4/5 ★ – Hill417's review of Death's Door.

Sometimes new video games do not have to be anything groundbreaking or challenging or revolutionary, they just have to be good. Death’s Door isn’t afraid of embracing its inspirations, delivering an isometric 3D action adventure game that dives into the themes of one’s own mortality… even if those themes have been done to death. Our story starts with a silent unnamed Crow. It is a reaper who must gather the souls of the deceased, or in some cases, put down those who refuse to pass on. When our Crow is about to collect its assigned soul it is attacked by a mysterious figure called “Grey Crow” who steals it to unsuccessfully open “Death’s Door”. You see Grey Crow has been stranded in the mortal world because his assigned soul went past that very same sealed door. A crow is immortal in their dimension, but in the mortal world they can die just like everything else and a crow cannot return to their home until their assignment is complete. The only way to open the “Death’s Door” is to use three giant souls (who will be our bosses) spread across multiple dungeons. The dungeons and environments look like they came out of a comic book version of classic Grimm Tales, but even though the themes of death and grief are prevalent the tone is often lighthearted due in part with side characters like my best friend Pothead (who has a pot for a head), the Bard, and Herman who’s literally a squid who controls a human like it’s Ratatouille (maybe because I’ve played so many video games, but I did not find Herman to be strange nor was I phased by him). None of them ever helped me on my journey, in fact they went out of their way to NOT provide any assistance, but gosh darn it they are just so lovable I couldn’t bring myself to hate them. I wouldn’t say that the combat is difficult, it’s just a learning curve. You will constantly dodge roll out of harms way from a projectile or attack, standing around in one spot is basically suicide so always be on the move. You will often find yourself getting carried away if continuously slash your enemies so get at least two swings in before retreating. If you grow bored of your sword then go off the beaten path and look for the hidden weapons like the Shock Hammer, Twin Daggers, and a discarded Umbrella. Each of them all have their own stats to accommodate to your play style. You can upgrade your strength, dexterity, and magic. Your magic consist of a spiritual bow and arrow, fire, a hook shot, and a bomb. If you will have to strengthen your magic attacks by defeating a series of secret bosses. That’s what the developers Acid Nerve emphasizes on: Secrets. If you take your time and search every inch of the world you will obtain crystals that increase your health and magic. Exploring reaper headquarters will dive deeper into the history and lore of the world. In fact the only way to unlock the true ending is by 100% the game, specifically after the credits roll. Normally I would say: You go for it, get that secret ending! But here’s the catch. There are seven tablets to obtain and one of them requires that you plant all fifty life seeds into all fifty pots. That would’ve been reasonable except their is no tab listing how many seeds you’ve planted so you’ll have to backtrack to make sure you got every single one of them. Is it really worth it just for a two minute cutscene? I was tired out after defeating the final boss. Maybe the reason I wasn’t motivated was because the final act tries, but fails to be philosophical about the cycle of death. The truth is there are dozens of media other including video games that contemplates the cycle of life and death and “Death’s Door” doesn’t really say anything new, just the same old “people have to die at some point” speech I’ve heard over and over again. The narrative while interesting, may be the same song and dance. The gameplay, level design, lore, and secrets more than make up for it.