One of my favorite things about the games industry is when something you see during a press conference or an online showcase, that you had no idea another before comes into and is great. In previous years it has been games like Life Is Strange, Oxenfree, or my game of the year last year: Hades. It has happened again this year and it is a game called Death’s Door.
When you first look at Death’s Door, the first thing that comes to mind is Dark Souls. The muted colors, the blurred depth of field, especially in one of the opening areas called the Lost Cemetery you can definitely see the similarities the From Software franchise. That is kinda where the similarities start to differ. While Death’s Door is a tough game, it does not feel punishing like the Soul games. I don’t feel like my death is making me worse because I am losing souls, but every death I feel like I am improving. I actually feel like this game takes more inspiration from something like the 2D Zelda series
Getting more into the design of Deaths Door, I absolutely love the art in this game. One of my favorite areas in this game is the Estate of the Urn Witch. The design of the mansion that you enter as the first dungeon of the game is both beautiful and creepy. It feels less like a mansion, and more of a tomb. One of the first rooms you enter has this fireplace as the only light in the room, with the reflections bouncing off of the floor, giving everything this orange hue.
That is something this game does really well is lighting and shadow. The reflections of light off of the floors and walls, to the shadows on the wall. When you are going to get a new ability in Death’s Door, you have to go inside a chest to this world called “Avarice”. When you fall down, the only light you have is the key shaped one in the middle of the floor from the chest you fell into. Once you get to the extreme edges, the darkness is all that is left.
With the art, lighting and shadow doing a lot of work for Death’s Door, the bow on top of all of that is the music. Between the ambient music that is used going through the over world, and the battle music that is used in the variety of dungeons, it all flows together really well. One of my favorite tracks is “Castle Lockstone”from the 3rd dungeon on the mountain top, it’s not overpowering, it just blends in really well with it. Another favorite of mine is “Grey Crow” with really beautiful piano playing, which takes place in one of my favorite combat areas in the game.
You can definitely tell these are the developers behind “Titan Souls” because of the boss fights. All the boss fights are interesting in some way and incorporate new abilities you have learned. This is where that Souls-like DNA comes back. The bosses are challenging but I never felt like they were unfair, and I was always improving going against them.
This game feels extremely well put together, the music, art, combat all feel like they mesh together perfectly. There are small things that I could nit-pick about, like it being easier to back track and knowing which way to go, but all of that is very minor. Death’s Door so far has been the best gaming experience I have had in 2021, and I can’t with to see what the developers at Acid Nerve continue to make .
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