Death's Door

“Bow your head in Rememberance, and Pay your last Respects.”

Every once in a while, a game comes along that captures your attention. It consumes you. It’s all you can think about. You decide to give that boss fight another go despite it being 2 am and you work in 4 hours. Death’s Door has been that game for me, becoming an addiction as I completed it from top to bottom, an adventure I will never forget. Embarking on my journey as a little reaper crow, destined for big things, I would defeat any and all who would stand in my way, wielding a variety of weapons and skills as I attempted to track down enough souls to save my own. Death’s Door is a masterpiece in every sense of the word and is currently my game of the year.

I remember being excited based on what I had seen of Death’s Door just a short while ago at E3. I had watched a few additional gameplay videos since its announcement, but I wanted to go in largely blind. Now, I had heard it was difficult, but honestly, that challenge softens greatly as you get to know what weapons and attacks work best for each encounter and how to adapt to the patterns most enemies follow. It’s certainly no Dark Souls in how it punishes you, but I can see why many people bring that game up as a comparison. However; Death’s Door feels more like a mixture between a few Zelda games like A Link to the Past, and LInk’s Awakening, with the combat of Hyper Light Drifter with a bit of the art direction from Hob, another great game that no one seems to talk about. This mixture blends into the gameplay perfectly, and the level of polish here is second to none. I never experienced a single death due to bad controls, a bad camera angle, or any form of glitches or crashes; although, I have heard that several glitches exist in the PC version. Still, it’s one of the most balanced games I’ve played in years in regards to its challenge. Did I die like twenty or thirty times to certain bosses, of course, but seeking out and equipping a different weapon, upgrading a few skills, paying closer attention to their attack patterns, and before long, they fell like all the rest.

What is insanely impressive about Death’s Door is that it is largely developed by a team of two people; Mark Foster, and David Fenn of the Indie studio, Acid Nerve. Now, I say largely because there are about 8-10 extra people listed in the credits for various things such as character designs, UI artists, and promotional artwork, but regardless, the fact this game plays and looks as wonderful as it does, given the size of the team, is a stellar achievement in game design and the controlling of unchecked ambition of creating something so heavily detailed in that design. Much like last year’s Hades, I find most small studios to be incredibly passionate about their games and that passion can often deliver some of the most memorable experiences ever made. And, speaking of Hades, I hope this game will get some of that same acclaim as it’s currently getting a lot of love via social media platforms.

Now, if the names Mark Foster and David Fenn sound familiar, it may be because these were the guys responsible for Titan Souls, a much-beloved game where you use a magical arrow to take down some big and elaborate bosses, one after another. You can certainly see that game’s DNA here, and if you push a bit further, you’ll see a bit more similarities as well. If Titan Souls didn’t put Acid Nerve on most people’s radar, then Death’s Door most certainly will.

Death’s Door as a title will make a lot more sense once you put some hours in, and some massive bosses under your belt. As a small little crow, you are tasked with killing a boss to harvest its soul. However; before you can snag it, the soul is taken from you. Now, as you track down this soul-thief, they offer you a chance at getting it back, a request in the form of returning to them with three giant souls, from three equally giant bosses. Now, your little crow isn’t some random bird with a blade and a bow, no, they are a reaper for the Commission, a task force of sorts that are charged with harvesting souls and bringing them back to their employer. Until the job is done; however, the crows are mortal, so having your tasked soul stolen certainly spells eventual doom for you.

In between missions, you’ll return to the offices of the Commission, a hub location that is a joy to explore as it has this black and white detective noir sort of aesthetic, peppered with very limited color to really make it pop and stand out apart from the living world that you’ll escape into for your tasks. You’ll return here again and again, and there are small little changes after each story event to explore and discover, especially the two crows working away at their desks. I loved talking to each of them every time I would return; one who absolutely hates you because of how much paperwork you create for them, and the other who can’t wait for you to do something else that creates more forms for them to fill out. Eventually, you start to have these little forest sprites that follow you around, and their infiltration into the office has some of my favorite lines of dialogue in the game. Honestly, I haven’t laughed out loud this much at a game in quite some time. In fact, one character that had me in absolute stitches was Jefferson, who I won’t spoil here, is an NPC that might be my favorite NPC ever made and stands out as a true highlight of the creativity this game has on offer. Then, there is also Pot Head, as seen below, who simply wants anyone to try his soup.

