Death's Door: Git Gut Link Style

After reading Roy Tang’s Death’s Door review and then discovering the physical edition was only €20 in my local supermarket, I snagged a copy without blinking an eye, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. All I knew was that Death’s Door is a top-down Zelda-like explorative action-adventure. What I didn’t know then is the other game Acid Nerve was influenced by: Dark Souls. Is this another “Git Gut” game, this time Link Style? Yes and no.

Yes, the game is much more unforgiving compared to a typical isometric Zelda game. Rushing into enemies and mashing buttons is a sure way to get yourself killed—I’ve probably stared at the DEATH and loading screens more than I’ve laid eyes on the gameplay scenes. There’s no quick save possibility and healing flasks are not items that crows with lightning swords seem to carry around. Instead, you find sprouts that need a special bed to blossom and then can be consumed to replenish your health. It’s an interesting way to limit regeneration: once the flower withered, you cannot reuse it.

No, the game in general is much less difficult than typical Souls-like games such as Hollow Knight. I’d summarize it as more forgiving with a gentle ramp-up that nonetheless managed to get on my nerves as I’m generally far from a fan of the genre. What makes the experience worse in Death’s Door is on the one hand the sluggish feeling of feedback while manoeuvring and on the other hand the ridiculously long loading screens the game servers you after each death. I counted 25 seconds in the Switch version. That’s an awful long time that pretty much nothing happens, after which an evasive run to where you died with a chance of dying again before reaching that point follows. Compared to other games where deaths are part of the core gameplay loop (Celeste: 1 second, The Messenger: 3 seconds), this is simply ridiculous.

This is ultimately my biggest beef with Death’s Door. I seem to lack the patience. When I’m tired from an annoying work day and a rebellious toddler, I want to play something to take my mind off the slog of life—not stare at a loading screen. Hopefully, the PC version completely alleviates that issue, because besides the lack of a map that had me miss out on unexplored branching pathways where I regularly forgot to go back to, Death’s Door is an impressive audiovisual effort coming from such a tiny team of 2-something folks. The major sections in the world(s) behind the doors offer a grim and unique atmosphere accompanied by a piano tune to perfectly set the tone.

Enemies are dispatched of using your trusty sword—Link Style, remember. Just like Link, you can find other weapons and items of use during your adventure, and upgrade your life/magic bar by scouring the lands for hidden shrines. Also, collected souls from enemies (which is your job as a Reaper) can be returned and traded in for strength, agility, movement, or magic upgrades. Unfortunately, even after unlocking two power upgrades, I could barely feel the difference. Enemies still took as many hits to kill diminishing the incentive to hunt for souls, even though once you unlock the whole thing, boss-fights will become easier. I wish the game was a bit more rewarding towards discovering things and empowering the player.

Speaking of Link Style, the puzzles and gear upgrades that come with that kind of game are kept very conventional: fire up that pit to unlock that gate, get a hookshot, kill all these enemies, … We’ve all seen that before. Death’s Door didn’t manage to grab my attention mechanically speaking. The game’s general atmosphere is very much on point, though, with enough silliness peppered in to keep that smirk on your face as you learn more about the fate of the little black crow. I admire small indie studios that manage to pull out games such as these: hats off, deservedly so, regardless of the rough edges or my personal preference.

Death’s Door is not a long game, clocking in under ten hours with only three(-ish) major areas to explore. Double that number if you’re an ADHD collector: one of the submenus proudly displays collected “shiny things” that most of the time do nothing except shine. Although admittedly, the hints tucked away in this screen while rotating and inspecting your new shiny trinket is a nice touch. And then there are the shrines to discover and raid. Just don’t expect an immediate update, heart container Link Style. Halfway through the game, I discovered four-ish of these shrines (divided between health and magic ones), and still didn’t manage to get a pip increase. Oh well.

Most game journalists’ reviews were raving, urging you not to sleep on it. I personally didn’t feel as strong about it as I did playing through Hollow Knight or The Messenger. I gave up just before the Swamp boss. On the other hand, handing out a mediocre score because of my inability to cope with the game’s system would perhaps be a bit too unfair. If you like isometric adventures and can stomach regularly retreading ground thanks to dying just before the boss, perhaps give Death’s Door a go—only not on the Nintendo Switch.

Be prepared to open and close a lot of doors. Oh, and heed the Lord of Doors. Talking things with glowing keyholes for heads should not be trusted.