Dead Cells

Dead Cells is the roguelite that defined portable action for a generation of handhelds. You fight through a shifting castle, die, lose the run, keep what you unlocked, and dive back in, and the combat is fast enough that a single run fits a commute. It runs on everything: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, iOS, and Android. Two facts shape whether it suits the way you play.

The first is good news. The game is finished. Motion Twin and Evil Empire wrapped development in 2024 after seven years and four expansions, so what you buy now is the complete article, not a work in progress. The second is the catch: there is no cross-save anywhere. Nothing moves between Steam, console, and mobile, and the game will not even sync between an iPhone and an Android phone. Grind fifty hours on one device and that progress stays there.

Game overview

Each run drops you into a castle that rearranges itself every run, as a reanimated lump of cells, and you cut, dodge, and roll through escalating biomes toward a boss. Death is the loop: you lose the current run but keep the blueprints and permanent upgrades you banked, so each attempt starts you a little stronger and a little deeper. The combat is the draw, quick and weighty, with a dodge-roll rhythm closer to a fighting game than a typical platformer.

The structure rewards short sessions. A run is a self-contained push, the controls are tuned for a pad, and the whole thing was built with handheld play in mind. Over its life it gained four paid expansions, including a full Castlevania crossover, and a long run of free updates. That work is done now, which for a roguelite is a feature: the balance is settled and the version you buy is the one the team chose to leave behind.

Dead Cells is single-player on every platform. The common idea that it added co-op is wrong. The only co-op is an unofficial PC mod, and the studio’s actual co-op roguelite is a separate game called Windblown.

Where you can play it

Almost everywhere, which is the appeal and the trap.

On PC it is on Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store. The Steam build is Steam Deck Verified on a native Linux build, and it holds a steady frame rate there. On the Deck it is one of the best-feeling action games you can carry.

On console it is on Switch, PS4, PS5 (a native version since 2023), and Xbox. On a Switch 2 the game runs through backward compatibility at a locked 60fps with cleaner handheld textures, which makes the Switch 2 the best handheld home for it short of a Deck. There is no separate paid Switch 2 edition; it is the same game on better hardware.

On mobile it is on iOS and Android, ported by Playdigious as a premium paid app at around 9 USD, with the DLC sold separately. There is also a free Netflix Edition for subscribers, a different app from the paid one.

Cross-saves and keeping your progress

This is the honest flag, and for a roguelite where you sink hours into permanent unlocks it matters.

There is no cross-platform save transfer of any kind. Steam Cloud syncs your save across your own PCs. Console cloud saves stay inside each console family. And mobile is the sharp edge: the game syncs device-to-device only within the same ecosystem, iCloud to iCloud or Google Play to Google Play, so it will not move a save from an iPhone to an Android phone, let alone to a PC or a console. The studio has described the gap as a storefront limitation outside its control.

There is one nuance worth knowing for portable play. The game autosaves when you enter a new zone, so you can quit mid-run and resume the same run later. Resuming consumes that suspend save, so it is a save-and-continue-once rather than a checkpoint you can farm, and permadeath stays intact. For short sessions on the move it works well: enter a biome, play until your stop, quit, and finish the run next time.

Features that matter on the move

• Built for the handheld. Fast runs, pad-first controls, and a difficulty curve that suits short bursts. Steam Deck Verified, and a locked 60fps on Switch 2.
• Suspend mid-run, once. The zone autosave lets you pause a run and come back to it, which fits a commute, as long as you treat it as a single resume.
• A finished, balanced game. No live-service churn. The version you buy is settled, with all four DLC available.
• No cross-save, so pick your device. Hours of unlocks live on one platform. Choose where you play before you commit.
• Single-player and offline. No connection needed once installed, on any version.

Recommended setup

On PC or Steam Deck, the 8BitDo Pro 2 is a strong pad for a game this reliant on precise dodging and weapon swaps. On Switch 2 the back-compat 60fps is the reason to play it there over the original Switch.

The setup decision is which device holds your unlocks, because they cannot move. If you split time between a PC and a Steam Deck, Steam Cloud keeps those in step and is the flexible choice. If a phone is your main handheld, buy the platform you carry and accept the unlocks live there. The free Netflix Edition is a low-commitment way to try it first if you already subscribe.

See our controllers guide for the best pads across devices, the cross-saves guide for how Steam Cloud and console backups compare across the portable library, and the Steam Deck vs Switch 2 cornerstone for choosing the handheld to make your main one.

Verdict

Dead Cells earns its place on any handheld: fast, deep, built to replay, and now complete after seven years of work. The roguelite loop suits short sessions, the Steam Deck and Switch 2 both run it well, and the zone-suspend save means a commute is enough for a real attempt. The one thing to settle first is where you play it, because none of the versions share a save and the mobile apps will not even bridge iOS and Android. Pick the device that holds your unlocks, buy the finished game, and it stays good for years.