Death's Door (2021)

The Netflix version is so bad. I can see that it's not a terrible game, but the terrible controls really set it back.

On Android the game only uses touch controls; no controller support. This fast-paced game is simply unplayable with touch controls. Fortunately, I used an app to translate controller input into touch events, which work very well. Except that the game constantly and randomly fails to register the touch events that I can see on my screen. I died so many times because my character rolled in some random direction because the game didn't recognise directional input.

The are other niggles that don't come from the port. The pseudo-isometric perspective looks cute, but it can cause visibility issues. Enemies can block the view of your character and are very hard to read if they have their backs turned to the camera. That's not a big issue in most situations except with the third boss, who is large enough to cause problems.

I still like the game overall. It's cute an funny and the level design is quite good, albeit a bit repetitive.

Overall good game, good atmosphere. and the art is gorgeous. the crow has a little personality conveyed through some animations which is cute. the soundtrack is nice but i found the "exploring music" too repetitive and samey.

gameplay wise is fun but it can be frustrating at times due to the control scheme and the feedback of your actions. collectibles seemed pointless.

The upgrades are very standard and not interesting. sometimes i couldn't tell if they were making a difference or not. maybe a visual upgrade to weapons would have made things more interesting. You can get multiple weapons but i couldn't see much of a difference between them, and i found myself defaulting to the standard one anyways.

It has cute humor which sometimes feels at odds with the dark atmosphere that it portrays.

Now it looks like I had say more bad things that good things, but i guess that is the problem with the game, it doesn't do anything brand new or really well other than presentation and I feel some of my complaints could have brought this game to the next level.

Anyways, I still recommend it if you are looking for a puzzle adventure type game

I am liking it overall but there are some things that really grind my gears:

• controller support is busted (at least on the game pass version)
• the controllers in general are really awkward and not smooth: Characters hit where the mouse is aiming, different button for charge vs regular attack, space bar to accept instead of enter???
• Some of the feedbacks are just derimental: whenever you get hit by a big boss the music and sounds kind of mutes, a lot of games use this to indicate a good hit by the player, not the other way around, really throwing me off. When you get hit the mouse dissapears, and only reappears when you get up. so you don't know which way you will be aiming and very likely will get hit again. the monkeys that jump around could use a big shadow to indicate where they land. as it is right now the perspective makes it hard to tell
• The healing system is just strange and I can't make head or tails as to why it is the way it is. you need to find seeds and then you need to find a pot where to plant it. and then you can only use the pot once per death. it feels tacked on and trying to be different without really accomplishing anything of note. dying brings you back to the last door, and then you can walk all the way back to where you were meant to be, I am not sure why you can't have a quicker checkpoint at the beginning of the room for example.

This was a fun, quick game. Dark Souls exploration and dodge roll combined with top down Zelda mechanics and items. Loved the ways levels would loop back around to places you had already been.

There is a slight lack of creativity, like no mechanics that the game introduces for the first time. It is a rock solid use of these older ideas and tropes though.

I can't remember any other action game that talks about death with such reverence, gravity and respect without stopping being fun. This "classic-Zelda-like" adventure was pure joy. Combat was really fun and the exploration —specially post final boss— was really rewarding. I'm glad I finally played it and I'm planning to write something more in depth about its themes and aesthetics. Let's hope I have the time to do that.

As you can see, I got 100% of the game but I don't wanna stop there. I'm definitely going for the platinum (which requires finishing the game using the worst weapon) in a few weeks.

This game has gorgeous aesthetics, a cute protagonist, great character design overall and a beautiful, atmospheric soundtrack.

Gameplay-wise, it's not far off from any given top-down Zelda game. It features both melee combat, as well as ranged spells, and later in the game even a hookshot. Very fun. The puzzles can sometimes be too simplistic, but if you're going for the completionist run, like I have, you will encounter some challenges, and one very tedious task.

I really enjoyed the difficulty of the game. It isn't hard like any given From Software game, but it isn't easy, either. Some bosses (and mini bosses) will defeat you a couple of times, before you learn their patterns and achieve victory. There are some optional encounters that can be rather challenging, too. Beside the bosses, the enemy placement and variability will ensure a fun playthrough.

The story of the game is fun and quirky. Most importantly, it's not self-contradicting and it's not stuffy and pretentious.

