I think the game is a great zelda-like game with some fun locales, charming characters, and generally fun gameplay loop. The bosses and OST are especially standout as one would probably expect with previous experience with this developer's last game (Titan Souls).

The main criticism I have with the game is probably the feeling of being lost. Much of the areas blend together and make it rather easy to find yourself going in circles. Just going from main area to main area can lead you wandering about a little aimlessly. This is made more of a problem due to the lack of any kind of in game map (as far as I could tell). Some may find the lack of any guide to be enjoyable, but it did not work for me.

That being said, there is a lot to love about the game, especially if you're interested in fun bosses (though there isn't terribly many) and general Zelda gameplay. It's a good time, and a pretty easy recommendation.

Tem jogos que conseguem me pegar de jeito: Death's Door é certamente um deles.

Animado desde os trailers – mas com um pé atrás por acreditar que era um roguelike – fiz a pré-compra por conta do desconto na loja do Xbox. Quando descobri que não se tratava de um roguelike, aí fiquei ainda mais animado.

Mas foi jogando que me apaixonei completamente. Death's Door é um Zelda indie. Tem coisa melhor?

Me apaixonei pela trilha sonora, que pontua cada momento com a força e delicadeza necessárias.

Me apaixonei pela linguagem visual e direção de arte, que criam um visual bem Studio Ghibli, fantasioso, interessante e com personalidade.

Me apaixonei pela história, que traz temas (no subtexto) como o sentido da vida e o valor do trabalho, provocando reflexões sem palestrinha ao mesmo tempo que apresenta e desenvolve personagens carismáticos, divertidos, engraçados e complexos. Se você acha que o corvo principal parece divertidíssimo, não tá preparado pra conhecer outros personagens dessa história.

E, principalmente, me apaixonei pelo gameplay: rápido, dinâmico, divertido, recompensador. Unindo as qualidades exploradoras de um Metroid e de um Zelda, o combate inteligente e exigente de Tunic (Souls-like, talvez), e o balanço entre explorar o ambiente e bater sem dó nos inimigos de Doom. Brabíssimo.

Death's Door é tudo que eu queria. É o meu Hades. Me prendeu de início ao fim – e até depois do fim.

Só faltou um mapa, né?

Até agora, meu jogo singleplayer do ano.

A truly outstanding experience that provides a perfect (for me) balance between the secret-finding/puzzle-solving/tool-using structure of 2D Legend of Zelda games with a cute but simultaneously darker vibe, and a thoughtful story that encourages reflection. The simplicity of the game's systems really spoke to me. Just a few weapons, no massive enhancement trees to get overwhelmed by, a reasonable number of collectible types and upgrades, and just enough depth to the combat that made it easy enough to master but allowed for challenge along the way. I didn't even mind not having a map and grew to appreciate how it forced me to explore with an even more keen eye for detail. The game has great pacing and is a wonderful length - right in that sweet spot of still wanting more but never quite feeling like it overstayed its welcome. And then you roll credits and realize there is plenty more to do if you so choose.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention just how much the art style, character designs, witty writing, and phenomenal orchestral soundtrack add to this overall experience, too. Of particular note is the music during a series of mini-boss fights which you spell upgrades through. It's as epic as anything you'll ever here and gets the blood pumping so fast that you even have to take care to slow yourself down and not let the hype music speed you up when you need to be patient. 100% is probably slightly out of reach for me since it requires another playthrough using only the weakest weapon, but I can't rule it out completely yet. Regardless, the game really is the total package, a serious GOTY contender for me, and I'm excited to continue exploring what it has to offer.

Per ora, l'unico lato negativo che può venirmi in mente sta nell'inutilità di metà delle armi e dei poteri: una volta trovate le bombe, per esempio, ci si troverà molto difficilmente a far uso di arco e freccia (anche vista la facilità con cui è possibile ricaricare la propria energia). Ciò è un peccato, si sarebbe potuto ovviare facilmente lavorando di più su certe loro unicità: il gameplay ne avrebbe sicuramente giovato, incentivando un adattamento situazionale da parte del giocatore e premiandolo adeguatamente.

La boss fight in cui si combatte contro il Re Rana mi ha un po' ricordato Crash Bandicoot, in particolare la boss fight contro Ripper Roo in CB 1.

I noticed a feeling I have when playing certain games that comes close to 'coziness' or flow. When the movement mechanics are perfectly tuned, the exploration finds the perfect balance for challenge and frequency and the game is polished to the level where you can just let yourself go completely because you are enjoying every step you take. This feeling usually leads me to spend as much time in these games as possible and tedious completionist activities flip to delicious extra juice to squeeze out of the most refreshing fruit. Well, this is certainly one of those games.

