➤ Dead Cells, the review on iOS 🎮

Released just last August after an Early Access period, Dead Cells it immediately revealed itself as one of the best independent titles of recent years, managing to combine elements of metroidvania and roguelike in an extremely convincing mix, also supported by a graphic component in bright and characterful pixel art. The work of the French of Motion Twin has reached, in addition to the PC, also all the current consoles that is PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch; now, thanks to the collaboration with Playdigious compatriots, Dead Cells also lands on mobile platforms, first with iOS and later with Android. A considerable challenge, considering that anyone who has even played a couple of games with the original will have understood very soon how the precision and reactivity of the controls plays a fundamental role within a very demanding and often punitive gameplay. So let's find out in our review what the result was, referring instead to last year's article for all the details on the game itself.

Controls via touch screen

Even in the face of these legitimate doubts, it is necessary to premise how Playdigious has a long experience not only with regard to the publication on mobile platforms, but also with regard to the conversion of titles born on other platforms, such as Teslagrad, Evoland 2 or Cultist Simulator. Certainly, no matter how skilled, the French are not yet able to work miracles, which is why they have chosen to approachtouch interface through different solutions, starting however in any case from the adoption of virtual keys. To the left of the screen is then placed the stick, which can be chosen between fixed or floating. On the right, the buttons have been placed to replicate the attack actions with the 4 slots for the respective weapons, the jump, the dodge and the one to interact with the various objects. Above them there is then the map, while on the opposite side always at the top the buttons to heal and use secondary skills. A lot of stuff then, and it's clear that although you can change both the layout and the size of all inputs, you can find yourself in awkward situations, especially during the very first few games. Let's be clear, Dead Cells can be played decently even on the touch screen, but in the more advanced and complex phases it is more than evident how the limits are impossible to overcome completely. It must be said, however, that in the options there are a couple of alternative solutions that are worth trying: next to the original mode, in fact, which reproduces in a perfectly faithful way the one studied by Motion Twin, you can find an alternative called Automatic Attack which, as you can guess, autonomously manages the attack with the melee weapon when you are at the correct distance from the enemies. While it may seem blasphemous to purists, actually lightening the touch controls by at least a "commitment" makes progression less frustrating, to the point that this mode could soon become the favorite of many playing in this situation. Much less appreciable the ability to activate the dodge by doing one swipe on the screen, which is simply too unreliable to be taken seriously.

Graphics and content

It goes without saying that all these speeches just made on the limits of the touch interface immediately lose sense in cases where an MFi controller is available: in our case the always excellent Steelseries Nimbus has allowed us to fully appreciate the original experience without compromise. , being able to enjoy it on the move in the same way as feasible on the Switch. It is then worth underlining again how the release of iOS 13, now imminent, is destined to bring native support for ai PS4 and Xbox One controllers, making gaming on Apple platforms even more interesting. Obviously the same speech also on Android, which will see the arrival of Dead Cells in the coming months. From a technical point of view, our experience on the iPhone Xr and iPad Pro left no room for criticism: predictable, also given the affinity between the Nintendo Switch hardware and that of modern smartphones. Yet it remains a pleasure to observe even on the screens of smartphones and tablets the splendid work of the French artists, who have been able to recreate a decadent and gloomy world while not skimping on the use of a wide palette of colors. The good variety of settings and the excellent level of detail then manage to make pleasant even the inevitable need to retrace the same places for dozens and dozens of times after each death. Only questionable is the fact that the "freezes at 30 fps"is activated by default: those who have a sufficiently powerful device should go immediately to deactivate it to appreciate the greater fluidity of the action. Finally it is worth underlining how the selling price is set in this edition at € 9,99, which is by far the lowest currently available on all platforms. And of course this is the full version of all content elsewhere, with no ads or extra purchases. An additional element that could suggest the purchase of Dead Cells right on the App Store or, soon, Google Play, for those who have not yet had the opportunity to appreciate its enormous qualities.

Comment

Tested version iPhone Price 9,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

9.2

Readers (3)

8.5

Your vote

Dead Cells arrives on mobile platforms with a conversion that loses nothing along the way, faithfully tracing the enormous virtues of one of the best indie titles of recent years. If the contents and the technical aspect are therefore impeccable, the touch control system transmits the inevitable limits, albeit at least partially mitigated by Playdigious's conversion work. However, the support for MFi controllers and those of PS4 and Xbox One makes the complete and original experience created by Motion Twin easily accessible which, combined with the lower price compared to other platforms, completes the picture of an attractive purchase to say the least. anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary qualities of the product.