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When Dead Cells hit early access in May 2017, players all around fell in love with it—and it wasn't even done yet. In August 2018, Dead Cells overcame early access, hit 1.0, and released beyond PC for the first time too, joining the likes of Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. Those first two platforms in particular proved to be integral to Dead Cells' success.

During a postmortem held during this year's Game Developers Conference, Motion Twin game designer Sébastien Bénard told the audience that since initially releasing in early access, Dead Cells has sold over one million units, with about 60 percent of that number accounting for PC. "Console [is] a big part of it," Bénard said, "especially the Switch."

Dead Cells served as a sort of "last chance project" for the studio, which used to make primarily free-to-play games, including mobile ones. "The company was not in such good shape," Bénard added. Dead Cells was an ambitious effort, and with sales like the above, it paid off.

Dead Cells has won critical acclaim for its outstanding mix of roguelite and metroidvania elements. Its distinct style and soundtrack made it stand out from an extremely crowded field, and it has been lauded as one of the best games on Switch.

At USG, we love Dead Cells. It landed at number seven on our Top 20 Games of 2018 list, in addition to placing high on a number of our team's personal best of the year lists as well. Dead Cells development isn't "done" now that it's released to critical and commercial acclaim either: it's getting free DLC later this spring. If you're going to PAX East next week, then you're in luck, because Dead Cells' new DLC will be playable at the convention.