Before last week I couldn’t tell you when last I stayed up through the night to play a single-player game. Not because I don’t love playing games but just because I’ve realised that I love sleep more.
But every now and then, a game will come around that reminds me why I love playing games in the first place, and that makes me forget all about stupid adult things like showers and sleep, and Death’s Door is one of those games.
Brought to us by developers Acid Nerve (Titan Souls) and publisher Devolver Digital (Katana Zero; Enter the Gungeon; Hotline Miami), Death’s Door is an Action RPG where you play as a crow, but not just any crow – a reaper crow.
Death’s Door is a charming game that, at its core, is a story entirely about death and its importance in life. You take on the role of a young crow who, like most other crows, works as a reaper. In Death’s Door, the life of a reaper crow is hardly glamourous; instead, it’s a life of constantly just punching the clock day in and day out.
Your crows peaceful, if not monotonous, existence gets thrown on its head; however, when one of your assigned souls is stolen, and in an effort to track it down, you find yourself in a world that’s entirely untouched by death.
Instead of this being a world filled with happiness and joy, the lack of death has left this world without meaning. When the creatures of the world all live far past their expiry dates, you’re left with creatures who are consumed by sadness, greed and power. For a small indie title, Death’s Door tackles a big topic, but it does it in a way that never feels too heavy or too in your face and never takes away from the gameplay.
Death’s Door hits all the right notes for an indie game. It’s a visual masterpiece with characters and environments that feel polished and alive. The score is atmospheric without ever feeling monotonous. The combat is challenging but rewarding, and the gameplay is easy to pick up and well-balanced. As someone who generally doesn’t enjoy the whole Soulslike style of game, I found myself utterly enthralled with Death’s Door partly due to its intriguing story, its puzzle-filled world and not losing my progress each time I died, which happened a lot.
One of the draws to Indie games has always been the love that you can feel while playing. It’s a feeling that doesn’t exist in many AAA titles anymore, and Death’s Door is nothing if not a love letter to gaming and the Action RPG genre.
Death’s Door allows for plenty of room to upgrade your character by either spending points in an upgrade tree or by fighting special boss battles that level up each of your weapons. There’s also a super special weapon and a secret ending for you to find after the credits have rolled and the main game is done.
Death’s Door is one of the more satisfying gaming experiences I’ve had in a game as of late. The lack of any difficulty settings means that Death’s Door always feels challenging but never impossible. Every time I failed, I knew it was because I messed up, not because the game was just too hard or that mechanics were broken. When I finished Death’s Door, I walked away craving more and with a feeling of accomplishment, which speaks volumes about how great the game truly is.
You’ll be able to rush through Death’s Door in about 10 hours, but if you want to go for achievements, upgrading all your weapons, unlocking the secret ending or if you have a life that keeps throwing distractions your way you’ll be looking at about 20 hours of gameplay.