Review: Death’s Door

Available on: Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox (Included in Xbox GamePass)

Cost: €19.99, £17.99 or $19.99

Genre: 3D Platformer, RPG, Souls-like

Developer: AcidNerve

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Death’s Door is a charming isometric role playing game that is not as bleak as it’s title may have you believe. It combines a thoughtful story with challenging battles and incredibly smooth and satisfying gameplay. Playing as Crow, a reaper you are transported into a realm where reaping souls of the dead is your 9-5. As your adventure begins, you get trapped in another realm when your assigned soul is stolen. Traverse the land untouched by death to battle through dungeons to defeat various beasts and DemiGods using unlockable weapons and magic. Travel through portal doors, find shiny things to collect and discover the secrets of the world and the true role of the crows in a darkly comedic, souls like RPG.

Story

Despite it’s bleak look, the humour of the story comes through from the introduction of the game. Playing as Crow, a reaper of dead souls, you report to work every day, receive an assignment, and set out through one of the portal doors to reap your soul. You are warned that not returning with your assigned soul will result in being trapped and unable to return to the Soul’s Vault.

Once you travel through your door to reap your assigned soul, this is stolen and you must track down and reap the souls of 3 tyrants that have been evading death themselves. The story is thoughtful and engaging, I was intrigued throughout about where the plot was going and what the outcome was going to be for Crow, along with unearthing the secrets of the world to find out the true role of the crows and why the system has been set as it is.

Gameplay

One of the strongest enjoyble elements of Death’s Door is the smoothness of the movement. Crow glides around the areas and the weapons slash and shoot satisfyingly clean. The roll to avoid attacks reacts well, making each battle feel acheivable, even if they are challenging.

Each beast has it’s own patterns to watch for and use an attack accordingly. This element means that the use of different weapons for each monster is crucial, which over time allows for more practice and improvement. They are challenging battles, especially once you get to each boss, and expect many deaths along the way! Each kill gives you reaped souls, which works as currency for your ability upgrades.

Along with multiple weapons to find and powers to unlock,you can also speak to the Vault Keeper in the Souls Vault to find upgrades available for your abilities, Strength, Dexterity, Haste and Magic, paying with your reaped souls. Each will increase your ability to improve your chances in battle, from raising the damage on a weapon to raising the speed of ranged attacks.

Graphics and Visuals

I found Death’s Door’s visuals truly delightful. Although at first look the lands are rather bleak, you soon start to recognise the detail specific to each of the areas to make charming worlds. Each area has it’s own unique style, but all are crisp and well filled. I really enjoyed the starkness of the sharp black and white of Souls Vault to then then a more colourful forest area. The design of the weapons in an almost neon pink, blue or green slices through the dark tone of the visuals to make a satisfying contrast.

Longevity

The game’s main story can be completed in around 10 hours, and for completionists looking to find every shiny thing and unlock every temple, theres around 15 hours of gameplay. All of this of course depends on your adeptness to the battles and how many deaths you incur on yourself. There’s not much replayability, but the story is full and rich which would encourage me to play the game again at a later date, even if just to experience the smooth controls and battles.

Conclusion

Overall, Death’s Door is a delightfully bleak yet charming game with a thoughtful story, deeply satisfying gameplay and gorgeously sharp visuals. The game is challenging, and takes a few goes sometimes to lern the pattern of the beasts and defeat them, but this is by no means a critisism. Every battle feels achievable making it highly addictive, if not enjoyably frustrating at times. This game definitely does live up to it’s hype and is a strong recommend from me.