4.5/5 ★ – kokorodaki's review of Death's Door.

Death's Door is adorable and brimming with personality. The combat is nothing entirely unique, but it's very well designed and consistently fun, and although there are some challenging bosses, none of them feel like they're too difficult. You also get to play with multiple fun weapons, although aside from the umbrella (which is just a weaker version of the main weapon, intended for challenge runs) the extra weapons require a bit of work to unlock, sometimes including puzzles, and may not be obtainable until near the end of the main story. The highlight of the game for me is how much it leans in to the humour. You play as a crow, and you work with a lot of other crows (although the others are all just NPCs you talk to), and the writers clearly had a lot of fun making a lot of bird puns, but it never feels like too much. You're also offered at one point a bowl of soup by a man who has a pot of soup for a head. There's a frog boss who's title introductory 'this is what the boss is called' scene goes on for quite a few seconds because it keeps adding more and more titles. There's a diner chef who is definitely not a squid controlling a dead body. The story is nothing profound, but it is very charming and has a few amazing moments with specific character interactions. In my experience at least, the only things holding the game back are the lack of New Game+ (meaning I didn't get to mess with the unlockable weapons when starting a new playthrough) and that a lot of the post-game is a chore with an unrewarding extra ending. There's a bunch of really fun elements to the post-game, such as a side quest with the diner chef, but if you want to get the 'true ending' and complete all of the achievements, you need to be prepared to explore a lot of the game again to get collectibles that you may have missed (or that may not have been unlockable when you first explored those areas). Obviously though, most people won't be interested in the post-game stuff, so this isn't a huge downside. Overall, if you've seen the trailers and think that what you see looks interesting, you're in for an awesome experience, and I would absolutely recommend playing the game.