love the mechanics, story and difficulty
this lil crow doing stuff
Just finished it at 100%. Great metroidvania, not hard, but interesting to explore and pretty easy to beat it at 100%. And the game is friendly to people who want to complete it at full because it has additional ending that puts some light on what happens in the main story. I like the design and the world itself, the gameplay is satisfying and - well - I'm just surprised I'm so pleased with random game I found.
I thought this game was a lot of fun and the combat was great. I didn't really change weapons all that much, but the characters were fun. The boss fights were really fun too, especially the last boss
You play as a crow whose job is to reap souls. At least until your current soul is stolen and you must track it down, discovering a world where death isn’t the end.
Visuals
Why is this game so pretty?! As soon as Death’s Door loaded up, I was in awe. This is exactly my aesthetic. It’s dark and moody and whimsical. The graphics are pretty simplistic, but they create such a believable, cohesive world. The main hub world where the game starts is in black and white with a few pops of red. That may sound boring, but it’s far from it. The shading and details is what makes this area look fantastic.
Once you head through the first door, you’re now in the other world, perhaps limbo. Or at least some interpretation of it. It’s kind of empty and desolate looking, but not lifeless. Despite being full of death. There’s slightly more color here, but it’s still muted and gorgeous.
Each level is its own mini labyrinth. There’s an amazing use of subtle visual clues to tell you where to go, so you should never get lost. Although it is fun to just roam around the area and take it all in. Assuming you’ve already taken out the monsters lingering about. Another small detail that really adds to the atmosphere are the blood splatters. This isn’t a gory game, at all, but when you’re hit or hit an enemy, little pools of blood are left behind. Along with the enemy corpses.
The main enemies are quite varied, although they don’t stand out too much. It is kind of difficult to tell exactly what they are, especially since a lot of them move very fast, so you’ve got to be ready to strike rather than trying to decipher what they are. The mini bosses are more interesting and definitely weird. The main bosses are freaking amazing! I was in complete awe of those first two and actually got a bit distracted during the fights. They’re just really well done.
Sound Effects + Music
Why is the music so good?! I love the background music in Death’s Door. It’s very chill, piano music for the most part. It’s relaxing and kind of haunting. Perfect for the vibe of the game. But when those string instruments kick in, be prepared, because something is about to go down!
Of course, the enemies all have their own sound effects. Mostly snarls, snaps, and other creepy noises as they come after you.
There’s no voice acting. In fact, characters don’t speak at all, even in gibberish. Our protagonist is particularly silent, but it works. You’ll have to read everything if you want to know what’s going on.
Gameplay + Controls
Controls in Death’s Door are pretty straight forward. Our character can simply walk/run, roll/dodge, and attack. There’s no jumping, since this is not really a platformer. It’s a top-down, isometric adventure game with puzzle elements. The controls for other weapons/spells are a bit more involved. For the bow and fire spells, you’ll have to hold two buttons and aim. It’s not too bad, but it took me some practice. For reference, I was playing on my PC with an Xbox controller, so I was holding down LT to equip the bow/fire, B to charge it, and aiming with the left stick.
Death’s Door is a test of patience. I died a lot at first because I just reacted too quickly. This was especially true during the first couple of boss battles. You’ll have to slow down, learn the pattern, then attack when it’s safe. Then the bosses aren’t that bad. The enemy gauntlets are more difficult, because you’ll have multiple types of attacks coming at you at once. But I think the basic strategy still applies. Get to a safe location, attack when there’s an opening, then pull back.
I do appreciate the lack of lives and “Game Overs” since I tend to die a lot. When you die, your progress is saved and you respawn at the last door you activated. This felt fair. Sure, you have to make your way back to the area where you died in order to continue. But any major events you completed don’t need to be repeated (enemy gauntlets, puzzles, etc), although regular enemies will respawn.
There are multiple things to collect throughout Death’s Door, but I wouldn’t categorize it as a collectathon. You’ll find Soul Mass around the levels which serves as currency for purchasing upgrades. Life Seeds are hidden around and should be placed into Seed Pots around the world to replenish your life bar. There are lost souls to be set free in order to unlock new areas. Crystals are found at shrines in order to upgrade your stats. And of course, the main collectables are the three Giant Souls to be reaped. You’ll also find new weapons hidden around.
I did have one annoying glitch early on in my playthrough. During an enemy gauntlet in The Lost Cemetery, one of the enemies got stuck under the bridge. I couldn’t get to it to kill it, and therefore new enemies wouldn’t spawn to progress the game. My only option was to close the game and restart, or just throw myself off the bridge to respawn. How did it get under there in the first place? I have no clue.