The bulk of the narrative going forward is tracking down the three giant souls, returning to the mysterious thief, and hopefully getting back your assigned soul, hoping to return it back to the Commission for a job well done. You’ll travel to a select cropping of environments, from snow-capped mountains, wet swamps, lush gardens, a spooky manor, and a machine-working faciliy, offering a wealth of variety not just in each location’s aesthetic, but in the gameplay and purpose that each locale provides. The skills that you track down; a fire spell, bomb spell, and a hook shot, all contribute to traversing and unlocking new paths, new secrets, all playing into a wealth of lore baked in all around you.

There are several items to collect as well, with one, in particular, guarding a vastly well-kept secret that will have you stumped in the game’s early hours, as well as an endgame that revolves around gathering special items of knowledge, housing yet another secret, one with some very impressive implications. In fact, there is a secret boss fight that is triggered by an NPC that recognizes one of the items you've discovered There are also combat trials to upgrade your weapons, shrines to increase your health and magic, and honestly, more to uncover as you return to previously exhausted areas to discover whole new paths and areas that are available through the use of an item like the hook shot, or through the use of where a certain rusted key grants you access. Thankfully, the game will highlight doors that you need to still explore, causing them to glow red if something is still there waiting for you to discover.

While there are reports of Death's Door only being around 6 hours long, I honestly see that as someone racing through the game to its initial credits, ignoring all the exploring, secrets, upgrades, NPC moments, and the endgame the title has to offer. My completion time of the game was around 17 hours, and that's hitting 100% of everything the game has included. I exhausted every area, every item, and every single upgrade. I’ve also checked out several other playthroughs to get an idea of where most people are sitting at, and as they too exhausted each and every area, the average seems to be around 16-18 hours for tackling everything.

Combat is a fundamental part of what makes Death’s Door so enjoyable, and the fact it is inspired greatly by Hyper Light Drifter just makes me enjoy it that much more. Apart from your health, you have magic/skill reserves that allow you the use of your bow, a fire spell, and a bomb. These, as is the case in HLD, are refreshed each time you land a melee attack on your opponent. This causes a bit of risk-reward in being offensive, having you get in close to get a few swipes to then allow you to use those distanced abilities as you earn them back. You’ll eventually unlock more than just your starting sword and gain use of daggers, an umbrella, a large hammer, and my personal favorite, the Reaper’s Greatsword, a fast-acting weapon with tremendous reach. Each weapon has various stats like how much damage it does, the speed of your swings, and the number of those swings you can do in a combo attack. Enemies can also blast out ranged attacks, and apart from a stray arrow, you can swing your weapon towards these incoming attacks to launch them right back to your foe, possibly killing them in the process. It’s insanely satisfying to launch two separate blasts back to two separate enemies and killing them both simultaneously.

Combat feels fast, never sluggish, and when you combine it with your dodge roll, it becomes an act of survival as you roll around your enemy and swipe at them from behind to then dodge roll away and repeat the assault. You can also roll and attack, causing you to perform a powerful secondary move or charge down your swing, while motionless, to deliver yet another powerful strike. When you start using your bombs, bow, and fire spell, as well as lunging towards your opponent with the hook shot, combat becomes a work of art, making me remember just how good this system was in HLD and how Acid Nerve has not just replicated it here, but improved upon it as well. While pulling inspiration from other games is old hat, few games manage to take those inspirations and make them work well within the confines of what their game demands, with many games often making those borrowed mechanics feel out of place. Here, everything Acid Nerve has implemented feels like a natural fit, feeling seamless from the moment to moment gameplay and feels incredibly satisfying.

