Dead Cells was fully released this month, to rave reviews.
But it’s not just the stellar gameplay and beautiful minimalist style of this rogue-lite,
Castlevania-inspired action platformer that’s got people talking.
It’s all of the amazing and ridiculous easter eggs that players are now discovering that’s
making some noteworthy buzz.
So today, we’re going to break down some of the best references and hidden gems you
can find in the game with our list of the top 10 Easter Eggs you missed in Dead Cells!
10 Portal Throughout the game, you’ll notice that
there are small blocky runes that appear on the procedurally generated walls of the game’s
levels.
Sometimes, they’re on the floors.
And if you activate one, a blue portal opens up, leading to a Challenge Rift where you
can score yourself some treasure and power if you manage to make it through all of the
traps and obstacles.
The portal that you walk out of is an orange portal.
And that’s a reference to none other than Portal; Valve’s hit puzzle platform game
that gives the player an object called the aperture science handheld portal device that
allows them to create inter-spatial portals between two flat planes.
The one you enter is blue rimmed, and the one you exit is orange rimmed.
9 THIS IS SPARTA!
One of the many weapons you can obtain in Dead Cells is the Spartan Sandals.
While they’re not the best item you can score, when using them, you’ll notice an
Easter Egg referencing the movie 300; the 2006 Zack Synder directed war film based on
Frank Miller’s 1998 comic that retells the battle of Thermopylae (ther-mop-uh-lee) that
took place during the Persian Wars.
In the film, there’s a pretty famous scene where Leonidas, played by Gerard Butler, decides
to get diplomatic with a Persian ambassador and kicks him in the chest, causing him to
fall to his death in a seemingly bottomless pit below.
It’s epic.
And in Dead Cells, when you use the sandals, you front kick your foes, which knocks them
backwards.
Do it when they’re standing next to a ledge, when they’ll take even more damage from
the fall.
8 Nier: Automata Dead Cells has a few Nier Automata Easter
Eggs.
One is a portrait that you can find in High Peak Castle of 2B and 9S, with Pod 042 ever
so slightly in the background.
The second is a reference to the Lunar Tears moonflower keys in the Emil’s Memories side
quest and the Moonflower in the 2010 Nier game; there’s floating white flower pickups
you can find in Dead Cells that are keys that aren’t marked on the map.
Many players just found them by sheer luck, initially.
Three of them are required to unlock a secret path.
Apparently, the love of Nier Automata is quite prominent at the Motion Twin studio.
According to the developers, I quote, “Our graphic artist and some others in the team
are just HUGE fans of Nier: Automata so they had fun being able to disseminate reference
to it along the game.”
7 Scream Apparently Motion Twin has got a thing for
artwork.
In High Peak Castle, a location that contains many an Easter Egg, there’s a very familiar
and famous piece of artwork hanging on its walls.
It’s The Scream, by Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch, and while it’s a bit
lacking in adapting the piece’s sophisticated brush strokes, you can’t deny that its rendition
manages to capture the look of horror on its subject’s face.
How wonderful.
The Scream was painted in 1893, and has since become one of the most recognizable pieces
of art in history, even becoming the target of high profile art thefts twice, once in
1994 and the second in 2004 along with the Madonna.
6 Hollow Knight Fans of the metroidvania genre are likely
familiar with Hollow Knight; it’s a game in which you play a knight on a quest to uncover
secrets of the long abandoned insect kingdom Hallownest, taking place in a surreal atmosphere.
There’s a room in Dead Cells that features some ancient looking laboratory equipment
and a wall covered head to toe in what appeared to be bugs on display in glass frames.
Smack dab in the center of all of the framed deceased creatures is the head of the nameless
insect knight protagonist of Hollow Knight, horns and all.
5 Dark Souls Dark Souls is yet another game that has a
slew of references made to it in Dead Cells.
According to devs in an interview with IGN, much of the game is inspired by Dark Souls,
saying, I quote, “Dark Souls is our second main influence for the difficulty mainly but
also the rolling system, the ambiance, learning the patterns of the enemy, getting better
each time you die.”
There’s a portrait in none other than High Peak Castle that references the bonfire and
another one that features Solaire of Astora, and yet another bonfire reference in one of
the lore rooms in which you can find a dead warrior lying next to the bonfire.
And no, it doesn’t replenish your health, but at least it looks super cool.
4 Firewatch For those of you who love beautiful indie
games or first person exploration titles, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve played
Firewatch.
Campo Santo’s debut game released back in 2016 follows the story of a man named Henry
in 1989 who has just taken a job as a fire lookout in the Shoshone National Forest, following
the Yellowstone fires of 1988.
Communicating only with a woman named Delilah via walkie-talkie, he begins to unravel a
mystery about previous inhabitants in the park, and players learn about Henry’s own
backstory and why he’s chosen this new secluded life.
It won a ton of awards in 2016 and 2017, too.
Turns out Dead Cells devs Motion Twin are also big fans of the game; inside of High
Peak Castle in Dead Cells, there’s a large landscape portrait of the promotional art
from Firewatch. 3 The Legend of Zelda
There’s two major Easter Eggs referencing the Legend of Zelda in Dead Cells.
One is the boomerang weapon, which is pretty similar to the boomerang that appears in the
Ledgend of Zelda A Link to the past.
Aesthetically it’s a bit off, having two red gems in its center rather than just one
like in a link to the past.
But the colour and design are pretty spot on.
It’s also worth noting that it’s a fantastic weapon to use in Dead Cells, with it causing
critical damage to your foes when it returns back to you.
The second reference is yet again another painting in High Peak Castle.
This time, it’s the Dueling Peaks from Breath of the Wild.
2 Castlevania References In a game inspired by Castlevania, you bet
your ass there’s a bunch of Castlevania easter eggs.
So, for starters, there’s a portrait in none other than High Peak Castle that features
the likes of Alucard from Symphony of the Night, with his goldish yellow and black collar,
his long white blonde hair and his perfectly long and straight nose.
Speaking of Alucard, you can also score his shield.
Dead Cells has an item you can score called the Rampart Shield, which is one of the first
shields that you’ll come across in the game.
While aesthetically it’s not an exact match, it does have a likeness that’s undeniable.
Another shield borrowed from Castlevania though looks much more like its inspiration; the
Cudgel shield, which is almost identical to the knight shield from both Harmony of Despair
and Symphony of the Night.
And last but not least, there’s a collection of other items that resembles those in Castlevania;
the food!
Pretty darn similar to the grub you can obtain in Symphony of the Night, but thanks to better
graphics these days, they look all the more delicious.
1 Famous Corpse There’s a dead body hiding out in a crevice
in a lore room.
At the top of the hole, you’ll find a sarcophagus that looks like someone has already pilfered
through it, with it being ever so slightly open.
Next to it is a scrappy looking rope that’s of a fairly short length.
Jump down to the bottom, and you’ll find the body lying there.
Take a closer look at its hair and outfit; and well, well, well, if that ain’t one
of video gamings most famous rogues and treasure hunters, Nathan Drake!
The Uncharted Franchise’s death defying protagonist is known for getting himself out
of some of the most difficult situations, which makes this Easter Egg all the more hilarious.
There we have it friends!
Which of these Easter Eggs have you found so far?
Which ones are you gonna go on the hunt for?
And, for those of you who have played through the game, what are your thoughts on it so
far?
Share all of your feels in that comment section below!
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