I’ve been playing an indie game called Death’s Door by Acid Nerve. It had been on my radar because of the gorgeous graphics and the fact that you’re a crow with a red sword. I mean, that’s really all I need to know because I’m simple like that. It’s an action adventure Metroidvania with more than a dollop of Dark Souls frosting. I am not just making that up in my fevered Elden Ring-starved brain, either. Both streamers I’ve watched who were playing it mentioned it more than once. There’s even a character who is highly reminiscent of a Dark Souls fave, not to mention one who is similar to an NPC in Sekiro. I will, of course, get to that later in the post.
Side Note: I have finished the game so there will be spoilers throughout the post. Fair warning to turn back now if you want to play it unspoiled.
First, I need to rave more about the environment of Death’s Door. It’s moody and dripping with atmosphere. The crow is wearing a jaunty little scarf and you can find a Discarded Umbrella that is shit as a weapon but is a great accessory. I love the crow’s quick little walk and the head tilt when they think there’s something interesting. They are a silent protagonist, but they exude so much personality.
Before I get into what I like about the game (and there’s a lot to like), I need to talk about one big thing I don’t like right from the start. It’s the combat. I’ll get more into it later, but for now, I’ll say that it’s the combination of too many mobs, not enough variety, the need for twitch responses, and not being able to heal during combat. Oh, and having 4 hit points. That’s right, 4. There are ways to boost it, but only up to 6. I’ll get more to that in a bit.
The premise is that I’m a reaper crow who is going out and getting souls. In the beginning, I’m dropped off at the Reaping Commission Headquarters. The security guard is called Baul Plarth and I know I’m in for some droll humor. There’s a typist named Agatha who just loooooves typing and Chandler the Handler who is a hard-bitten crow who is a middle management type who is constantly worried about his job being harder. Then there’s the mysterious Vaga who has a book on his head and makes cryptic statements about a better life out there.
This game is gorgeous. I can’t stress this enough. It’s such a visual feast with each area having a distinct style. There are colorful gardens and grim factories. The splashes of color are eye-catching and the details are amazing. I love the claymation/Studio Ghibli feel to the characters and the dialogue is really cute. Only two guys made this (along with some artists), which is really impressive. The music is lovely as well and really sets up the atmosphere. I will say it gets annoying sometimes, such as in the middle of a boss fight or my third run through an area.
There is, apparently, a Zelda feel to the game. I couldn’t tell you because I’ve played a few hours of one Zelda game on 3DS and didn’t care for it. What I do know is that it has many Souls-like touches to it even though the aesthetics are very different. In addition to the NPCs, there is the fact that you go through this gauntlet of enemies until you find the shortcut that takes you right back to the bonfire (door in this case). I know this isn’t solely a Souls thing, but that’s where I know it from. There’s a bit like the rafters in Anor Londo. A few of the mini-bosses could have been taken straight out of Dark Souls. The way of finding lore in objects, the obtuseness, it’s all Souls to me. There’s also the thing about beating all the enemies the first time through, then it’s fine to run by them. Or is that just me? It’s so much Dark Souls, I rebound the buttons to mimic Dark Souls controls. Roll was on A and I changed it to B, the forever roll button.
The thing is, it misses being Dark Souls for a few reasons, the biggest being the combat. There are five weapons in this game, one of them is a joke weapon. The double daggers are your typical rogue weapon, but the other three (sword, greatsword, and hammer) aren’t really that different from each other. For the spells (arrows, fire, bomb, grappling hook), the fire is by far the most useful. Yes, I’m a pyro, but it really does give you the most bang for the buck. The bomb has a really long charge-up that doesn’t make it useful in the mob fights and the grappling hook is mostly for traversal. You can use it to hook to an enemy and hit them with your sword, however, which is neat.
But the fire spell? That is my complete jam. And because I got the upgrade, I can now do a slow burn on enemies. It’s good for mob control and, honestly, when I can’t be stuffed to get in close. One thing I like is that you get your magic points by hitting things with your sword. It’s an economy I can support.
My favorite part of the game is just exploring. I like the story, too, even if it’s pretty basic. There is pathos, yes, but there is also humor. The main storyline is that you go to reap this one Giant Soul which gets ganked by the Grey Crow. He uses it to try to open a door so he can get the soul he’s been searching for. It doesn’t work so he blackmails you into getting three more Giant Souls to open the door. See, until you turn in the soul you’re commissioned to reap, you’re mortal. You’ll age and maybe even die (not sure) if you don’t get the door. That’s the basis for the whole game and it’s eminently serviceable.
But. Here’s the thing. The combat is most of the things I do not like. The melee itself is fluid and the spell is easy to fire off (except bombs), but there’s too much dodging and too many mobs and not being able to heal in combat is not my jam at all. Being only able to take 3 hits before dying on the fourth? Not a fan. In addition, because of the limitations in your healing ability, they have to keep the combat basic. Their way of amping it us is to make the fights longer or have more phases or throw in mobs. It’s not very imaginative and it was hard for met get past it until I just accepted it for what it was. The video I included by Skill Up hits on all these points.
I will say that the last two bosses are utter bullshit and I felt like the ramp up in difficulty for them was uncalled for. Especially the last one which has two different parts. That’s not bad in and of itself, but the first part has six different phases. Well, there’s actually a part before this, but that was no big deal. Six phases. Three timed bullshit with crumbling platforms and bulls with doors glued to their faces running at you and three where you face the boss in a small arena. I failed on this so many times in ways that didn’t seem like my fault. One of my least-favorite things about this game is that there are edges you can fall off and it’s not clear when that’s true. There’s one area in which there is ice and you can slide off, which, just no. It’s as if they didn’t know how to make the combat challenging so they just made it artificially hard. Oh, with the last boss, the last part is fighting him in a big arena in which they throw everything including the kitchen sink at you. Also, the perspective got to me sometimes, which was really frustrating. I have bad spatial perspective, which did not help with this game.
Even with my frustration at the combat, I just couldn’t stop playing the game. It has that ‘five more minutes’ feel to it that leads to me playing for another hour. I’m in the endgame now, searching for the true ending, which is a slog and a grind. I won’t go for the plat because one of the achievements is beating the game only using the Discarded Umbrella for melee. Yeah, no. I will say that no health bar on bosses is not a thing I like. However, I do appreciate that the boss starts to show cracks (shining a bright pink) as they die and they get bigger and shinier the closer to death they are a la Monster Hunter. I’m hoping the true ending is worth the grind. Even if it’s not, I heartily recommend the game despite my reservations about the combat.