With an incredibly addictive looping structure, a beautiful pixelated look and precise, satisfying action, Dead Cells is an empowering and genre-mashing game that starts great and only gets better.

Developer Motion Twin describes the game as a "rouguevania", which is a clever portmanteau because if you know your games it will immediately bring to mind several pertinent archetypes — Super Metroid, Symphony of the Night, Rogue Legacy — from which this game takes inspiration. But, even if obtuse gaming subgenres aren't your thing, the term is pretty easy to break down.

Dead Cells takes the gameplay of a metroidvania (action-packed platforming in levels that unfurl over time as you unlock new abilities and access new areas) and transforms it into a roguelite (levels are randomly generated, and all your accumulated wealth and progress is wiped when you die, starting you back at the beginning).

It's almost unbelievable how well the combination works. Even with the bar for both roguelites and metroidvanias being raised in the last 12 months (with games like 20XX and Steamworld Dig 2 respectively), Dead Cells shines.

Each life begins when a clump of green slime enters and reanimates your headless corpse in the depths of a filthy prison. From there you explore the massive, sprawling maze of dungeons fighting monsters, finding weapons and collecting treasure as you hunt for the passageway to the next level.