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Death's Door is an adorable 3D, top-down action game where you take control of a crow, known throughout the world as a reaper; who works for death. As a reaper, your job is to collect the souls of the beings that have been assigned to you, which are past their expiry date.
Pros
Fast and smooth combat.
Charming characters.
Fun boss battles.
Rewarding puzzles and challenges.
Cons
Dying doesn't punish you; you keep your souls after death and spawn at the last checkpoint.
Short even if you're a completionist.
Requires a lot of backtracking.
You've arrived at the Reaping Commission Headquarters to begin your first assignment and have located the being you are contracted to kill, but before you could finish reaping their soul, a much older and more experienced crow struck you unconscious and snatched the soul for themselves. You must track down the thief and recover the soul if you're going to complete your assignment and restore balance to the world.
Upon catching up to the thief, you find that he has already used the soul to open up Death's Door, but it wasn't enough, and you can't finish your assignment without that soul, so you must comply and help him finish his job. You must explore the world and reap enough souls to open the door in the hopes that you can retrieve your assigned soul.
Combat
You begin the game with two weapons—a sword and a bow—for both melee and ranged combat. As you progress, you can find four additional melee weapons. Although these weapons are optional and not necessary, it's still great to have a choice. I still think that the starter sword is the best choice as it has the best all-around stats without making many sacrifices. For example, the larger and more powerful swords deal more damage per hit but move slower and make fewer swings during a combo. It isn't worth missing the extra hit you could get, especially when it comes to tougher foes.
As for range, you can find an additional 3 weapons, but you'll need these to move forward in the game as they're used to complete puzzles or to access certain areas. The majority of your damage will come from melee attacks, so even though these can be used as weapons, I view them more as tools. These can also be upgraded compared to the melee weapons which cannot.
Mana plays a big role in combat, as it is used for ranged attacks. The mana required varies depending on the ranged attack used. You don't start with much mana, so alternating between melee and ranged attacks is essential. This is also how mana is replenished, as each enemy or object hit refills one slot. Furthermore, finding four of the same shrine will increase your mana or health by one slot.
Upgrades
Through the souls you've collected by slaying enemies, you can put them to good use by visiting the soul vault back at the Reaping Commission headquarters. Once there, speak to Darwin the vault keeper, who will allow you to spend your souls on one of the four following attributes:
Strength - The Reaper's ability to wield melee weapons. Raising this will increase the damage done with melee weapons, as well as their reach.
Dexterity - The Reaper's ability to attack with speed and precision. Raising this will allow the Reaper to charge their melee and ranged attacks faster, and increase the speed at which melee attacks can be chained together.
Haste - The Reaper's speed and grace of movement. Raising this will give the Reaper a greater base speed, faster dodges and less cooldown time between dodges.
Magic - The Reaper's ability to harness magical powers. Raising this will increase the damage done with magic spells and ranged abilities.
When you first start playing, farming souls to upgrade is simple. However, as the game progresses and you try to reach the final upgrade to max an attribute, it can become very time-consuming and expensive. For instance, your first upgrade will cost 300 souls, and the last will be 1500, but the standard enemies drop anywhere from 1-5 souls.
Enemies & Bosses
Enemies are predictable and simple to defeat. Most enemies only have one attack and frequently have a one-second pause frame before they attack, allowing you to dodge. Enemies are fairly spread out throughout the world, but sadly, as you progress they stay the same difficulty. The only time you might encounter a challenge from common enemies is when you complete an area because you'll enter a room that will spawn up to four waves of enemies. They're not too difficult to defeat when they're alone, but when they're together, they can be quite challenging.
As for bosses, they can be predictable and easy to counter if you know their stages and attacks. They're definitely one of the most fun aspects of the game, while also being unique as they use their environment to their advantage and in their attacks. Compared to regular enemies, the bosses have multiple attacks and react at a much faster pace. Also, each boss is different from the next, ensuring that no battle feels repetitive. However, I do wish they could have been more, as I really enjoyed these boss battles.
Graphics & Sound
The game's visuals are great; simple enemy and boss design. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but due to the game being made for all ages, it works very well. The sceneries are nice too, each one varies in colour; the dull areas don't feel depressing either. The interactive characters you meet look very interesting and unique as well.
The sound was also good for the purpose. The characters don't speak as in voice acting, so it's mostly reading dialogue, but the soundtracks are incredible, and that alone makes the experience enjoyable.
Conclusion
Developed by a two-man team, Death's Door is a stunning and entertaining top-down action game. It doesn't have much of a story, but it more than makes up for it in gameplay. It's short, especially if you're not a completionist, but I believe it's well worth the money. It's a very calm and relaxing game, and after playing it, I can't wait to see what the future holds for this team, and I would wholeheartedly support any future projects.