Motion Twin’s excellent hack-and-slash roguelite platformer Dead Cells will be getting free DLC that adds Hollow Knight to the game – complete with the Knight’s iconic weapon that allows them to pogo-slash enemies. It’s available very soon too – in fact, the update will drop this Monday.
It’s long been known that the Dead Cells team at Motion Twin are fans of Hollow Knight by Team Cherry. Apart from sneaking in various references to the game, developer Steve Filby previously remarked that the studio may make “a Dead Cells version of Hollow Knight” in the future – meaning a full Metroidvania, although it’s notable they used Hollow Knight as an example rather than, say, Metroid or Castlevania.
This week Motion Twin has been teasing new heroes from other games coming to Dead Cells’ world, called “independent legends” in the lore. The titular character from Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine was the first to be revealed, followed by the likes of Guacamelee’s Juan.
The final guest coming to Dead Cells was just revealed as a stylised Hollow Knight – after being teased earlier this week with the appearance of one of the game’s iconic checkpoint benches – and apparently the free update with all these “legends” will be added in a patch on Monday.
You nailed it, Hollow Knight is our last guest! The Knight is a bit too shy to show his face. However he was still nice enough to let us use his weapon! And how cool is it to pogo on enemies?
Free Update 26: "Everyone is here!" will bounce this Monday! #deadcells #HollowKnight pic.twitter.com/78BZWHIvf4— Motion Twin (@motiontwin) November 19, 2021
Presumably that’s not it for Dead Cells, which launched the Fatal Falls DLC earlier this year and has had various other updates throughout the year – although whether we will ever get that full Hollow Knight-themed sequel is another matter, or even Hollow Knight: Silksong.