Death's Door - Thoughts

[contains minor spoilers]

Acid Nerve taking a second shot at a combat-focused Souls-like was a gift I never knew I wanted. I left Titan Souls feeling that it was unremarkable—and as time has passed, forgettable too—but there's no way I could say "no" to seeing what a follow-up might look like. And from the reveal trailer, Death's Door knocked it out of the park: it had a charming art style, meatier combat, and no longer hinged upon getting lucky with a single attack. Acid Nerve took inspiration from The Legend of Zelda and Hyper Light Drifter while avoiding the pitfall of creating a copycat of either. After finishing it, I can say that Death's Door is all that and more—but perhaps most crucially, it's just a straight-up good game.

Before I go any further, I must confess that my experience with Death's Door is bizarrely tinged due to playing it soon after finishing Tunic. The comparisons are inescapable—both are isometric RPG-slash-metroidvanias featuring melee-oriented combat supplemented with various ranged attacks. But whereas Tunic has a stronger focus on world cohesion and puzzles, Death's Door is centered on arena brawls and stage variety. Coincidentally, the pros of one game happen to be the cons of the other: Tunic has flimsy and unrefined swordplay while Death's Door lacks any kind of meaningful discovery. There are unexpected secrets in Death's Door to be sure—the entire postgame is built on that premise—but you won't find the same variety of secret paths or unpredictable twists that are sprinkled across Tunic. Death's Door prefers to play it safe, adhering strictly to a "hub world > upgrade level > boss level > boss" formula, doling out abilities that will be all too familiar to fans of Zelda.

Thankfully, Death's Door manages to astound in spite its faults. The combat in particular is a lot of fun; imagine Hyper Light Drifter but slower and more methodical, pitting you against quirky enemies that you'll need to corral rather than decimate. I also enjoyed the levelling system, which allowed me to choose the stats I wanted to focus on first. I'm usually a big dumb STR player but this time I dumped my early level-ups into magic so I could pelt my foes from afar with ethereal arrows and piercing fireballs. Naturally that playstyle paired well with the lightning-fast daggers, letting me refill my mana reserves in a flurry of emerald strikes. While I found the weapon variety to be mostly lacking (every weapon feels carved from the same template), I was impressed by how different the magical attacks were, each of them filling a particular niche (well, after being upgraded). Tunic's combat eventually became laborious but Death's Door kept me enthralled all the way to the end. If anything, I was bummed out whenever I wasn't fighting.

Though Tunic takes top spot in the exploration category, Death's Door will still set the player wandering aplenty. I rarely get lost in video games but my internal compass sure was tested in this title; you'll stumble upon so many looping pathways and unlockable shortcuts that losing your sense of direction is unavoidable, especially whenever you return to the cemetery hub. On one hand, the labyrinthine nature of Death's Door is forgivable because you never really need to backtrack to finish its linear story. But on the other hand, completionists will see their playtime doubled—if not tripled—due to the numerous laps you'll run looking for goodies you could've sworn were nearby.

Yet even if you get lost backtracking through Death's Door's vacant estates, you'll have some great music and gorgeous visuals to accompany you. I think Tunic's vibrant aesthetic is more my speed, but Death's Door feels similarly handcrafted and cared for, designed to look soft without ever sacrificing detail or energy. Enemy design is also spectacular, managing to walk that thin line between being eccentric and familiar, letting you marvel at what you're fighting while intuitively understanding how to fight it. And atop all of this is David Fenn's emotive, majestic score that conveys the history of a setting a thousand times better than dialogue windows ever could. Lastly, the story and characters are quite charming—an impressive feat, given that the gloomy inevitability of death that underpins the entire game. Expect some surprisingly touching moments here and there, but know that Death's Door prefers to make you smile rather than weep.

One of the best aspects about Death's Door—something I didn't realize until writing this entry—is that it comes across as its own thing. From the story, to the art style, to the enemy design, bosses, and friends you'll make along the way, the game has a lot of personality. And it's not as though Titan Souls was lacking personality per se, but that Death's Door feels so much more polished and expressive. Acid Nerve not only learned a lot from their previous title, but have somehow captured that elusive artistry of marrying passion to workmanship, innovation to foundation. Death's Door isn't perfect, but it doesn't need to be—it's beautiful, fun, and memorable, a trifecta most games rarely achieve.