Motion Twin stopped developing Dead Cells to focus on their new game Windblown, but many fans were unhappy with this decision.
Dead Cells remains one of the most successful indie games of recent years, with sales exceeding ten million copies. In 2024, Motion Twin announced the completion of development and the cessation of updates, which sparked a wave of criticism among fans.
Many perceived this as a cynical move, deciding that the game was "killed" to promote the new Windblown project, because in recent years, support for Dead Cells was provided not by Motion Twin itself, but by Evil Empire, founded by several former team members.
However, level artist and designer Gwen Masse believes that this decision benefited both the studio and the players — the developers were able to move on, and the players received a complete game that they do not need to return to with each new update.
"We felt that the era of Dead Cells had come to an end. It was important for us and for the players to have exactly the game we wanted to create from the very beginning. Now we are fully focused on Windblown."
Windblown's creative director Yannick Berthier, who joined the team after the release of Dead Cells, agrees with his colleague. According to him, it was the success of Dead Cells that gave the studio the opportunity to grow: to strengthen its financial base, expand the team, and take on more ambitious projects.
"Dead Cells allowed Motion Twin to go far beyond what the studio had done before. Now we can do things that are ambitious even from a technical point of view."
Windblown, the studio's new game, is already available in early access on Steam. It is a larger and more technologically advanced project with cooperative gameplay. Currently, the game has received 89% positive reviews from more than eight thousand users. However, only time will tell if it can repeat the success of Dead Cells and emerge from its shadow.
