🚪 Death’s Door | Review | Xbox Series X | 9/10 | “Holy Crap, this is going to be a good game!” 🚪 @acidnerve #IndieGames #GameDev

Within seconds of booting up, I whispered to be myself, “Holy Crap, this is going to be a good game!”, I had to whisper as my daughter was within earshot and getting slightly charmed by the bird protagonist.

Yes, you heard right, a bird of the Corvus family, commonly known as a crow.

The crow, by nature, is an intelligent animal and our dark hero is no exception, as he is a professional Hit-Birdman operating as The Reaper – A collector of Souls!

The game opens with the Reaper at his place of work, the very grey  ‘Reaping Commission Headquarters’, aka the Hall of Doors, aka the monotonous afterlife where pecking in and pecking out for a flock of Crows is… Murder…

Death’s Door is a beautifully designed, 3D, top-down action-adventure game. Like a colour-drained Zelda. The game is twitchy (Good!) and, at first, the pace seemed leisurely, but as I progressed, I found myself inching closer to the edge of the gaming couch. 

The difficulty slowly increases in a way that is nicely challenging and a single hit from anything loses a pip of health, leading to occasions where you will be offering the controller to the Gods of Frustration… Much like my recent experience with Doom: Eternal!

Armed with a lightsabre, it’s Leon’s objective to peg it through the grim, bleak and yet majestic landscape to track down three powerful “Giant Souls” that are trying to cheat death. You’ll need these souls as they are the key to opening the mysterious floating door that has been slammed firmly in the shut position.

Along the way, you will encounter Lewis Carroll-inspired bad things and puzzles to challenge your bird-like brain until you finally encounter the inevitable end of level boss. The bosses are magnificent and almost clockwork in their movements, which is ironic as they will wind you up!

The game uses souls as currency and killing enemies is your bread and butter and can be used to pimp up combat abilities such as strength and magic and, as with other Zelda-like games, new abilities will grant you access to new areas to explore.

Medic! Brandon Lee starts with four health points that can be restored by the seeds you collect as you seek out your next target. These can be planted in plant pots scattered around the world and will naturally become your lifeline for the most stressful of journeys. 

Dying will fast become your friend, so get used to it, when you do die, you are re-hatched at the nearest door. The doors are checkpoint portals to and from the afterlife (the office) and with no map to speak of you find yourself trying to retrace those tiny steps for a rematch. The crow is no homing pigeon and I am no purist, so a map would be bloody handy!  The road back can prove treacherous, as a single hit will give you a disadvantage when you finally locate the boss.

The first boss alone is worth a mention, for it is walking, flying, laser-shooting Castle! The architecture and thought that has gone into this game is sublime and the battles are exciting. Each boss is more difficult than the last and the dodge button will become your BFF.

The people from Acid Nerve are simply artists and I am impressed.