Replayability
While this is a lovely game, it’s also hard as heck, so there is no way I’d start it over. I imagine that this would be a fun one to speedrun as precision is important to making steady progress.
Overall
I really enjoyed my time with Death’s Door, even though I found it extremely challenging. Surprisingly, I never got frustrated with it though. Sure, I died a lot, so I’d just take a break and come back to it later. I haven’t beaten the game yet, since I no longer have game pass, but it’ll be a priority when I subscribe again.
Visuals
Why is this game so pretty?! As soon as Death’s Door loaded up, I was in awe. This is exactly my aesthetic. It’s dark and moody and whimsical. The graphics are pretty simplistic, but they create such a believable, cohesive world. The main hub world where the game starts is in black and white with a few pops of red. That may sound boring, but it’s far from it. The shading and details is what makes this area look fantastic.
Once you head through the first door, you’re now in the other world, perhaps limbo. Or at least some interpretation of it. It’s kind of empty and desolate looking, but not lifeless. Despite being full of death. There’s slightly more color here, but it’s still muted and gorgeous.
Each level is its own mini labyrinth. There’s an amazing use of subtle visual clues to tell you where to go, so you should never get lost. Although it is fun to just roam around the area and take it all in. Assuming you’ve already taken out the monsters lingering about. Another small detail that really adds to the atmosphere are the blood splatters. This isn’t a gory game, at all, but when you’re hit or hit an enemy, little pools of blood are left behind. Along with the enemy corpses.
The main enemies are quite varied, although they don’t stand out too much. It is kind of difficult to tell exactly what they are, especially since a lot of them move very fast, so you’ve got to be ready to strike rather than trying to decipher what they are. The mini bosses are more interesting and definitely weird. The main bosses are freaking amazing! I was in complete awe of those first two and actually got a bit distracted during the fights. They’re just really well done.
Sound Effects + Music
Why is the music so good?! I love the background music in Death’s Door. It’s very chill, piano music for the most part. It’s relaxing and kind of haunting. Perfect for the vibe of the game. But when those string instruments kick in, be prepared, because something is about to go down!
Of course, the enemies all have their own sound effects. Mostly snarls, snaps, and other creepy noises as they come after you.
There’s no voice acting. In fact, characters don’t speak at all, even in gibberish. Our protagonist is particularly silent, but it works. You’ll have to read everything if you want to know what’s going on.
Gameplay + Controls
Controls in Death’s Door are pretty straight forward. Our character can simply walk/run, roll/dodge, and attack. There’s no jumping, since this is not really a platformer. It’s a top-down, isometric adventure game with puzzle elements. The controls for other weapons/spells are a bit more involved. For the bow and fire spells, you’ll have to hold two buttons and aim. It’s not too bad, but it took me some practice. For reference, I was playing on my PC with an Xbox controller, so I was holding down LT to equip the bow/fire, B to charge it, and aiming with the left stick.
Death’s Door is a test of patience. I died a lot at first because I just reacted too quickly. This was especially true during the first couple of boss battles. You’ll have to slow down, learn the pattern, then attack when it’s safe. Then the bosses aren’t that bad. The enemy gauntlets are more difficult, because you’ll have multiple types of attacks coming at you at once. But I think the basic strategy still applies. Get to a safe location, attack when there’s an opening, then pull back.
I do appreciate the lack of lives and “Game Overs” since I tend to die a lot. When you die, your progress is saved and you respawn at the last door you activated. This felt fair. Sure, you have to make your way back to the area where you died in order to continue. But any major events you completed don’t need to be repeated (enemy gauntlets, puzzles, etc), although regular enemies will respawn.
There are multiple things to collect throughout Death’s Door, but I wouldn’t categorize it as a collectathon. You’ll find Soul Mass around the levels which serves as currency for purchasing upgrades. Life Seeds are hidden around and should be placed into Seed Pots around the world to replenish your life bar. There are lost souls to be set free in order to unlock new areas. Crystals are found at shrines in order to upgrade your stats. And of course, the main collectables are the three Giant Souls to be reaped. You’ll also find new weapons hidden around.
I did have one annoying glitch early on in my playthrough. During an enemy gauntlet in The Lost Cemetery, one of the enemies got stuck under the bridge. I couldn’t get to it to kill it, and therefore new enemies wouldn’t spawn to progress the game. My only option was to close the game and restart, or just throw myself off the bridge to respawn. How did it get under there in the first place? I have no clue.
