Death’s Door (XB/PC/Switch/PS) - Action RPG. IGN 9. Out now on Game Pass.

You should all get on board with this. It’s my game of the year, by a mile. I loved everything about it, and immediately started a new playthrough after 100%-ing it.

I was holding out on the hope of a Switch version so I will indeed pick this up on that now.

Likewise I’ll definitely be picking it up at some point, maybe next year though as I’ll be busy with Pokémon when this comes out on the Switch :lol:

+1 to the "was hoping for a Switch release" brigade! Looks great

I bought this last night and have just beaten the first major boss (I guess?) in The Urn Witch Grandma.

It's hesitantly good. When the game near enough opened with an unexpected reference to Paul Blart: Mall Cop I felt a pang of buyer's remorse rush through my body, and the soon after introduction of a character called Pothead - because he has a pot for a head - was all the confirmation I needed that the humour isn't for me. As pop culture references go Spirited Away is a better choice than Paul Blart by some margin, but the character there feels less like a homage and more a blatant derivation.

The 2D Zelda comparisons are I think overstated. It certainly has the surface swordplay and switch-hitting, but the structure certainly isn't Zelda with no overworld-dungeon distinction. The Dark Souls inspiration is more obvious and maybe overdone as I'm already bored of pulling switches to release ladders as shortcuts. The combat too has more of a Souls than Zelda feel about it with the slow anticipation of being unable to cancel out of an attack and always needing to roll around as you chip away at enemies - Zelda has much more of a puzzle rhythm to its combat, especially in what's required to kill its bosses, and I like that a fair amount more than how Death's Door feels to play. I don't like that swinging the sword moves Crow forward, making repeatedly hitting bosses who are standing still unnecessarily annoying as you have to readjust you aim, and the roll is much less satisfying than say the dodge in Hades.

Even away from combat, smashing pots and boxes doesn't have the same satisfaction as in Zelda as, with rare exception, there isn't anything to collect from them other than recharging your magic. Health is obviously approached differently so I can't complain they aren't dropping hearts, but even a pittance of souls would make it more worthwhile.

Souls being used to upgrade various base attributes, from attack power to movement speed, is a fair enough mechanic, but the slow movement pace makes me feel like the game would just be more fun if you had it maxed out from the start. It's at its worst when dying to a boss and having to retrace the route back to it for another go, something I wasn't against in Hollow Knight but feels more pointless here with the ease of just walking past the enemies, making it just feel a waste of time.

The pacing is maybe my biggest complaint, and draws comparisons not to Dark Souls but the past acclaimed Zelda-like Darksiders, a game I similarly didn't feel lived up to the series it was aping. Like Darksiders, Death's Door just starts too complex, the opening Ceramic Manor feeling like a slog without the justification of being later in the game. Then, when it finally felt like it had built up to the boss battle, the game takes a short diversion back to the hub and then puts you through a whole new area entirely before you get that climactic payoff.

That said I'm still enjoying it, it's sufficiently Zelda-like for me to keep playing, but I'm worried it might soon go the way of Blue Fire, another Zelda x Dark Souls indie game that had aspects I enjoyed but ultimately I abandoned long before it finished.

I'm at around the same point as OR and am slightly more optimistic. The Paul Blart reference shook me too, mind.

The slow movement pace is the big downside for me too, coupled with the returns from dying (and I did resent that in Hollow Knight - the Soul Master is bad and should feel bad). I also don't like the grim atmosphere much. On the other hand I found the first big boss pretty satisfying, I'm okay with the combat, and I've actually smiled at some of the humour bits. See the treasure chest for an example.

It's not a 10/10, but if it puts some work in it could reach the dizzying heights of an 8. I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that a crow doesn't even have a jump though.

Might have to check this out,how much on switch and/or PS5?

I disagree with pretty much everything OR said, but then, I didn't go into the game expecting it to be anything like Zelda. I don't know where that expectation has been built up. Most of all, I disagree that it starts too complex, and I thought Ceramic Manor was perfectly done.

Also, I have no idea what the Paul Blart reference is meant to be.

Balladeer wrote:...On the other hand I found the first big boss pretty satisfying...

The boss was good, but I don't know why it didn't come immediately after finding the four souls in the manor where it naturally felt like that boss was about to happen. That's not just me right, that very much felt like the boss was imminent?

Anyway it's good to know I'm not the only one put off by a mere reference to Paul Blart :lol:

rinks wrote:Also, I have no idea what the Paul Blart reference is meant to be.

The second character you can talk to (a security officer) is called Baul Plart.

Oh yeah, I remember that now. Odd choice, but not very overt, so I didn't mind it.

OrangeRKN wrote:The boss was good, but I don't know why it didn't come immediately after finding the four souls in the manor where it naturally felt like that boss was about to happen. That's not just me right, that very much felt like the boss was imminent?