Death’s Door offers a huge variety of enemies to fight, sub-bosses to challenge, and a few main bosses to master. While I wish there was a way to re-challenge the game’s central bosses, their encounters were a joy and really showcases how well Acid Nerve understands the appeal of a good boss fight. From the Grumpy Witch to the Frog King, to well… Let’s just call her Betty, Death’s Door’s bosses are a joy in their design, and thankfully, all feel different in how they feel and the old-school approach to their design. Many of the common fodder-based enemies are superbly designed as well, from swinging your sword to knock back floating green orbs, or dodging out of the way to get in a cheap hit to an archer, or learning the patterns of the bigger bruiser type foes that eventually become commonplace, I always felt like I was learning new tactics or encountering something new as each location you visit opens up more and more variety in your opposition.

As you defeat enemies, track down soul items, and defeat bosses, you’ll harvest souls that you can spend to upgrade your crow’s natural abilities. You can choose from Strength, Dexterity, Haste, and Magic, each building up your overall capabilities. Strength increases your damage as well as its reach while Dexterity allows you to charge up your attacks faster and increase the speed at which melee attacks can be chained together. Haste then gives you a greater base speed, faster dodges, and reduces the cooldown between dodges while finally, Magic, increases the damage your fire spell and bomb will do against your foes. Each time you increase a particular upgrade, it increases in price, to a maximum of 1500 souls when you purchase the fifth and final upgrade. Now, as you track down the soul orbs that give you 100 souls or the deaths of the bigger and more challenging enemies, you’ll earn more than the simple few souls smaller enemies will get you. I found I only needed to grind away to get the last few upgrades, but I did so well after I 100%’ed the game as I was essentially done with what I could do apart from maxing out my stats. Had there been a new game plus or a boss challenge mode to take advantage of my maxed-out stats, then I likely would have done it sooner.

Healing in Death’s Door is through the use of seeds that you plant into pots, allowing you a complete refresh of your health should you consume it. These are spaced out frequently and require a seed to be tracked down in order to use them. These can be used with the seeds you have or saved should you not need them right away. Now, in order to 100% the game, you will need to track them all down, so make sure to track down each and every pot and use them, especially those you find up way high in the rafters or in areas that you don’t find yourself returning to that often. Thankfully, a character named Pot-Head will be able to let you know of any you missed, should you be able to track down his special hiding place, which grants access to a door that opens should you find each and every pot. These doors also exist for other secrets, some of which require reuniting a ghost with their respective statue, or through other means that you’ll discover via the endgame.

Death’s Door is gorgeous, and its accompanied music just lends itself to this perfect mixture of presentation. The level design keeps the flow of action moving and occasionally you’ll see areas just peaking to the side that are paths you’ll often wonder how to get there, or the plentiful amount of shortcuts that continue to become this desperate need of convenience that should you die, and you likely will, that you’re able to get back to where you were going in a heartbeat. There are so many nice little touches to the game, from the few plucked feathers that float behind you when you roll, the reflections on the floor that reveal hidden doors, to the superb animation of not just the enemies, but to something as simple as a smashed pot. The sheer amount of detail here is something I see even big teams struggle with and yet here, it feels effortless. Everything here just flows perfectly from moment to moment with the added grace of some incredible lighting or effects that just compliment everything this game is trying to convey.

I honestly can’t get enough of this game and it’s been one of the best games I’ve ever played, easily joining my top ten of all time. I recommend it to everyone I know, and they too begin to feel this game’s pull and how utterly brilliant it is. Death’s Door is incredibly special. From its polished take on what I loved about Hyper Light Drifter, or its level design and item use that we see in some of the best Zelda games, to the incredibly subtle detail to its animations and visuals, Acid Nerve has created a truly stand out game that begs to be experienced. While you can choose to zip through the game at a breakneck pace and ignore much of what is all around you, this is a game that is begging to be explored and exhausted of its content. Nearly every location has some form of secret or trial, some path not taken, and it was an absolute joy to discover all of it. If this is a start of a franchise, I’ll be counting down the seconds until Acid Nerve is back with a whole new adventure, a tale that will be an absolute honor to discover.

Developer - Acid Nerve. Publisher - Devolver Digital. Released - July 20th, 2021. Available On - Xbox One/Series S/X, Windows. Rated - (T) Blood, Use of Tobacco, Violence. (Rating was updated after release)
Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - Death’s Door was purchased by the reviewer.