Replayability
While this is a lovely game, it’s also hard as heck, so there is no way I’d start it over. I imagine that this would be a fun one to speedrun as precision is important to making steady progress.
Overall
I really enjoyed my time with Death’s Door, even though I found it extremely challenging. Surprisingly, I never got frustrated with it though. Sure, I died a lot, so I’d just take a break and come back to it later. I haven’t beaten the game yet, since I no longer have game pass, but it’ll be a priority when I subscribe again.
A compelling story, and entirely captivating gameplay throughout.
The type of game you wish you could call "peak gaming" but comes up a tiny bit short in most aspects. This game doesn't fall flat, per sey, but I can't necessarily sing its praises either as it sets out to accomplish very little beyond exactly as it achieves and not much more. Amazing visuals but uninspired at times in gameplay execution.
"Me duele la mano del boss final, pero dios
Es cortito, asequible, precioso y divertido"
Es cortito, asequible, precioso y divertido"
Had a lot of fun playing this game, currently free in the game pass. The graphics are great, the story and the gameplay is decent. I wish the weapons would all feel a bit more different tho. After 6,5 hours i was able to beat the game, but i only finished 70% of it - could go back for a second run too find all the collectables.
Fonte: Lista - Indie of The Year Nominees
Buen metroidvania, simple, cortito, pero con muchos secretos y bosses interesantes. Lo que echo en falta es una forma de moverse más rápido, pues te paseas muchas veces los mismos sitios rodando sin parar porque es más eficiente (pero un coñazo tener que dar un botón constantemente para ir igualmente lento). Un dulce que no amarga a nadie, no pasa nada si mueres, te suele dejar cerquita si has ido abriendo atajos… Muy simpático y con algunos momentos incluso épicos. Le pondría más nota si no fuese porque cada hora y poco me crasheaba fatalmente.
A nice little adventure game marred by some poor design choices regarding enemy combat. Most enemies are incredibly easy to fight, but some are way overturned. Short windups and very heavy tracking make bosses like Betty and The Last Lord of Doors feel really cheap. It wouldn't feel as bad if the health system wasn't so punishing. "Soulslike" does not mean "just don't get hit," but that's what the endgame bosses devolve into. I wasn't completely thorough, but I did look around quite a bit and I was unable to upgrade either my health or magic. Not having a world map did not encourage me to explore, and I also did not feel like backtracking to previous areas just to scrounge for an extra health point. It would have been nice if each boss had given you a health crystal so that by the end of the game most players were guaranteed to have at least one additional hit point. It would have made the last couple bosses more tolerable.
The music in this game was surprisingly really great. Lots of memorable pieces like The Gravedigger's Heart, which will honestly probably stick with me as one of my favorite game compositions. The art style is clean and the puzzles and navigation of new areas felt rewarding. The artificial difficulty felt pretty arbitrary to try and extend the playtime of the game or force it into being considered a "Soulslike," which it really isn't.
Overall, it's a nice and polished experience.
The music in this game was surprisingly really great. Lots of memorable pieces like The Gravedigger's Heart, which will honestly probably stick with me as one of my favorite game compositions. The art style is clean and the puzzles and navigation of new areas felt rewarding. The artificial difficulty felt pretty arbitrary to try and extend the playtime of the game or force it into being considered a "Soulslike," which it really isn't.
Overall, it's a nice and polished experience.
Pros:
- unique art style and great visual presentation
- character design is creative and animated expressions are charming
- overworld and dungeons are well-designed and hide secrets in plain sight
- puzzle writing is smart and effective
- bosses are fun and have secret weaknesses
- checkpoints are frequent and backtracking is generally fast
Cons:
- the difficulty is unforgiving and the death screen is aggravating
- health recovery system is unique to a fault and at odds with the exploratory design
- music is hit and miss, with most tracks getting grating quickly
- not all movement and attack options are explained in the tutorials
- hub area is confusing and has little bearing on the gameplay as a whole
- collectable weapons are interchangeable and barely affect combat
- combat is unfair: enemies don't get staggered, attacks are barely telegraphed
- movement speed is far too low and there is no practical dash or sprint move
- roll has practically no I-frames and is useless for avoiding damage
- upgrades are far too expensive and have no noticeable effect on gameplay
- final boss is a tedious trial-and-error challenge and a huge letdown compared to his peers
- collectathon requirements for the true ending are laughably high
- true ending is basically just more text and not worth the trouble
- the story is far too prominent for what it tries to achieve
Blahgic Moment: Dying to the final boss, only to repeat a prior platforming section again. And again. And Again.
