Don’t fear the reaper

I’m always down for a fun action adventure game. Those classic Zelda-like games that come every once in a while that scratch the itch of exploration, combat, and puzzles always get me right when I need them. Enter Death’s Door, an isometric action game that feels both fresh and harkens back to the classic top-down adventures of old.

Players take on the role of a little crow that serves as a reaper working for a reaping firm. When on a job to reap a soul, he loses track of it and must go through different areas to collect more souls for the corporate office. It has a nice blend of light-hearted macabre and comedy that works well with the overall tone of the game.

MSRP: $19.99
Price I’d pay: $19.99
Platforms: Switch, PS, Xbox, PC

As stated above, the game plays out in an isometric view point where players move on different planes. Verticality is handled well here where players will move from a staircase that doesn’t just feel like it leads to a loading screen. In fact, it’s rather impressive how everything in the environment is connected. It even plays into the discovery aspects of the gameplay. Going through what feels like a maze for 10 minutes to finally find myself back in the same area, but with a new route to take and a nice shortcut to use really sold me on the open areas I found. It gave me that feeling I had making it through the gauntlets of Demon’s Souls to pull that level that opened up a shortcut.

Along the way, players will encounter enemies that they will have to play a combat ballet with. Knowing when to attack and when to dodge took some time to get used to and when introducing new enemy types, kept me on my toes. It’s a fast-paced combat system where hacking and slashing will only get players killed. Throw in some unlockable weapons and items to use and the style can be changed up for players looking for variety. The combat is really where this game shines. It is one of those games that I never felt cheated when I got hit. I knew that I messed up and it was my own fault.

Like the Hero of Hyrule, players will not only get useful new weapons to use in combat, but also items that can be used to solve environment puzzles. The progression when utilizing this felt rewarding and paced very well. The only issue that bogged me down were the continuous return trips to headquarters. Oh, and if I made a decent amount of progress in dungeons, well, the enemies respawned as soon as I returned from my upgrade run. This also regenerated the single use healing items that I had unlocked along the way so it’s not as bad of a blow.

The boss fights add even more to the combat and puzzle solving. It’s not always just a pattern memorization game, the game has a bit more up its sleeve than just that and it was always a challenge when taking on multiple enemies at a time. Not going to lie, there were a few times I said to myself “This game gets kinda difficult.” Granted, a lot of the time it was just me not timing my dodges right or getting too greedy on my attacks.

Death’s Door is a fun adventure that offers up some really good exploration and a deliberate, yet fast combat scheme that feels both challenging and rewarding. Going through every nook and cranny of a level never disappoints and progression is handled in such a great way that every play session feels substantial. Fans of the old school Zelda style games should not pass on this one, it’s one that I believe many will enjoy.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.