Guillermo del Toro is asking for a slightly more forgiving Dead Cells, checkpoints and all, ‘for the elderly players’
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has revealed in a new interview with IGN that he is both a gamer and a fan of Motion Twin’s roguelike Dead Cells—though with a notable design suggestion. Del Toro expressed appreciation for the game’s design but voiced a criticism familiar to many players who lack patience for traditional roguelike mechanics: he dislikes the total progress loss that comes with respawning. Specifically, he noted the frustration of reaching level 35 in a run only to lose all progress upon defeat.
Del Toro advocates for the addition of checkpoints in Dead Cells to preserve player progression and reduce the penalty for failure. He humorously framed this suggestion as beneficial “for the elderly players,” a tongue-in-cheek reference that highlights how many players—particularly older gamers—may lack the time investment or patience that traditional roguelike design demands.
Del Toro’s candid remarks contribute to an ongoing broader conversation about accessibility and difficulty options in gaming. While roguelikes intentionally embrace permadeath as a core design principle, many modern developers have begun offering more flexible difficulty settings and progression systems to broaden their audience and accommodate different playstyles.
The filmmaker’s comments demonstrate that even creatives outside the gaming industry appreciate video games and envision how design choices could be modified to benefit different player demographics. Dead Cells, already a landmark success in the indie roguelike renaissance, remains one of the most praised and commercially successful games in its genre.