Death's Door oozes in polish and uses the third dimension to the full potential in a traditionally flat 2D genre. Style is certainly substance in this case, from fancy cinematography, beautifully layered and detailed dioramas forming a deeply intertwined and intricate level design and world to just hilariously bold title cards rivaling the ones in Control. The balancing act of humor and ernest, heartfelt storytelling works out perfectly in this bleak but intrinsically cheeky setting - you are a soul-reaping crow wielding a glowing sword arriving by bus at an office building greeted by Baul Plart after all.

Something I have to give games the highest credit for is respecting the player's time and dedication. You have an abundance of collectable items to collect and puzzles to solve but you get the option to get hints at various points that don't spoil the solution but relieve the player of needing to backtrack endlessly and should you decide to stick around after the ending and poke a bit more into the game, you will be rewarded for your time not only with a satisfying True Ending but also with great surprises and twists along the way.

A delightful blend of the level design of From Software games with the progression of the top-down Zelda games, wrapped in a unique aesthetic all its own. The line between dungeon and overworld is blurred as every single corner of this game's world is hiding some secret or riddle.

And that's not even mentioning the true highlight: the soundtrack. It absolutely sells the vibe of every single area you're in, but is just as energetic and blood-pumping as it needs to be when the action starts. This might rival the Ori games for the best indie game soundtrack.

My only wish is that the grappling hook was unlocked sooner. The relatively simple combat takes on an entirely different and more exciting pace once this power is unlocked, but by the time you get it, you'll be in the final stretches.

The game would also really benefit from a map system, though the areas are so small and condensed that it's difficult to truly get lost. However, it does make tracking down any remaining collectibles a pain.

These faults, however, are relatively small in the face of what the game does right. This is a game begging you to find and do everything in it, because the world is so engrossing you won't want to leave it.

Good boss fights, rewarding combat and surprisingly interesting story.

Puzzles didn't seem to add much to the game aside from blocking you certain areas until you have the right tools.

Dungeons did start to feel repetitive after a while

Juegazo. Los bosses son todos impecables, cada uno con mecánicas muy distintivas y peleas sumamente divertidas. Las zonas son preciosas, muy variadas de entornos y muy bien construidas. Además, con los power ups le han dado al juego un componente de exploración y backtracking muy muy bueno.

Por otro lado, si he notado en ciertos momentos partes de gameplay más flojas, como las partes de 'Avaricia' en los cofres. Además, la división de las mazmorras pre-bosses son algo repetitivas a nivel general; buscando las almas para abrir las grandes puertas y después buscando al boss de la zona.

Aún así, es un juego muy disfrutable. A mí me duró en torno a las 10 horas haciendo el 80% del juego. Creo que ya justifica el precio de sobra, pero estaría bien que en el futuro le añadiesen algo de contenido gratuito porque sí es verdad que se me hizo corto. Aunque es más una virtud que un defecto, en este caso.

Really dang good. Combat is satisfying, puzzle aspects good change of pace. Last few hours of playing were incredible.

Game can be real challenging in spots. Healing is not an on-demand action, and the starting health can feel limiting in some encounters. I usually enjoyed overcoming the more demanding encounters, but did have to put the game down and take a break a few times during some of the more demanding combat gauntlets. I figure it's worth mentioning in case that's not what you're looking for out of the game.

Death is so easy in videogames. We flow through it - make it mundane - in order to experience the editing process of our playthroughs, shedding layers to further reach a win-state. The summer is coming to a close and sometimes I can't be arsed to play Dark Souls again so I boot up games that just lend themselves to us, perfectly understandable and playable in every aspect. Death's Door is something like that. It's difficult to attack smoothness. You just run your hand on it and slip. But it's sweet. You do it again. Until you find yourself one night having finished the game to near completion in the ten hours that you had to spare somewhere between now and the outside noise.

The older I get and the more difficult I find it to deny the pleasures of "relaxing" games. The last time I refused myself like this was probably A Short Hike. If games are to be put on the same pedestal as other art forms - as they should, sometimes, as they won't, fortunately - then we have to acccept that they too must reflect a vastness and breadth of experiences larger than our own limited scopes. The human experience, baby. Not every game is meant for y'all and accessibility is important. Representation matters. Sometimes a game is just a game. Each one of these statements is "factually" (meaning morally) correct.

