Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania combines one of 2017's best games with a timeless classic

Dead Cells
(Image credit: Motion Twin/Konami)

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is about to bring the 'vania back to the roguelike Metroidvania with a piece of crossover DLC announced at The Game Awards live.

The DLC will launch in the first quarter of 2023. There aren't many details on what we can expect from the release, but the animated trailer which accompanied the announcement features Dead Cells' protagonist joining up with Alucard and Richter Belmont to take on Dracula himself, for proper Symphony of the Night vibes.

The trailer even features a few classic Castlevania tunes, including Bloody Tears, so it seems we're getting a properly authentic Castlevania experience here.

"Dracula is back, baby! Dead Cells goes back to its roots for this historic collaboration," as Motion Twin explains in a tweet, "our next DLC 'Return to Castlevania'! Coming Q1 2023. Thank you Konami for letting us play with your toy chest, hope we didn't break anything."

While Konami has been a bit of a sore topic among gaming fans in recent years, the company has recently been making efforts to revive its classic franchises, and it's been working with external developers to do so. Most recently, the company announced a massive slate of new entries in its beloved horror series, including a Silent Hill 2 remake, Silent Hill f, Silent Hill Ascension, and Silent Hill: Townfall. A Metal Gear Solid trilogy remaster is also reportedly in the works.

Motion Twin has been promising that 2023 would be Dead Cells' biggest year since launch, and this Castlevania crossover is a great way to start.

Check out the most notable new indie games for 2022 for more to keep on your radar.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
Season 2 of Castlevania Nocturne
Netflix releases new trailer for vampire anime Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 ahead of this week's release
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors dev teases "one more original expansion," online co-op, and what sounds like a whole new game in the studio's "biggest, chaotic-est, surprising-est" year yet
Castlevania: Nocturne season 2
Castlevania: Nocturne season 3 is a possibility, but the anime's directors need the "Netflix gods and the audience to define that for us" so they can "figure out where they're going next"
Castlevania: Nocturne season 2
Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 review: "Netflix's spin-off has its signature charm, but the original anime remains far superior"
Screenshots of Possessor(s) gameplay
Smash Bros meets Metroidvania in Possessor(s), Heart Machine's new side-scrolling opus
Beyond the Ice Palace 2
After 37 years, this Commodore 64 classic returns with a new Metroidvania sequel that gives serious old-school Castlevania vibes
Latest in Roguelike
Wall World 2
The $5 roguelike banger that turned Terraria into a sci-fi tower defense game is getting a bigger, deeper sequel
Balatro
Balatro creator hits back at AI art spread on the roguelike's subreddit: "I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds"
Balatro Joker card
After stepping away from Balatro for 3 months, the developer only resumed work "because I was bored but the internet was out so I couldn't play Rocket League"
ben starr dressed in harlequin makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro creator says it's "useless" for him to give advice to other devs because "I only have one data point" and it was a 5 million-sale success story
an ancient spaceship in the pixel art style of ftl
I just watched the first 10 seconds of this indie roguelike’s trailer, and it's not even trying to be subtle about being an unlicensed 40K game
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Latest in News
Overwatch 2
My hopes for an Overwatch anime or Diablo horror movie are going strong as Blizzard president points out "we are Blizzard Entertainment, and not simply Blizzard Games"
The New Thunderbolts leaping into action
Marvel's New Thunderbolts* comic steals the MCU's asterisk, and the reason why is just as big of a mystery
Pokemon Go players brace for the worst as Niantic is sold off for $3.5 billion: "This game is entering its death knell"
Stamp PSP
A 16-year-old pitch for a newly discovered first-party PSP game has me mourning the death of PlayStation's Japan Studio all over again
Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor Neil Newbon says he "got rid of" agents who deliberately kept him away from video game gigs: "They just didn't want me to do it"
Mass Effect
Jennifer Hale says she didn't see a single line as Mass Effect's Commander Shepard until it was time to record: "It was all cold reading on the spot"