One last thing I've loved is that the game doesn't have to be over once you defeat the last boss. You can go on and finish one more big quest to unlock the true ending of the game.

With all the positives I've just listed, let me address the negatives.

First of all, if you do well with upgrades and finding new weapons, the difficulty drops in the endgame. While that is the point of powering oneself up, I think it can be overdone.

Second, in the postgame, the day turns to night, which in turn makes a lot of areas too dark. Not a big thing, you can mostly see everything, but I think setting the brightness a little higher would have been better.

And that's it. 4/5, would recommend.

Yea, this game slaps. I started and beat this weekend and it was a blast. I did not and could not stop playing. The description gave legend of Zelda meets Dark Souls. Definitely less dark souls and more Zelda. Going to dungeons, solving puzzles, getting weapons/powers in that dungeons and of course battles.

The music is so elegant and sound design is really damn good. The story is charming and a beautiful message life and death.

The combat is legit!! It’s simple but works really well because the enemies and patterns are fun to follow.

Please play this game. It’s super dope.

I beat this on xcloud on my phone by the way!

This game is more Zelda than Breath of the Wild. The combat's awesome, the exploration is top notch, there are hidden secrets everywhere, the puzzles are fun, and the bosses are challenging. Plus you've got the upgrade system which adds a tad of "build" elements.

Can't believe how fast I've racked up 10 hours in this game!

Played on PS5. Which of course stands for Pretty Sweet 5/5.

PROS

• Clean, attractive art style
• Lots of well-hidden secrets to uncover and riddles to solve
• Pleasant, hummable soundtrack
• Solid combat makes for some fun and challenging encounters
• Showcases a level of polish most 3D indies lack (and from just a two man team -- Unity's tools must be getting quite good)

CONS

• Lacks much of a distinct identity due to its highly derivative mechanics
• Abstract level design leads to a weak sense of place, making navigation confusing
• Corny sense of humor detracts from the atmosphere
• Playing as a crow that can't jump, fly, or even glide is kinda weird

Severely disappointing. Probably the most pronounced divergence this year in critical opinion vs. my personal experience. It's a gorgeous-looking game with an okay minimalist soundtrack that I think wants to be more haunting than it is. But the rest...

I've played a great many difficult games in the Dark Souls vein, and tend to adore difficult exploration-heavy games, but with this... the lack of responsive controls and character agility mixed with a fixed isometric angle that distracts more than it aids, absolute garbage aiming and hit detection, and pretty terrible checkpointing make this more of a chore than a worthwhile experience. Toss in the lack of a world map and you have a game that's just not worth struggling through.

I recognize I'm in the minority here, but playing this and Hades at the same time reveals, starkly, just how poorly Death's Door plays on nearly every level. Everything is also so tiny that be it handheld or on a 50" screen, I am constantly losing sight of what's happening.

This is a sincere disappointment. On paper, this game is entirely my jam. And the critical response to it had me rather excited. But, sincerely (and yes, I know, subjectivity is everything), my entire time playing this I kept thinking to myself "how in the shit did everyone overlook how poorly this controls?"

Hard pass. Don't regret playing through it, would not dream of touching a sequel or recommending this to anyone.

This is a "next gen" indie game: just a few people combined their talents here to get a (I agree, not always so innovative but) consistent experience with polish over scope. Compared to Titan Souls these girls and guys also managed to get a nice difficulty in there. Some players complain about this, so maybe they should to play it just with the umbrella to challenge themself more?

I really wish we will have more games like this in the future, I'm very happy this game got the attention and success it deserves.

There is nothing original about Death's Door. All good art is based in equal parts stealing and inspiration, but the influences of Acid Nerve's new game feel so salient, it's almost insulting. Almost.

Instead of coming up with some unfamiliar concepts, the devs decided to put their FromSoftware, Studio Ghibli, Tim Schafer, and Legend of Zelda mood boards into a food processor and make a game based on that mush.

What saves this game is an astounding level of craft and passion. The controls are honed, the level design is focused, and the pacing is immaculate. In a market full of bloated experiences, this 8-hour game feels almost miraculous. Almost.

I loved playing this game and I absolutely recommend it.

