When comparing Dead Cells vs Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, the Slant community recommends Dead Cells for most people. In the question“What are the best PS4 (PlayStation 4) games?” Dead Cells is ranked 30th while Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition is ranked 51st. The most important reason people chose Dead Cells is:
All the little details come together to make Dead Cells incredibly rewarding to play. Making one mistake can mean death, which makes the game challenging but also fun as you learn how to take on certain enemies with different sets of weapons and skills. Also, every level is procedurally-generated, so even when you die and have to restart it feels unique and different every time. This keeps the game from ever getting old, even after you finish the game on the highest difficulty level.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Brilliant game design that presents a good challenge
All the little details come together to make Dead Cells incredibly rewarding to play. Making one mistake can mean death, which makes the game challenging but also fun as you learn how to take on certain enemies with different sets of weapons and skills. Also, every level is procedurally-generated, so even when you die and have to restart it feels unique and different every time. This keeps the game from ever getting old, even after you finish the game on the highest difficulty level.
Pro Satisfying combat with a good amount of depth to it
Dead Cells encourages fast-paced gameplay and requires quick reactions. The hits are impactful, the controls are super-responsive, and it's overall very fluid. The game has a good variety of weapons, skills and enemies that all change how the game plays out. Some weapons work best if the enemy is bleeding, some skills hurl enemies at you, some enemies are immune to attacks from the front. Which items you find and decide to keep will change what approach to combat you need to take.
Pro It's hard
If you're a veteran of the genre then this is a must-have.
Pro Beautiful pixel art graphics
The pixel models for your character and the enemies manage to feel modern in the way the animations flow swiftly from movement to movement. The colorful art design is a nice throwback to the retro games that inspired Dead Cells. It goes hand-in-hand with the side-scrolling gameplay, with a cool look to the monster and gadget designs. The reds, blues, and greens especially pop a lot to give the game a distinct look to help it stand apart from others in the same genre.
Pro The developers put a lot of love and care into the game
Throughout its time in Early Access, the creators of Dead Cells consistently updated the game with new features, adding entirely new areas and weapons each time. The game could have honestly been released a while ago and fared decently, but they kept making it better. Even more importantly though, the developers took player feedback into account many times. The devs love the game and the community and it shows through their work.
Pro Fun combat
You'll immediately notice how nice it feels to attack the enemies with each slash, strike and shot having an impact behind it. Enemies will flinch, get thrown back and get suspended mid-air from your attacks, making it feel like you're always the dominant force. It's especially amusing seeing an enemy flail about and slamming it into the ground with your demonic arm.
Some of the stylistic elements add fun as well. The prime example is Nero's greatsword the Red Queen, which is equipped with a motorcycle-like gear shift. You can use the gear shift mid-combo to add a flame effect to your sword. This increases your damage and the range of your combos and also looks very nice. It's especially awesome to see your character ascend in a whirlwind of flames.
Pro Great soundtrack
Most of the battle music has the lyrical styling of progressive rock while mixing in dark electronica guitar riffs. It matches the rhythm and speed of the battles really well, spurring on your combos and devastating attacks.
The exploration sections and cutscenes have an entirely different style of music. It ranges from divine vocals accompanied with organ music to eerie pieces with harp and piano sounds creating a bone-chilling ambience.
Pro Highest level of combat depth in any hack and slash game
An open-ended cancelling system (Jump Cancelling) stacked with individual character mechanics (Dante styles and style/weapon switching, Nero ACT and parries, Vergil being Vergil, Lady and Trish are the weakest in terms of combo-ability of the 5 but you can still style with them) and system physics create a combat masterpiece that rewards practice and creativity.
Pro There's a bunch of stuff to do even after beating the game
You can replay the game on higher difficulties, try to find all the hidden missions or collect all the upgrades. You can even try to get the max style rank on all the missions. Doing any of these will award you extra collectibles or unlock new modes.
There's also the The Bloody Palace, which is an arena consisting of 101 levels. Each level contains enemies and bosses found within the main game. The first few levels are quite easy, but each level becomes increasingly more difficult. Only the most skilled players can reach the end, giving you another goal to strive for.
Cons
Con Frustrating for players new to roguelikes
If you're new to the genre, this may not be the best place to start. The game gives you one life (except with a certain perk), so if you die, then your whole run is over. This would be fine if it wasn't so easy to lose all your health in an instant and fall back to level one. This makes it frustrating if you spend a lot of time on a run only for it to all go down the drain from a small mistake. The punishing difficulty can be pretty overwhelming for newcomers unless you're really looking to push yourself.
Con Shallow story
The story feels totally inconsequential. There isn't much going on with the plot, and what little is there is pretty forgettable. You feel motivated by the progression of the game rather than any emotional connection to the story. If you're looking for something with a stronger narrative to go with the good gameplay, this isn't it.
Con Occasional difficulty spikes
Upon reaching the first boss you'll encounter the first difficulty spike. The boss attacks a lot faster and stronger than the enemies leading up to it. Messing up means you'll die in a couple of seconds, which can be really frustrating. Especially because you have to switch gears so suddenly and adapt to a new playstyle, where the enemy stands on equal footing.
Con Recycled stage designs and lack of character-specific bosses
Capcom basically just slapped on the 3 new characters (Lady, Trish, and Vergil) and they suffer the same problems that Dante does, and that's lack of bosses designed specifically for their toolset. They run through the same bosses and levels instead of getting unique missions.