Playtime: 10,5 Hours, with 89% completion.
Verdict:
Death's Door is the perfect example of a high-class dazzler: At first, the presentation, character design and promising overworld pull you in with their impeccable design; then, after a short while, the unfair combat system and unforgiving difficulty slap you in the face and dare you not to throw the controller against the nearest wall. The upgrade system and collectable weapons promise a variety in playstyles that never manifests, and the starting weapon emerges as a boring but workable choice for an entire playthrough. Even after a few expensive upgrades, enemies still take forever to kill, and bosses have tiny punishment windows that will aggravate you just like the annoying "wroom" sound and splash screen after each death. Because of this, exploration of the overworld and hunting for secrets becomes senseless, as the loot does not make the combat challenges any easier and is never actually worth the effort. The post-game makes this experience even worse, as it turns the game into a terrible collectathon for masochists who, after hours of tedium, are gifted quite probably the worst hidden ending in the recent past (that you can easily watch online of you actually care about it).
In conclusion, Death's Door is a huge disappointment that overpromises on its presentation and underdelivers in all of its most essential gameplay elements. Even if you like how it looks, you shouldn't play this and certainly shouldn't buy it - and don't go for all the endings or achievements under any circumstances.
- unique art style and great visual presentation
- character design is creative and animated expressions are charming
- overworld and dungeons are well-designed and hide secrets in plain sight
- puzzle writing is smart and effective
- bosses are fun and have secret weaknesses
- checkpoints are frequent and backtracking is generally fast
Cons:
- the difficulty is unforgiving and the death screen is aggravating
- health recovery system is unique to a fault and at odds with the exploratory design
- music is hit and miss, with most tracks getting grating quickly
- not all movement and attack options are explained in the tutorials
- hub area is confusing and has little bearing on the gameplay as a whole
- collectable weapons are interchangeable and barely affect combat
- combat is unfair: enemies don't get staggered, attacks are barely telegraphed
- movement speed is far too low and there is no practical dash or sprint move
- roll has practically no I-frames and is useless for avoiding damage
- upgrades are far too expensive and have no noticeable effect on gameplay
- final boss is a tedious trial-and-error challenge and a huge letdown compared to his peers
- collectathon requirements for the true ending are laughably high
- true ending is basically just more text and not worth the trouble
- the story is far too prominent for what it tries to achieve
Blahgic Moment: Dying to the final boss, only to repeat a prior platforming section again. And again. And Again.
Playtime: 10,5 Hours, with 89% completion.
Verdict:
Death's Door is the perfect example of a high-class dazzler: At first, the presentation, character design and promising overworld pull you in with their impeccable design; then, after a short while, the unfair combat system and unforgiving difficulty slap you in the face and dare you not to throw the controller against the nearest wall. The upgrade system and collectable weapons promise a variety in playstyles that never manifests, and the starting weapon emerges as a boring but workable choice for an entire playthrough. Even after a few expensive upgrades, enemies still take forever to kill, and bosses have tiny punishment windows that will aggravate you just like the annoying "wroom" sound and splash screen after each death. Because of this, exploration of the overworld and hunting for secrets becomes senseless, as the loot does not make the combat challenges any easier and is never actually worth the effort. The post-game makes this experience even worse, as it turns the game into a terrible collectathon for masochists who, after hours of tedium, are gifted quite probably the worst hidden ending in the recent past (that you can easily watch online of you actually care about it).
In conclusion, Death's Door is a huge disappointment that overpromises on its presentation and underdelivers in all of its most essential gameplay elements. Even if you like how it looks, you shouldn't play this and certainly shouldn't buy it - and don't go for all the endings or achievements under any circumstances.
