Death's Door is a genuinely remarkable game—no joke. I say this because I’ve just played through it from beginning to end for the second time. It’s common to overestimate an experience you’ve had for the first time (watching The Butterfly Effect and thinking it’s the most brilliant film ever made, playing Heavy Rain and being wowed by the story’s quality). Upon revisiting, however, the part of our attention that was previously occupied by novelty is now free to focus on the details, and we notice things we didn’t see before.
The game unfolds in a world where death has been outsourced to a “public department” run by crows. You are one of these little reaper crows. When you successfully hunt down a target, you don’t age, just like all your colleagues in this world. When your target escapes, however, this blessing abandons you, and you must face the natural process of aging and death.
As every story needs conflict, especially video games, it doesn’t take a genius to deduce that our crow will get into the biggest mess of all: having a target that escapes to an almost unreachable place. Specifically, your target slips through a mysterious interdimensional door, a door that can only be opened using immensely powerful souls... Souls from entities that, like you and your colleagues, have dodged death with artifices for years and years until their souls became swollen and valuable.
There are two things I particularly loved about Death’s Door. First, it’s a game that excels despite having no map. Since Dark Souls, many games have tried to remove the map and force the player to navigate using acquired knowledge. When this tactic works, it’s fantastic, and we have to truly immerse ourselves in the virtual world of the game to navigate it properly. When it doesn’t work, it kills the game for me… There’s nothing worse than being lost in a place where every corner looks like every other corner.
In Death’s Door, it works. Not only does the game provide a clear direction for the player, but it also, in a way, manages to communicate well which paths are alternative, optional routes, and which is the main path.
The campaign structure is magnificent. Each boss has its own region, its dungeon, and even a set-piece (think of an open dungeon, a set sequence of challenges to overcome). This allows the game to vary its scenarios and the types of challenges it offers the player.
The game has basic RPG elements, implemented in a relatively unique way. Just like in Dark Souls, enemies come back to life every time you fail and return to the checkpoint. Killing enemies gives you XP, but very little. The bulk of XP is obtained as treasure through exploration. This makes it enjoyable to operate like a Roomba in the maps, poking into every corner and cranny.
Anyway… I’m writing this in the middle of my workday, and I’m about to head out for lunch. My point is: Death’s Door is one of the best 3D Zelda-style adventures money can buy. And it’s sold pretty cheaply when on sale. The level of challenge doesn’t reach Dark Souls; the game is easy, even, it just doesn’t give you many opportunities to heal. It’s one of those “endurance test” games, where the challenge isn’t to overcome an isolated challenge, but to survive a series of sequential trials.
The game unfolds in a world where death has been outsourced to a “public department” run by crows. You are one of these little reaper crows. When you successfully hunt down a target, you don’t age, just like all your colleagues in this world. When your target escapes, however, this blessing abandons you, and you must face the natural process of aging and death.
As every story needs conflict, especially video games, it doesn’t take a genius to deduce that our crow will get into the biggest mess of all: having a target that escapes to an almost unreachable place. Specifically, your target slips through a mysterious interdimensional door, a door that can only be opened using immensely powerful souls... Souls from entities that, like you and your colleagues, have dodged death with artifices for years and years until their souls became swollen and valuable.
There are two things I particularly loved about Death’s Door. First, it’s a game that excels despite having no map. Since Dark Souls, many games have tried to remove the map and force the player to navigate using acquired knowledge. When this tactic works, it’s fantastic, and we have to truly immerse ourselves in the virtual world of the game to navigate it properly. When it doesn’t work, it kills the game for me… There’s nothing worse than being lost in a place where every corner looks like every other corner.
In Death’s Door, it works. Not only does the game provide a clear direction for the player, but it also, in a way, manages to communicate well which paths are alternative, optional routes, and which is the main path.
The campaign structure is magnificent. Each boss has its own region, its dungeon, and even a set-piece (think of an open dungeon, a set sequence of challenges to overcome). This allows the game to vary its scenarios and the types of challenges it offers the player.
The game has basic RPG elements, implemented in a relatively unique way. Just like in Dark Souls, enemies come back to life every time you fail and return to the checkpoint. Killing enemies gives you XP, but very little. The bulk of XP is obtained as treasure through exploration. This makes it enjoyable to operate like a Roomba in the maps, poking into every corner and cranny.
Anyway… I’m writing this in the middle of my workday, and I’m about to head out for lunch. My point is: Death’s Door is one of the best 3D Zelda-style adventures money can buy. And it’s sold pretty cheaply when on sale. The level of challenge doesn’t reach Dark Souls; the game is easy, even, it just doesn’t give you many opportunities to heal. It’s one of those “endurance test” games, where the challenge isn’t to overcome an isolated challenge, but to survive a series of sequential trials.