Like Dracula, the Castlevania series keeps resurrecting itself in new forms. If you want to play with your familiar friends like Alucard and explore a totally new path through the eponymous castle, you’ll need to unlock the Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania DLC. This extremely weird crossover adds new biomes to Dead Cells based on Dracula’s Castle, packed with enemies and classic bosses from the infamously difficult series. The DLC is available everywhere for $9.99 — this is big enough to be an expansion. Unlocking the Castlevania path through Dead Cells is both easy and easy-to-miss. We’ll explain exactly what it takes in the full guide below.
In addition to unlocking Castlevania, you can also unlock Richter as a playable character. The famous blue Belmont returns, with the ability to jump high and backflip. He doesn’t control anything like your floaty-headed hero from Dead Cells. This weird addition has to be a reference to a similar unlockable mode in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, a game that the Dead Cells developers are clearly fans of. Unlocking Richter is a lot trickier than just reaching the castle, so be prepared for a long slog. Here’s how to get started, and how to (eventually) get Richter for yourself.
More Dead Cells guides:
How To Find Keys & Cash In The Promenade | How To Get The Vine, Teleportation, Ram & Spider Runes| Want To Make Easy Progress? Equip Double Turrets | How To Access Every Base Game Area | All Secret Key & Blueprint Locations | Gardener’s Keys, Architect’s Key & More | How To Access All Fatal Falls Areas | How To Unlock Serenade, A Talking Sword Pet
How To Acccess The Castlevania DLC
After purchasing and downloading the DLC / fully updating to the latest version of Dead Cells, you’ll want to start a run through the island. The ‘Return to Castlevania‘ DLC is especially difficult, so you’ll want to be prepared before attempting a run through the newest biomes. Before you can access the first new biome, the Castle Outskirts, you’ll need to follow these steps.
- Beginning The Castlevania DLC: Start a new run through of the Prisoner’s Quarters. You need to die three times (if you haven’t already, only required for totally new players) and find Richter.
- Continue to play / die until you see large red bats fly across the screen. These bats will open if Richter has spawned in the biomer.
- Richter will spawn in a random location in the Prisoner’s Quarters. Find him, and he’ll lead you to the first biome of the DLC — the Castle Outskirts.
After unlocking the Castle Outskirts, it will become a permanent alternate exit from the Prisoner’s Quarters. Whenever you start a new run in the Prisoner’s Quarters, find the exit leading to the Castle Outskirts to explore the Castlevania DLC. There are three major biomes in this DLC — the Castle Outskirts, Dracula’s Castle, and the Master’s Keep. The Master’s Keep is where you’ll encounter Dracula, naturally.
How To Unlock Richter Mode
Yes, you can play as Richter Belmont in the ‘Return to Castlevania‘ DLC. Here’s a quick rundown explaining how it works.
- To unlock Richter Mode, you must access the alternate version of Dracula’s Castle Biome. After defeating Death for the first time, you’ll learn how to progress — you need to complete the Clock Tower Biome and defeat the Clock Room boss. This leads to the alternate Dracula’s Castle.
- In the alternate Dracula’s Castle, explore until you find a Lore Room. Interact with the gold statue to reach the Inverted Dracula’s Castle.
- You’ll find a cage where Richter is held. Free him. This unlocks him for story progression and makes him a playable character.
Richter Mode is just like the same mode from Symphony of the Night. Richter controls completely differently and uses weapon pick-ups that can be unlocked in the main version of the game. Playing as Richter takes some getting used to. If you’re eager for the ultimate challenge, using Richter to defeat Dracula is going to require perfect play.
