Death's Door

This game is a tasteful action adventure entry. Very similar mechanically with the top down Zelda's (A link to the past, A link between worlds, gba games, etc...), but with a increased focus in timed combat that reminds a little of Dark Souls. Although having this blatant influences, Death's Door mostly offers a unique experience both in story and gameplay. The Designers did a good job to make the worlds its own and design encounters on their on way. The combat feels good and the bosses are challenging, but not over punishing. Each area has many rewards for exploration and offers teases to guide your. Pattern recognition also helps in finding things, witch is a plus for me. My only grievances are how short it is, each area could be greatly expanded (This is more of a money problem than design, I guess. Fingers crossed for a sequel!), and the writing that is a little on the weak side. Overall is has a good, even if small, world and great combat that feels good. A worthy buy, especially considering the price as of now.

OK, there is no map, but that's not a major issue, thanks to reviews on GOG pointing that out: as you keep unlocking shortcuts and because areas are not that convoluted, that's seemed fine by me. But 2 main design issues with this game: - it doesn't tell you you have enough plant seeds to put in all plant pot. Which mean one of the end game quest is now a real PITA as you have to fill all pots doing an exhaustive full backtracking of the whole game. - It doesn't give you a clue what to do about the round stone areas on the ground, which you suspects are mandatory to reach certain areas. Look on internet: you have to jump and smash them falling on them. Great. Another reason to backtrack because I thought I had to unlock a power or a gear... End game missions (after defeating final boss): some are good, but most are way too painful and time consuming (enough with the backtracking already!). I tried to do them by myself, but despair got me when I realised I was somewhere too soon and had to do it all again... then checked internet and hell no I won't do these. Not enough fun.

This is everything you should be looking for in a solid indie action RPG. It may not re-invent the wheel, but everything it does it does right. The overall narrative is pretty light and more or less makes way for the hack n slash game play. With tight controls and a basic level up system, this is an easy title to pick up and play with little hassle. The enemy challenge (bosses in particular) can be a little tough, but plenty fair and the little secrets peppered throughout each level gives plenty of incentive for exploration. But what really captured me was the art design though. From the excellent music to the animation and general feel of the surroundings, this game sets a good tone for the overall experience. There's not a great deal I'll write other than this is a solid title and a must for those that love their hack n slash RPG's. Looking forward to seeing what these devs come up with next.

Death's Door is a very lovely and combat-heavy Metroidvania with impressive attention to details, though the story is linear and has only one ending. The narrative and visual style are consistent throughout the game. The locations are reasonably complex, yet with enough landmarks to have a general idea of where to go. Except the starting area, the Lost Cemetery, which is a labyrinth with all shortcuts unlocked. Considering the lack of a map, it might be quite hard to navigate. Dying is forgivable - the experience, loot, and the shortcuts unlocked are saved, the main penguin is revived at the nearest Door, though, the foes are revived as well, but it is possible to run past. The arena battles ("Kill All to Proceed") are reasonably challenging, but there are no difficulty options. The boss battles consist of several stages, each engaging and unique with clear attack patterns, though the lack of visible health bars for them makes it hard to determine one’s success. There are bright magenta cracks on them indicating the damage dealt, but they are imprecise and vary between foes - one can fall with just a few lines, another can be almost completely purple before dying. The upgrades, bonuses, and collectibles are mostly possible to find without a guide and they provide an adequate advantage. The post-game offers more content and adds indicators for whether everything in an area has been collected. The controls are comfortable and rebindable, the mouse is supported well, including additional buttons. No bugs have been encountered.

Death's Door starts out grim and whimsical -- during the first half hour of play, you check in to your '9 to 5' workplace as a soul collector, pass through a security checkpoint manned by a 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' reference, and get chewed out by a hard-nosed coworker. Also, you and everyone else is a crow. During the rest of the game, you will meet other similarly silly characters and situations: a character literally called 'Pothead', a squid riding a corpse masquerading as human, the Grim reaper in a hoodie and fanny pack. The cracks in the game begin to when you want to go deeper into these characters, beyond just the character design -- there's simply nothing there. Character's you meet don't really do anything of note, or say anything memorable. Locations, notes and item descriptions tell of the world's backstory, but there's not much reason to care when not even the in-game characters have much to say about the supposedly dying world. Gameplay wise, it's mixed. Basic movement is fluid, and you have a nice combat roll, but mobs often either swarm you or lack proper telegraphs and/or patterns. Specifically the 'Black Knight' stand-in is downright frustrating to fight before you get the Hookshot to exploit their AI. The game could also have needed some more creativity in enemy encounters -- it locks you in a flat room and spawns in three to four waves of mobs a bit too often. There are puzzles, but they are to be honest just way too easy and simple. Perhaps they're a symptom of your limited moveset; your characters slashes their weapon, and attacks with magic either in a straight line or with a AOE bomb, but even with those limitations the game could have gone beyond 'hit three switches with the magic you got in the dungeon'. Luckily most of the bosses are excellent, and feature fun, varied and properly telegraphed attack patterns. The highlight is the frog boss, that even has a lil puzzle! Overall, a charming if flawed game. Get it on discount.