It plays so well that it hurts my feelings that the game, unlike it's influences it so gleefully borrows from, has no intention of pushing any artistic boundaries. It's tale about bureaucratic, soul-harvesting crows is lifted straight from Grim Fandango. It's gothic horror undertones are lifted straight from Dark Souls. It's gameplay loop is lifted straight from Zelda. Despite Death's Door doing so much lifting, it's so fun I almost didn't notice it brings nothing new to the medium. Almost.

For a couple years now I have been patiently awaiting the release of a cute little game that mixes a little bit of The Legend of Zelda and a little bit of Dark Souls starring a cute Fox hero. That game, Tunic, is planned for release later this year or early next. Tunic is one of my most anticipated games of the last few years.

But this review isn't about Tunic, because all the while I was waiting for that to release, Acid Nerve and Devolver dropped another adorable little Zelda/Souls cross called Death's Door. And instead of a cute little fox, the protagonist is a cute little crow.

Actually, I was aware of Death's Door last year when I say a short teaser for the game. But I wasn't aware of how the game play would turn out. Flash forward a year and it turns out that Death's Door is a fun isometric Zelda-like that borrows ever so slightly from the Souls formula. Like a Souls game you navigate a map that often loops around back on itself opening gateways through previously traversed areas. Like a Souls game, there is quite bit of focus on boss or mini-boss encounters. And like a Souls game even lowly enemies can wreck you if you're not careful. Yet, unlike a Souls game, Death's Door is considerably less challenging, with ever fairer odds once you learn your enemy's individual dance.

Like a Zelda game, Death's Door is a fun isometric hack and slash complete with sword, bow and arrows, bombs, a fire spell and a hook-shot (sorry, no boomerang folks!). Like Zelda there are plenty of secrets to be found, tools to unlock and a land to be saved. And like Zelda you are the legendry hero, or the hero that was foretold in Death's Door's terminology. Death's Door is a little shorter than a conventional Zelda game, being closer in length to the first three shrines and initial battle with Agahnim in A Link to the Past (that is if we are not counting Death's Door's post game content). That's not a criticism of the game. In fact it's praise because Death's Door feels like a very tight and well thought out game that never overstays its welcome while simultaneously providing enough boss encounters (including optional ones) that it is ultimately quite satisfying.

Death's Door is not just thoughtful in it's mechanics. The game tackles the concept of death with respect and reverence. It's a game that forefronts death as a concept while embracing its inevitability through a mix of grace and humour. It acknowledges the fear that many of us grapple with in respect to death, and tries to touch on that fear without resorting to mockery. I can't think of another game where you take a moment to remember the lives, and mourn the deaths, of the bosses you are sent to defeat. Death's Door tries to tackle a difficult topic in a way that doesn't shy away from ideas of fear, grief and the process of grieving. I think it is successful in that aim. We aren't kicking ass in this game, we are ushering people through their final moments. I couldn't help but think of Spiritfarer while playing this because both games take the time to acknowledge and address death rather than elide those difficult concepts in favour of disavowal fueled entertinment. And I'm not arguing that either game isn't fun. Rather, they are fun but also melancholic and emotionally difficult at times, much like life often is.

Death's Door is a thoroughly meticulous game. It's polished, mechanically thoughtful and feels like a game that was developed without shortcuts taken. It's an accomplished and tightly designed game with intricate pieces that fit so perfectly together that there is very little I can really find to criticize the game over. Although it can be hard, the game does provide ways to reduce the difficulty. Perhaps the skill ceiling is too high for some, but it's also much lower than any actual Souls game. If we compare it to another indie Souls-like, Death's Door is significantly more forgiving than something like Hollow Knight. Although some bosses may give people a challenge, I don't see many people rage quitting the same way they might playing Dark Souls or Hollow Knight. That's not to say that an easy mode wouldn't be a nice touch for some players because, frankly, easier difficulties are probably worthwhile for most difficult games. But I do honestly think this is a better and far gentler entry into the Souls-like genre than many other games. My only real criticism of the game is that it could definitely use a new game+ mode as well as a boss rush mode, the latter of which is surprisingly missing from a game by the studio that developed Titan Souls.

Overall I very much enjoyed my time with Death's Door and I look forward to replaying it in future, either just to revisit or if they do release a new game+ mode.