Maybe if this was a Zelda game.

OrangeRKN wrote:
Balladeer wrote:...On the other hand I found the first big boss pretty satisfying...

The boss was good, but I don't know why it didn't come immediately after finding the four souls in the manor where it naturally felt like that boss was about to happen. That's not just me right, that very much felt like the boss was imminent?

Nah, not just you, I got the same feel. That said, the area after the door is probably the first area where I felt the game came alive (the mechanisms moving to the music :wub:

), so I didn't end up resenting that at all.

rinks wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:The boss was good, but I don't know why it didn't come immediately after finding the four souls in the manor where it naturally felt like that boss was about to happen. That's not just me right, that very much felt like the boss was imminent?

Maybe if this was a Zelda game.

A Zelda game would put the boss there, yes, but I don't think that expectation was solely from looking at the game from a Zelda perspective. It's coded that way in more general game terms:

- The old crow tells you the first target is the witch who lives in the manor to the North
- You make your way through her garden and to the manor itself
- The manor has you collect four souls throughout it to open an important looking door, after each of which you meet the witch and she gets increasingly hostile

I was expecting to fight her as soon as I stepped through that door primarily because of all that setup, not just some expectation of similarity to Zelda (which the game does have).

That just left me in the lurch a bit, instead getting a new power not integrated into an area but as this short break to do what felt like an optional challenge room, and then going straight into a new area entirely - one that felt less connected to the witch in its design. Even if it wasn't the witch, it felt like a boss moment - which the game has already had several of on a smaller scale.

That isn't meant as some damning criticism of the game, it just stood out to me.

Beaten the second big boss now, I liked the second region more! Not only because my movement speed has improved a bit. Having a small village and the quest to recover the horn was fun and gave things more purpose for me, the bard character was especially fun, and I liked the looping back of the dungeon into the prison and the progression of getting bombs (even if I still wish they were obtained in the area and not disconnected back in the void). The second area again though wasn't as strong for me as I just wanted to get to the boss by that point.

I think I've determined my main issue with the combat - enemies never stagger or get interrupted, ever*. I hate how ineffectual that makes dealing damage feel, and how it stops you being aggressive. I'm there hitting some weedy archer with a fully charged hammer swing, and they don't even flinch as they continue to draw back the bowstring and shoot me at point blank range. I like how enemy health is displayed in this not as a health bar but through their appearance as armour gets knocked off and those purpley damage lines build up on their body, but if it wasn't for those visuals my attacks would feel like they were doing no damage at all. I think that all contributes towards the "chipping away" feel.

Of course, when you get hit you can get put on the floor, and you have to roll away at that point because you only have a very brief window of iframes before you can take damage again, and enemy attack patterns seem to speed up into constant attacks if you stay near them, so it's doubly punishing to take a hit.

Compare that to Hades, another isometric action game, and there enemies do stagger and you can play aggressively to interrupt their attacks, and I just much prefer how that feels. Sometimes enemies will be shielded, which specifically prevents them from staggering until you break the shield, but that's a specific effect to deal with, not just the default behaviour of every enemy. Or dare I mention Zelda, where enemies tend to get knocked back on hit.

*Actually there are a couple of enemies I can think of that you can interrupt, like the wizards, but they are certainly uncommon.

A problem I'm continuing to have with the level design at the moment is that I keep accidentally choosing the path of progress. I'll be in a room, and there will be an obvious exit and a more hidden exit, so I'll think to go through the more hidden door in pursuit of some bonuses before progressing on, only to find that hidden door was the way to continue and I should have gone through the obvious door first as it leads to a little dead end with something I need to collect. I probably looped through the mushroom dungeon three times as I had to go back for the parts I missed. Honestly if I just randomly picked which way to go each time there was a choice I would have better luck!

EDIT: Oh and a small but annoying complaint - there is no option to turn off rumble! It has the usual sound balance, and accessibility options for screen shake and flashing lights, but nothing for rumble

What would everyone rate it currently

I just finished it, 8.5 hours and 85%.

It's a good game, too many niggles personally for me to call it great but I understand why others would like it more if they get on with the style of combat. Probably a 7/10. Production values are very good for an indie and its a shame the writing doesn't gel with me. I like the art style and character designs but think the grimdark world lets it down a bit.

I'm missing something, if someone who has finished the game could help me out:

Shame that this doesn't appear to be the next Hades.

I'm cooler on it than most, I wouldn't trust my evaluation! It's a different genre to Hades though so never going to be directly comparable beyond the combat feel, even if you absolutely love this game it's not a 100+ hours timesink of a roguelite - which isn't a bad thing!

Sounds like it could be a purchase

think ill give this a go

Death’s Door (XB/PC/Switch/PS) - Action RPG. IGN 9. Out now on Game Pass.

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