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Short answer: The three-item DLC Bundle does not include Return to Castlevania. For a new digital buyer who wants every paid expansion, Steam’s Medley of Pain Bundle is the complete five-item game package. Rise of the Giant is free, while The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls, The Queen and the Sea and Return to Castlevania are paid expansions. The collector-focused Prisoner’s Edition includes the base Action Game of the Year package, The Bad Seed access and physical memorabilia, but not the later paid expansions.
Dead Cells editions at a glance
The right purchase depends on whether you already own the base game, want every gameplay expansion, or primarily want a physical collector set. These are the products and their documented contents:
| Product | Base game | Paid DLC included | Format and extras | Best fit | Main caveat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Cells base game | Yes | None | Digital or physical editions vary by platform and retailer | New players who want to sample the core game | Paid expansions are separate |
| DLC Bundle | No; it is an expansion package for owners | The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls and The Queen and the Sea | Digital; Steam lists three items | Existing owners who want the first three paid expansions | Does not include Return to Castlevania |
| Medley of Pain Bundle | Yes | The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls, The Queen and the Sea and Return to Castlevania | Digital; Steam lists five items total | New digital buyers seeking all paid gameplay content | Regional pricing and discounts vary |
| Medley of Pain Bundle + OST | Yes | All four paid expansions | The five game/DLC items plus the Dead Cells Soundtrack, Demake Soundtrack and Return to Castlevania Soundtrack; eight listed items in all | Players who also want the digital music | The soundtrack items add no gameplay |
| Prisoner’s Edition | Physical Action Game of the Year package | The Bad Seed access | Collector set with figurine, tin, pins, stickers, art card, certificate, vinyl, artbook and keyring | Collectors and physical-game buyers | Does not list Fatal Falls, The Queen and the Sea or Return to Castlevania |
Which Dead Cells DLC is free and which is paid?
The catalogue separates one free expansion from four paid releases. Treating all five as one “DLC pack” is the source of many buying mistakes.
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Rise of the Giant is free
Nintendo’s official catalogue labels Rise of the Giant as “Free download.” It is not part of the paid three-item DLC Bundle, because it does not need to be purchased as a paid expansion. Availability still depends on owning the compatible base game and using the store for your platform.
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The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed is a paid expansion that adds an alternate route near the beginning of a run. The bosses reference identifies Mama Tick as its alternate first boss. Nintendo’s US catalogue lists the expansion at $4.99 at the time of the cited listing.
Fatal Falls
Fatal Falls is a paid expansion built around an alternate mid-game route. The bosses reference identifies The Scarecrow as its alternate second boss. Nintendo’s US catalogue lists it at $4.99 in the cited listing.
The Queen and the Sea
The Queen and the Sea is a late-game paid expansion released for PC and consoles on January 6, 2022. It adds three areas—Infested Shipwreck, Lighthouse and The Crown—along with new enemies, a boss, outfits, gear and an alternate ending. Nintendo’s US catalogue lists it at $4.99 in the cited listing.
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Return to Castlevania is a separate paid crossover expansion listed by Nintendo as a 2023 release. The bosses reference identifies Death, Dracula and Dracula Final Form among its major encounters. Nintendo’s US catalogue lists it at $9.99 in the cited listing. It is not silently included with the older three-expansion package.
Does the DLC Bundle include Return to Castlevania?
No. Steam’s itemized listing says the three-item DLC Bundle includes only The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls and The Queen and the Sea. Return to Castlevania is a separate purchase unless you choose a package that explicitly names it.
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Nintendo’s US catalogue shows $11.99 for the three-item DLC Bundle in the cited listing. That is a catalogue price for the US market, not a guarantee of the price in another country or during a later sale. Owners who want the crossover expansion must add it separately or buy a larger bundle that contains it.
Which digital bundle has all paid DLC?
Medley of Pain Bundle
Steam lists the Medley of Pain Bundle as five items: Dead Cells, The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls, The Queen and the Sea and Return to Castlevania. That makes it the complete paid-DLC digital package described in the available catalogue information. It is the clearest choice for someone starting digitally who does not already own the base game.
Check the store page for your region before paying. The documented package contents are stable in the listing, but prices, discounts, taxes, currency conversion and platform availability can change.
Medley of Pain Bundle + OST
The soundtrack version contains the same five game and gameplay-DLC items, plus the Dead Cells Soundtrack, Demake Soundtrack and Return to Castlevania Soundtrack. Steam lists eight items in total. The three soundtrack products are digital listening extras; they do not add stages, bosses, weapons, outfits or endings.
DLC Bundle
The smaller bundle is intended for people who already own Dead Cells and want the first three paid expansions. Because its listing contains no base game and no Return to Castlevania, buying it as a newcomer leaves you with both the game and the crossover expansion still to obtain.
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What comes in the Prisoner’s Edition?
The Prisoner’s Edition is a physical collector set rather than a complete DLC collection. Its listed game package is the physical Action Game of the Year edition, and its included DLC access is The Bad Seed.
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The set’s documented contents are:
- A 22 cm (about 8.5-inch) Prisoner figurine
- An embossed collector’s tin
- Three enamel pins
- Four metallic stickers
- An exclusive art card
- A numbered certificate
- An orange two-track 7-inch vinyl record
- A physical Action Game of the Year copy
- A bonus artbook
- A keyring
- Access to The Bad Seed
The contents list does not include Fatal Falls, The Queen and the Sea or Return to Castlevania. If you buy this edition for the physical items, plan on purchasing those later expansions separately if you want the complete gameplay set.
