Hollow Knight will be added to Motion Twin’s acclaimed hack-and-slash roguelite platformer Dead Cells as free DLC, complete with the Knight’s distinctive sword that allows players to pogo-slash enemies. It will also be accessible very soon — in fact, the update will be released on Monday.
It’s long been known that the Dead Cells team at Motion Twin are fans of Hollow Knight by Team Cherry. Apart from sneaking in various references to the game, developer Steve Filby previously remarked that the studio may make “a Dead Cells version of Hollow Knight” in the future – meaning a full Metroidvania, although it’s notable they used Hollow Knight as an example rather than, say, Metroid or Castlevania.
This week Motion Twin has been teasing new heroes from other games coming to Dead Cells’ world, called “independent legends” in the lore. The titular character from Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine was the first to be revealed, followed by the likes of Guacamelee’s Juan.
The final guest coming to Dead Cells was just revealed as a stylized Hollow Knight – after being teased earlier this week with the appearance of one of the game’s iconic checkpoint benches – and apparently, the free update with all these “legends” will be added in a patch on Monday.
Presumably, that’s not it for Dead Cells, which launched the Fatal Falls DLC earlier this year and has had various other updates throughout the year – although whether we will ever get that full Hollow Knight-themed sequel is another matter, or even Hollow Knight: Silksong.