealed that fans have long been clamoring for a full follow-up:
> “Every post we do, we tend to have a few comments like, ‘OK, cool, when Dead Cells 2?’ But it’s fine. That’s our reality.”
It could be argued, of course, that *Dead Cells* saw a full sequel’s worth of new content over its lifespan. Few indie titles have been as lovingly served with updates—both big and small—as this one. The *Return to Castlevania* crossover was a huge new injection of creepy content, including a Richter mode, coming years after launch. However, there has not been a true sequel to date.
### Creative Freedom Is Everything
There may be a sequel at some point, but certainly not in the foreseeable future. Berthier explains that the reason for this largely boils down to creative freedom, something many indie titles enjoy but bigger studios often lack.
> “[If] we would have been [part of] another company, maybe the pressure to do a sequel would have been way, way stronger—I mean, internally,” he said. Thankfully for the team, this is not the case.
Instead, Yannick shared that Motion Twin is “driven by what we want to make.” Currently, the team is focused on *Windblown*, another genre entry that entered Early Access around this time last year.
The dark, foreboding land explored in *Dead Cells*, known as the Prisoner’s world, is replaced by an intriguing, *Tears of the Kingdom*–esque realm of sky-islands and the fascinating beings that inhabit them. It’s entirely understandable that Motion Twin would want to concentrate their efforts on this new project.
Just as actors tend to dislike being typecast, Motion Twin wants to be known as more than just “the *Dead Cells* team.” Nonetheless, *Dead Cells* remains a phenomenon, and *Windblown* is absolutely one to watch as a result.
It’s just a shame that the *Dead Cells* updates ended the way they did, especially when an even longer period of new additions was originally planned.
https://www.dualshockers.com/dead-cells-no-sequel-motion-twin-focus-is-windblown/