Dead Cells’ Castlevania DLC Is “Twice As Big” As Past DLCs

During the 2022 Game Awards, the team behind Dead Cells put out an animated teaser trailer announcing that the game’s next DLC expansion would be Castlevania-themed. It came as a total surprise; Castlevania hasn’t had a new release in years, and most of Dead Cells’ other collaborations never amounted to much more than referential skins and a few weapons. To take such a big leap – and to do it with the series that inspired the game in the first place – is a huge step for the indie roguelike.

While Dead Cells was developed by Motion twin, the Castlevania DLC is being developed by Evil Empire, an indie studio made of ex-Motion Twin employees that have handled most of the game’s post-launch content. Game Informer got the chance to speak with Evil Empire’s co-founder Benjamin Laulan and brand manager Bérenger Dupré to talk about the DLC, what we can expect from it, and what it was like working with such a beloved franchise.

Game Informer: A quick overview of the Castlevania DLC.

Benjamin Laulan:It’s the biggest DLC we have ever done. It’s true, it is. It’s actually two times as important as [the DLC]We have previously released. This new storyline includes all the familiar suspects from the Castlevania series. This new storyline will introduce you to Richter Belmont (Alucard), Dracula and Maria Renard. This is a Roguelite game, so we wanted to create a story that was interesting for new and old players. We have 14 new weapons like Alucard’s sword, Alucard’s shield, the old classic cross.

Bérenger Dupré:We’ve copied pretty much all of Castlevania’s weapons before. [laughs] We tried to translate it into Dead Cells’ fast-paced gameplay.

Laulan: We had a lot of Castlevania weapons in Dead Cells… already an homage for us, but now we had to think again okay, this weapon is already in the game.

Dupré:The Vampire Killer, as it was then called at that point, Valmont’s whip and not Belmont’s whip.

Laulan:We have this. We have three new bosses, one of them being an incredible showdown that we won’t talk [about]It is still exciting, and is something that has never been seen in this game. Did I mention anything else? There are new biomes. Two new biomes are available based upon the Castlevania levels. We’ve got music, a whole new soundtrack. Konami granted permission to us to use the soundtracks of the Castlevania old games. We did the following: [basically created]You can add the Castlevania mod to the music menu of the options. This will allow you to replace any Dead Cells music. [with]They have a version [from] Castlevania. All music. And we also have new compositions that were made by the Dead Cells composer of all the classics, such as Bloody Tears…

Dupré: Vampire Killer. It’s a Dead Cells song. Yeah, it’s awesome.

Laulan:This is a huge package. And there are of course tons of surprises, Easter eggs, lore rooms … it’s basically a love letter to Castlevania. We really wanted to circle back to where it all started, because as you know, Dead Cells’ main inspiration was Symphony of the Night. This is a good way to get back to the roots of it all.

Is there a connection between you and Castlevania, just from a personal perspective? Before Dead Cells, what did this series represent to you? 

Dupré:Castlevania 1 was my first game for the NES when I turned eight. This was my Christmas gift. It’s funny because before joining Evil Empire to work on Dead Cells, I was saying to the boss, “It’s crazy that Konami never asked for you guys to make Castlevania stuff into Dead Cells.” And then I kind of understood that something was going on. That’s when I decided to join the company. I enjoyed that part of my job. For me it is an opportunity. This is a dream that I never knew I had. It’s a proud moment for me.

Laulan:I used to be an NES player. I didn’t get the chance to play. [Castlevania]. It’s more of a piece of childhood I never really played but it was still a big part of me. That makes no sense to me. We have both younger and older members of the team. It was fascinating to see how the team adapted itself to this content. Castlevania has some of the greatest fans, one of which is the largest. His Bible was his. Can we really do this? Are these characters possible? He was reviewing all.

Dupré:His personality was likened to a Wikipedia-type human. It was very convenient.

Laulan:It was played by people who had never seen it before and they were able to create the DLC. They loved Symphony of the Night fans, and they also enjoyed the show. This is really a melting pot. [experiences]. Castlevania is a videogame fan favorite that says something in a unique way. This is why we made a strong team, because we each had different views in the area.

Yes, we’ve been waiting a long time for a Castlevania. For many, this will be the first time they see Castlevania. Do you feel that way?

Laulan:That makes me happy. We put so much effort in the Game Awards announcement because it was big to us and could be huge for many players. We wanted this to be more of a tribute and love letter to IP than a complete reimagining. The game is treated more as a kind of generous gift, regardless of whether the fans are old-school or new to the show. This is why there are so many. [many]Easter details and eggs. All the little things are important. Every little thing makes a huge difference, just like the skins. You’ll see that these are our favorite games once you start playing them.

Dupré:It took us so long to complete this task. [Game Awards] announcement, and our goal was really to create a surprise and to breadcrumb into the teaser… the Castlevania franchise. These teasers should look like regular Dead Cells DLC. Then, gradually, there will be hints that something is different. Richter and Alucard then appear. The next day, YouTubers posted their reactions. It was obvious that YouTubers aged between 30 and 40 hear the music start to look like Castlevania’s theme. They then see Richter and Alucard, who go wild. And sometimes you see younger YouTubers and they watch the trailer, you can see in their eyes like this little spark that, “Oh my god, I’m missing something, but it looks really cool and I want to be part of it.” That was part of the intention. Both newcomers as well as old players were needed.

What do you like to play? [Richter and Alucard]Oder do you simply meet them?

Dupré:We can’t say.

What would your dream project look like if you had another blank check from the same franchise?

Laulan:That’s an excellent question. That’s because we have already spoken about it. You know what is cool about Castlevania? It fits perfectly, much like a medieval setting. [well] into Dead Cells. When you think of Castlevania you might also consider Metroid and what kind of games could be incorporated into Dead Cells. It wouldn’t work in Dead Cells’ medieval setting. Don’t you think I have crazy ideas? 

Dupré: [laughs]You know what? I did have a few. Yes, we had one IP for some crossovers and indie crossovers. It was something I really wanted to do. The Hotline-Miami weapon was the first thing I noticed. After I captured the Hotline game, the outfit and music, I knew I had to do more.

Laulan: [laughs]It was true, but we tried. [Hotline Miami] guys, but they were like “I mean, it’s cool that you used our weapon, but maybe that’s it.” We wanted to do more with that.

Are there any other things you are looking forward to with this project? Are there any details about this process you want to share with me that I did not get the chance to ask?

Laulan: Well, we’re super excited about this specific surprise that we are keeping that we can’t talk to you about.

Dupré:It is our goal to make it easy for the player to discover this on launch day.

Laulan:There are still some surprises, and we will not reveal all. This is why we are so excited. The process itself was easy. Konami was thrilled. It was great working with them. It was a great collaboration. Konami is a huge IP owner and publisher.

Dupré:You can also see the other side.

Laulan:You can also see the other side. It is time-consuming to learn Japanese and French, then translate the conversation from Japanese into French. That’s not the problem. 

Laulan:Voiceovers are another cool feature.

Dupré: [laughs] Yeah, yeah.

Laulan: Every character in the game has a unique name. [voiced]By one member of our team. This guy is Richter. [Gestures to Dupré]

Dupré: I can’t wait to update the IMDB database.

Laulan: [The sounds are] obviously just gibberish… We had a [recording]It was quite funny. I’m involved in the boss fight. That was pretty awesome. It was just an amusing fact.

 

Evil Empire wasn’t ready to share a specific release date for the Castlevania DLC quite yet, but it’s set to launch in Q1 2023 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.

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