Physical editions and platform details
The official products catalogue lists the Action Game of the Year Edition as a physical Nintendo Switch release from 2019 and also shows physical platform editions and soundtrack products. A physical package and a digital bundle should therefore be treated as different products: the former may include memorabilia or a disc/cartridge, while the latter is defined by the software items in the store listing.
Before buying a physical set, confirm the exact platform, region, language, condition and whether the DLC is supplied as a code or tied to the included copy. The documented Prisoner’s Edition contents establish what is in the collector set, but retailer stock and regional packaging can differ.
How to choose the right edition
You do not own Dead Cells and want every paid expansion
Choose the Medley of Pain Bundle when it is available for your platform. Its five listed items combine the base game with all four paid expansions, so you do not have to assemble the collection one purchase at a time.
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You already own the base game and want three expansions
Choose the three-item DLC Bundle if your goal is The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls and The Queen and the Sea. Add Return to Castlevania separately only if you also want the crossover content.
You already own the base game and want everything released as paid DLC
Compare the cost of the three-item bundle plus Return to Castlevania with any complete collection offered by your store. The decisive check is the item list: the package must name all four paid expansions, not merely say “DLC included.”
You want soundtracks as well as gameplay
Select Medley of Pain Bundle + OST only if you value the three listed digital soundtrack products. If you only want playable content, the soundtrack version adds files but no additional game areas or mechanics.
You collect physical memorabilia
Choose the Prisoner’s Edition for its figurine, vinyl, art materials and other numbered or branded objects. Budget separately for the paid expansions absent from its contents list.
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| Item | Documented figure | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| The Bad Seed | $4.99 | Nintendo US catalogue list price shown in the cited listing; regional prices and sales may differ |
| Fatal Falls | $4.99 | Nintendo US catalogue list price shown in the cited listing; regional prices and sales may differ |
| The Queen and the Sea | $4.99 | Nintendo US catalogue list price shown in the cited listing; regional prices and sales may differ |
| Return to Castlevania | $9.99 | Nintendo US catalogue list price shown in the cited listing; regional prices and sales may differ |
| Three-item DLC Bundle | $11.99 | Nintendo US catalogue list price shown in the cited listing; regional prices and sales may differ |
| The Queen and the Sea release | January 6, 2022 | Release for PC and consoles documented by the expansion page |
| Prisoner’s Edition figurine | 22 cm / about 8.5 in | Physical specification in the collector-set description |
The figures above are not universal checkout prices. Nintendo’s values are US list prices from the cited catalogue, while Steam and other stores can use different regional prices, taxes, discounts and bundle rules. Recheck the live store page before purchase.
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How to verify a store listing before you buy
- Identify what you already own. Confirm whether your library contains the base game, any individual expansion or a previous bundle.
- Read the itemized contents. Look for the exact names The Bad Seed, Fatal Falls, The Queen and the Sea and Return to Castlevania. Do not infer inclusion from a promotional image.
- Check the platform and edition. A Nintendo Switch physical product, a Steam package and a console download can have different entitlements.
- Separate gameplay from extras. Soundtracks, vinyl records, artbooks and figurines are not additional playable DLC.
- Confirm region and price. A US catalogue amount may not match your currency, tax-inclusive total or current sale price.
- Check ownership warnings. Stores may show a bundle as partially owned, apply a completion discount or sell duplicate content differently; review the final checkout contents.
Common buying mistakes and fixes
Mistake: assuming “DLC Bundle” means every expansion
Fix: Read the three-item list. It stops at The Queen and the Sea; Return to Castlevania is not included.
Mistake: buying the Prisoner’s Edition for complete DLC coverage
Fix: Treat it as a collector package with The Bad Seed access. The three later paid expansions are not listed in its contents.
Mistake: counting Rise of the Giant as a paid expansion
Fix: Nintendo labels it a free download. It is separate from the paid bundle accounting.
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Mistake: paying for an OST bundle when you only want gameplay
Fix: Compare the five gameplay items with the eight-item soundtrack package. The additional three entries are music releases, not game content.
Mistake: treating a list price as a permanent global price
Fix: Use the documented US amounts as reference points only, then verify the store page for your country, platform and purchase date.
What the expansions add to a run
The paid DLC is structured as alternate routes and additional endgame content rather than one linear campaign replacement. The Bad Seed provides an alternate early route with Mama Tick identified as its alternate first boss. Fatal Falls supplies an alternate mid-game route featuring The Scarecrow as its alternate second boss. The Queen and the Sea is positioned later in progression and leads through Infested Shipwreck, Lighthouse and The Crown before its alternate ending. Return to Castlevania is the separate crossover route whose major encounters include Death, Dracula and Dracula Final Form.
These descriptions are useful when deciding whether to buy one expansion at a time: an owner who wants more variety near the start of runs may prefer The Bad Seed, while a player seeking a late-game route and alternate ending should look at The Queen and the Sea. The complete digital bundle is simpler when you want all four without choosing a progression point.
Quick Recap
Bottom-line buying advice
- New digital player: choose Medley of Pain Bundle for the base game and all four paid expansions.
- Existing owner seeking the first three paid expansions: choose the three-item DLC Bundle.
- Existing owner who also wants the crossover: add Return to Castlevania separately or select a package that explicitly includes it.
- Collector: choose Prisoner’s Edition for the physical memorabilia, then budget for the unlisted later DLC.
- Music fan: choose Medley of Pain Bundle + OST when the three soundtrack items justify the extra cost.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
