Let's put aside Hades 2 as the obvious juggernaut of the roguelike world at the moment and reflect on the embarrassment of riches spewing forth from France in 2024. Right now we have not one, not two, but three wholly distinct but spiritually similar action roguelikes coming from folks who created, developed, or expanded Dead Cells, one of the most celebrated action games of the last seven-ish years.
First announced was Dead Cells development studio Motion Twin's next game, Windblown. It's not out yet, but I got an hour-long look at it that was extremely promising. Then came The Rogue Prince of Persia from Evil Empire, the studio that took over maintaining and pumping out quality DLC for Dead Cells for several years running. It's currently in early access, and we quite liked what played of it. Finally, during a Devolver Direct presentation today, former lead Dead Cells designer Sébastien Benard unveiled Tenjutsu, a brawler with big crunchy pixel art that reminds me of Celeste mashed up with Hotline Miami.
