Death's Door

 

Release: 20 July 2021

Developer: Acid Nerve

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Gameplay Stats: 26 hours, 24/24 achievements

Oh man, where do I even start about this game. I heard about it first on Triple Click podcast with the hosts saying really great things about the game and then I watched the episode of The Completionist about the game and listening to him absolutely gush about it. Jason Schrier and I seem to have similar tastes in games, so when I hear him speak fondly to something and then Girard say that completing the game was a pleasure, I gotta try it.

Visuals: Relatively simple 3d visuals here allow the style to shine. Everything is high-poly and communicates very well. The bosses look great and the animation for everything is excellent. My only complaint might be lack of enemy variety, but it's really not a big one. Some of the enemies that are repeated are skinned differently for each environment which is really nice. I do wish the archers changed some though. Everything else visually seems to fit the environment and the theme of the game. Repeating enemies would be my only complaint here, but it's more of a nit pick.

Audio: Holy crap this music is great! It's on the level of Hollow Knight which is insane. The sound effects are a little simple but they do their job well. Most ranged enemies have audio telegraphs for their attacks which is nice, overall I think this game does a great job of communicating to the player. There is no VA, but I think that fits with a simplistic indie game like this.

Gameplay: Oh man, this game plays really well. I think maybe my only complaint might be that your crow moves kinda slow, particularly at the start of the game. The movement speed fits combat very well, but moving between the combat encounters doesn't feel great at the start. That IS something that you can level up though which is nice. The attacks and dodges feel great when you're playing this. I think they could've mapped the ranged attack a bit better, but overall I think it feels good by the end. It feels a little awkward like pulling out a bow in the middle of a sword fight probably would. I think the game is balanced well, I never felt too weak or too powerful, but you do need to take the time to learn enemy patterns. I'm not a huge fan of the isometric camera, I think it adds perspective which makes it hard to know attack range sometimes, but overall it was good.

Story: Actually a surprisingly interesting story from a game where I wasn't expecting it. From the trailers I thought that this game would be all gameplay, but they took care in all aspects. The story seems like one that we have heard before, but with a fresh coat of paint. I wouldn't say it was revolutionary but I didn't dislike it a bit. There are story reasons to get 100% completion too which is really nice in a game.

Overall I strongly recommend this game. I think everything about it was great! I wouldn't have minded a longer game but I think that speaks to a strength of the game. If you've seen the trailer and were intrigued I say go for it! [9/10]