Guillermo Del Toro Begged For An Easier Dead Cells, And The Game’s Devs Answered His Call

Whether you're a veteran gamer or not, it's okay to admit that Motion Twin's 2018 roguelike-metroidvania Dead Cells is kinda hard. So much so that, eight years later, acclaimed filmmaker and avid gamer Guillermo del Toro has implored the studio to make it a little more forgiving for "the elderly players." Well, Motion Twin heard the phone ringing, saw the caller ID, picked the phone up, and granted del Toro's wish--or, rather, reminded him this option already exists.

In a July 29 IGN interview, del Toro quite literally begged the French developer to make a version of the game that doesn't include respawning. For him, dying and restarting made it difficult to both explore the world and make tangible progress.

"Dead Cells was really interesting to me," del Toro said. "I just hate respawning, because you only get about 35 levels and then you start again. You get faster, but please, do a version without respawning for the older, for the elderly players. I'm available. Contact me and send it to me, please. I beg you!"

Motion Twin responded to del Toro's request on July 30, telling IGN that the roguelike-metroidvania has a somewhat easier mode already: Assist Mode.

"We'd like to officially add this moment into our own personal Cabinet of Curiosities," the developer said. "We are surprised and truly honored to see that Mr. del Toro is a Dead Cells player, and we can even help him right now: there is an Assist mode in the game! This mode lets you resurrect at the start of the current biome or closest checkpoint, rather than restarting the entire run."

The studio then thanked del Toro for his "kind words" and "time on the game," concluding that they hope "this little message" helps him enjoy the game more.

Released in June 2022 as part of version 2.9 and known as both the Accessibility Update and Breaking Barriers Update, this patch introduced a variety of accessibility options that let you tweak the game's settings to fit your preferred playstyle. Assist Mode came packaged with this update and, alongside customizing settings, it let you respawn at the nearest save point instead of restarting the entire run. There were other features folded into version 2.9 as well, including the ability to adjust the damage you take from enemies and traps, an auto-hit setting, and the option to increase the parry window.

So, if del Toro's looking for something like Alive Cells instead of Dead Cells, then Assist Mode perfectly encapsulates that.

Being the gamer that he is, del Toro has worked on a number of video games in recent years. While he's done some work on unreleased projects in the 2000s and 2010s, his contribution is probably most recognized in P.T., since he co-directed that game with bestie Hideo Kojima. He also made a cameo in Kojima Productions' 2019 UPS sim Death Stranding, though it was only his likeness and he didn't voice the character.