

But finding them is gonna take a lot of skill, and maybe a handful of hints from your obviously human pal, Jefferson.īy surviving gauntlets like this, you’ll earn new abilities for your Crow. Thankfully, not all the Shrines are quite that hard to reach. Suffice to say, getting its crystal shard almost made me rage quit. I didn’t find my first Shrine until very near the end of the game, in a land of slippery ice and cruel winds. While you can find crystal shards to increase your base health and mana (used for abilities), they’re hidden in deviously placed Shrines. Given you start out with only 4 health, you’ll have to get really good at avoiding damage to survive.

You’ll regularly get ambushed in rooms, as magical doors unload foes in waves. Though there’s only a large handful of bosses in the game, the regular enemies are no pushover. They’ll put your skills to the test in epic fashion. While I won’t ruin who the final boss is, I will say the last couple of bosses in the game are incredible challenges. Once you remove it, he becomes infuriated, flipping the arena you stand upon, trying to devour you, and shooting projectiles to remove the safety of solid ground.
#Deaths door hookshot how to
You have to figure out how to hurt him at first, slowly slashing away at his armor. Some boss fights are practically puzzles, such as the Frog King. Each attack is signposted by a clever cue, and bosses will ramp up accordingly the more damage they take. And each and every boss is totally different and a unique challenge in their own right. There are three main ones, but you’ll encounter others along the way. Then you’ll get a new ability, return, and progress farther, eventually leading you to the powerful bosses. You’ll wander through an area and only be able to access parts of it. Though the game doesn’t really hold your hand in many regards, the internal logic of each dungeon is precise and intuitive. Those are split into many expansive areas and several dungeons each. Each of the 3 bosses whose Giant Souls you must reap has its own kingdom. Death’s Door is very much inspired by those while still interjecting a lot of its own flair into things. But what I grew up loving, and what I still enjoy most, are the classic Zelda games. Now, I commend Nintendo for trying to modernize and mix up Zelda in recent years. But what’s really wonderful about the game is it’s also very much a tribute to classic Zelda games. And honestly, given the themes of the game, I feel it’s much better oriented in the Burton wheelhouse. Death’s Door is strange, hilarious, and just a bit disturbing. While it’s true there are many fantastical and strange ideas at play here, I now think of it as more inspired by the works of Tim Burton. Ultimately you’re going to open the titular Death’s Door and see where it leads you.Įarlier I had said Death’s Door reminded me of something from Studio Ghibli. Along the way, the game muses about the meaning of life and death and injects a bunch of zany humor into everything. The old crow offers a deal – gather 3 other souls, and you can go through the ominous locked door and retrieve your quarry. You can’t safely conclude your job without it. This is why it’s problematic when a soul you reap gets stolen by a wily old Crow. If souls go untended for too long, they become dangerous and corrupted. A crow granted supernatural longevity and powers to gather errant souls. Since I covered the premise of Death’s Door in my earlier preview, I’m just going to gloss over it here. Keep reading my Death’s Door review to see how this game reaped my gamer soul. Now that I’ve rolled credits in the game, I can confirm Death’s Door is one of my favorite titles by Devolver Digital. The game is a tightly woven adventure about life, death and Reapers. And after previewing Death’s Door, I knew the team was onto something special. I didn’t have much experience with Titan’s Souls, but had always been interested in it.

All I knew from the outset was that it was being published by Devolver and developed by Acid Nerve, who previously made Titan’s Souls. I originally had no idea what to expect from Death’s Door.

Death’s Door Review: Open the Door Into Strange Adventure
