Dead Cells is still one of the best roguelikes you can play today, and now developer Motion Twin has only gone and made another promising action roguelike, this time with co-op.
Motion Twin unveiled Windblown during tonight's Game Awards live show with a lovely animated trailer. Our first-look was light on gameplay, but the few snippets of in-game action look great, and quite frankly, doubting Motion Twin on action roguelikes is like doubting FromSoftware on fantasy RPGs.
"Like a bolt of lightning, players will freely dash through stunning open stages where each run is teeming with secrets to uncover," a press release reads. "Players will be challenged to overcome the odds in relentless battles against the Vortex's Sentinels, hell-bent on taking them down and starting their run anew."
- The other devs behind the best retro beat-em-up in recent memory are making a co-op roguelike brawler that "channels the spirit" of Capcom's classic D&D games
- Split Fiction is now my most anticipated game of 2025 and proves Hazelight continues to be the most inventive studio out there when it comes to co-op adventures
Windblown will be fully playable solo, but also allow for up to three-player online co-op play. I'm trying to imagine playing isometric Dead Cells with two buds, and I'm trying and failing to stay calm.
"Players will swap between multiple weapons and adapt to every situation by shifting their build on the fly as they progress through vibrant, layered environments," the post adds. "As players unlock more memories, they will be able to collect stronger and more complex weapons that will turn them into the ultimate killing machine."
Windblown is targeting a 2024 early access launch on PC, and while other platforms haven't been announced, consoles seem probable given Dead Cells' reach. The Steam page predicts an Early Access stay of "a minimum of one year," with the launch build delivering five biomes, four main weapons, and full co-op support.
"The experience we gathered on Dead Cells allows us to project a bit more easily how different our 1.0 version should be from the Early Access version," Motion Twin says. "This will also allow us to drastically improve the balancing of the game and stability of the multiplayer features to make sure you have the best experience possible."
Another big reason to be excited: It Takes Two director's fantastic single-player co-op game gets a full remake next year.