This review contains spoilers
Actually surprisingly fun! I didn’t think I would like the game because of its art style and top down zelda-esque gameplay. But stylistically it’s just so polished and balanced gameplay-wise. The art style grew on me. Also the shadows and reflections are beautiful. The story is intriguing but not really thought-provoking. I pushed through because I wanted to see the climax of the crow’s journey after getting roped into helping a elder crow escape his trapped existence after losing the creature’s soul he was charged with capturing. The dungeons were exciting and the combat was pretty good! Sometimes it feels like I shouldn’t be taking damage but overall not too frustrating. Very good soundtrack. Reminds me a bit of Ni No Kuni and Ori. It really would have benefited with having a compass. Made it hard to find each new area. Especially a weird omission when the gravedigger and Old Crow reference the direction of each new area using North, East , and West. The ragdoll physics are awesome and makes the world feel more real. Also the bodies you’ve slain stick around, which is pretty cool. So many fun memorable characters. Might have benefited from voice acting, but it is an indie so that’s usually unreasonable for a game this size. Ending felt satisfying with killing the Lord of Doors and ending the cycle of immortal life that had started to destroy the world. The main issue is lack of compass or any map and the upgrades don’t feel like they’ve done anything until you’ve upgraded a couple times.
I wanna play it on steam deck
First part of the game is really fun but too easy. Exploration is great, zelda like feeling.
Second part sucks. Game becomes souls like with unresponsive control. Exploration is mostly gone, you fight boss after boss after boss.
Second part sucks. Game becomes souls like with unresponsive control. Exploration is mostly gone, you fight boss after boss after boss.
All in all I liked this game. It was not to hard but you still have to be concentrated or you died.
It's not to long, and not to short.
Gameplay worked, and that's important in this kind of game.
Just the road you have to walk if you died was a bit boring.
Either you walked to the boss without doing anything or you have enemies on your way which you don't kill because it doesn't matter if you do. They don't drop enough to waste time killing them.
So after all why 3,5 stars for a ''standard" game?
The score. I really liked the score. :D It fits great to this game.
It's not to long, and not to short.
Gameplay worked, and that's important in this kind of game.
Just the road you have to walk if you died was a bit boring.
Either you walked to the boss without doing anything or you have enemies on your way which you don't kill because it doesn't matter if you do. They don't drop enough to waste time killing them.
So after all why 3,5 stars for a ''standard" game?
The score. I really liked the score. :D It fits great to this game.
played for an hour or so, it's kinda boring, maybe it shines later I dunno
This is a relatively by-the-numbers isometric Zelda-like game, but it’s a super well-realized one, it has a great sense of atmosphere, charming enough without compromising its darker themes, coming together into a sort of fairy tale-like atmosphere that I really dig.
A cute and very stylized game with decent combat mechanics. Just was not enough to keep me engaged enough to want to finish playing.
while i did enjoy this game for what it is, i couldn't imagine myself spending the time to actually finish it
I stole an umbrella
A really solid Zelda-like adventure! Combat's fun, game is beautiful and the music is delightful. The humour was a bit of a miss though, and there wasn't a key 'hook' that made it stand out from its inspirations. Titan Souls, Acid Nerve's previous game, was an incredibly distinct boss rush experience. While this game's world feels uniquely its own, it does no favours by having a basic suite of powers and weapons that feel like they could be in any other game. It all works! It's just missing that special "something".
A nice and fun indie game that is made very well
Had an amazing time with this game. Distinct art style; music was fantastic; combat is simple, yet, really engaging. Would recommend to fans of 2D Zelda games or isometric action-adventure games.
Fun and charming little indie game, the final boss was extremely challenging and fun too
The game design / character design in this game is inspiring, adorable, and amazing. The battle systems are extremely fun, and super challenging but not so much that its inaccessible to people who didn't grow up playing games. In general its fun for everyone.
Only note is that there is no mini map, so you have to have a somewhat good memory to not get lost often. Its also hard to put down and pick back up again because of this.
Only note is that there is no mini map, so you have to have a somewhat good memory to not get lost often. Its also hard to put down and pick back up again because of this.
Short cute and simple but never gets boring, the exploration is open just enough to not get overwhelming
One of the best Indie games I have ever played!
A very fun adventure you go on as a crow. The thing that drew me in was the art style and aesthetic and I was not disappointed - the game always looked amazing (played on a switch lite). The loading times were also not too terrible. All the characters are super well written. No dialog seems to drag on for no reason. The jokes are very creative and made me chuckle quite a few times. The gameplay was fun and fast paced. Loved that there were several different ways to go about fights with the acquired spells and weapons. Took me almost 16 hours to 100% and get the true ending. A game worth playing.
It is a game that wants you to explore the world on your own and as such has no mini map, but I think most of the locations were pretty memorable. It might not be for everyone but I think it is worth a try at least if you are tempted.
It is a game that wants you to explore the world on your own and as such has no mini map, but I think most of the locations were pretty memorable. It might not be for everyone but I think it is worth a try at least if you are tempted.