To say that I felt nothing while playing Death's Door would be factually wrong. The art, the music, the story, the difficulty, the secrets and mechanics all blend together in the primordial goop of "goodness". The only thing was that for a game named Death's Door, it doesn't contain much if any death at all. Your dodge/attack window is generous and unburdened by consequences as you don't loose any souls for failing your progress. Eventually you kill the Big Bad, Lord of Doors, Committer of the Greatest Sin in all of Videogames : To be a Gatekeeper.

You break the cycle. Freeing yourself from the bondage of serfdom, you live the rest of your days surrounded by your community of crows - wholesome reapers now without jobs. You embrace Death, without having ever truly grazed it in the first place. You beat the game.

It's my fault and not the game's for asking all these questions. Game doesn't care. Game just requires to be played - or better yet, observed. I, for one, am just grumbling. But like I said I didn't have a bad time with Death's Door. I did, after all, finish the damn thing. It might come as a surprise to some that I adore videogames - there's no trick to that. I'm enamoured with their worthlessness. They rarely make me raise an eyebrow, but then again they so often do. Death's Door makes sure that I can detect every part of itself. That I can wholeheartedly play it to bear witness and remember fondly on the time a Pothead Knight asked me if I wanted some soup. Or when a mindflayer latched onto me for a midnight quest.

My favorite part of Death's Door actually came after the game. The Dead Lord leaves a key to a Rusty Belltower that calls forth a night on the whole map. The music ceases along with the enemies, leaving room for an endgame made of missing shrines and stone tablets. I don't care much for true platinums and epilogues. But here's a terrain suddenly emptied in a quiet, serene levels that I can walk through to the sound of owls, no longer forced to engage much or activate my facilities as a gamer in order to progress. I've earned this, have I not ?

Mindful practices. Games should never be nice. They can be devoted, hearthrobbing or even joyful but never nice. What's the use of nice ? What functions does nice serve and how do you feel once niceties have been applied to you ? By you ?

Kindness, now here's the real kicker. The hard one. The one that requires commitment. Kindness requires sacrifice. Kindness - to their player, to themselves - is something videogames often prove incapable of handing. And yet we talk in the language of care, of inclusivity and adjectives. Of hyperbole. Death's Door is not a social justice game but it sure is a progressive one. This review could have been about any number of games but I chose Death's Door because its essential narrative boils down to that : The system can be undone if you embrace change to the song of old flutes and nice dungeons. Convenient ones. It's important to accept the inevitability of your own death xx. I write these words and they're probably read as highly irritated. But the truth is I'm mostly typing them in a pout. Dark Souls didn't die for this shit. I don't mind the fancy aesthetics. For example there's this game called Going Under that, while a little blunt, perfectly captures the hellscape of wholesomeness. Of saying things while not really saying anything at all. The contained chaos of that thought alone. What happens then is that the conversation ends and everybody goes home having played "a really good game".

It's not everyday Maximalist Country in this hoe. Sometimes a game is just a game, I know. But that's a little disappointing, isn't it ?

Death's Door is a really well put together game, it looks good, it plays well and controlling the crow feels great, the music is not bad also. I also like the design of the world as it is an interconnected world but the areas are also separate in themes. I liked how it simulates Zelda by having items unlock new paths and going back to previous areas to explore really resonates with me. I also don't really know how I feel about the post game, cause for the most part it's new and interesting content that should be in the main story, but it also has some filler parts. Lastly, I liked Death's Door but it really doesn't do anything groundbreaking or mind boggling, I wish it had done more, even tough what it has to offer is good.

It's solid but not spectacular. It feels like it kinda ran out of steam after the second dungeon... the level design was solid but the Yeti isn't really tied into the overall story the way the Witch and the Frog King were, the boss fights felt like they grew to be more and more just nonstop throwing stuff at you, and the lack of health/healing options made things tiring. I explored a lot and got 6 shrines... 3 magic and 3 health, so neither got upgraded (and frankly I feel like magic didn't even NEED to be upgraded). It wasn't really difficult but there also wasn't any room for error either, so the last few boss fights got annoying... and none of the upgrades felt like they actually did anything, I never felt stronger or faster. The only one that might have actually felt worthwhile was health, but I never successfully upgraded that! Go figure.

It's an overall decent Zelda-like experience, but it just had a fair few questionable decisions that brought it down for me (the health stuff, upgrades feeling worthless, no map). Especially a shame that it consistently feels like it wants you to care about the story and cast of characters, but never quite managed to fully hook me on either. It doesn't really seem to know the tone it wants to get across, sorta awkwardly veering between whimsical and serious; sometimes it works, but often the tones just clash and take away from the moments it sets up. It's a shame, I wanted to love it, the idea of an agency of crow grim reapers is a fun starting point but it almost immediately becomes about dismantling that rather than letting you live in it a little.