- Publisher: Devolver Digital
- Release Date: Jul 20, 2021
- Also On: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Dec 13, 2021From the distinct, sprawling domains of your three primary marks, to the adorably avian way your crow tilts and juts their head around, the game never misses a moment to delight you with some new wonder, and just when you think it’s run out of surprises; whether it’s a new tune, a beautiful vignette, or a quiet moment of empathy, it’s always got something else tucked underneath its wing.
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Aug 23, 2021An unforgettable lesson on coping with the immutable march of death that'll shake even the rugged individuals out there. Packing few but extraordinarily fleshed out characters, levels, story beats, and gameplay elements, Death's Door shows restraint and temperance, standing as an indisputable triumph of the top-down dungeon crawler formula. It's bursting at the seams with good writing, humour, and an eagerness to use every last bit of its 10 to 13 hours of playtime in good faith. That's the crowning achievement of Death's Door: nothing feels left out or bloated. Acid Nerve managed to deliver a perfectly balanced cup of existential dread and philosophical remedy on all accounts.
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Jul 20, 2021I relished the time I spent with Death's Door. Not only was I captivated by the visual style, but the gameplay was dynamic, clever, and well-balanced.
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Jul 20, 2021A darkly charming adventure that poses a challenge and encourages persistence. Both whimsical and reverent, this tale of one brave crow draws inspiration from some greats to carve out its own niche.
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Sep 11, 2021Death’s Door may be a game about death but it very much thrives thanks to its smart level design and rewarding combat system. You definitely feel accomplished after completing a dungeon or beating a boss – and that feeling follows you until the end. Sure to become one of your favorite games this year, Death’s Door is a spectacle to behold and a joy to play.
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Aug 8, 2021Death's Door is a well crafted Action RPG that respects its audience by offering pure quality, and the improvements over the previous game by Acid Nerve shows that the studio is on the right path to develop even more exciting titles in the future.
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Nov 12, 2021Despite not doing much in terms of innovation, coupled with a pair of odd framerate issues, Death's Door is a fantastic indie game that seems to do almost everything right. A precise combat, gorgeous environments and a mysterious yet beautiful world, make this an experience you simply can't miss.
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Jul 28, 2021Death's Door finds the sweet spot between an enjoyable and challenging experience. The smooth and fun combat was supplemented with fun puzzles and many secrets, all packaged in an adorable cartoonish art style.
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Jul 28, 2021Death’s Door is an exceptional action-RPG that delights with challenging combat and cleverly thought-out game design.
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Jul 28, 2021An exercise in design excellence, Death’s Door recognizes and capitalizes on its strengths to deliver a smart, creative, and thoroughly engaging adventure, painted with wonderful visual strokes and peppered with witty, thoughtful commentary on life, death, and how we spend the hours in-between. Sporting polish beyond its budget and ambition beyond its scale, Death’s Door is one of the year’s best releases, and a must-play for adventure fans everywhere. Don’t fear the Reaper.
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Jul 22, 2021I honestly had a blast with Death's Door, with the only major problem I ran into being some save file problems. Admittedly, playing a pre-release version of the game could have had something to do with that. The game is not phenomenally long, sitting at around twelve or so hours, with the chance of it being even less if you have fewer issues with the somewhat unforgiving nature of the game. There’s also no difficulty scaler which may turn off some players who want a slightly less difficult playthrough. If you too like to roll on the darker side of life, or death if you will, give this game a chance!
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Jul 22, 2021Death's Door is amazing in many ways, but more than anything for anyone looking for a great single player experience with hours and hours of gameplay and many secrets to discover.
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Jul 21, 2021Death’s Door is a gem of a soulslike game with a nice and meaty level of challenge and a world filled with lovable characters and loads of secrets to uncover. It may seem minor compared to most in the genre when it comes to length, clocking in at around ten to twelve hours, but it will be one memorable journey. Come for the charming little crow and the colorful cast that they meet after slicing and dicing a few dozen monsters, stay for the excellent writing and the superb tale about death. It’s all to die for.
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Jul 21, 2021Death’s Door‘s brisk and satisfying story pace allows players to soak up the adventure with efficiency and delight, never dragging on because of complicated puzzles and strenuous combat. Ultimately, though, I never wanted Death’s Door to end because this is an immensely satisfying, lovingly constructed world Acid Nerve has made. Both a fairy tale and an epic journey, it’s packed with wonder and whimsy. Anyone who has a love for gaming will recognize something they adore in Death’s Door. This universe is too good to resist and it is my sincere hope that this first taste won’t be the last.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door is one of the best games released this year and will certainly be a game-of-the-year contender by the time 2021 wraps up.
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Jul 20, 2021Buy it. Play it. Enjoy it. It’s as simple as the game feels, even if it challenges you more than you’d ever think it would. The more I’ve played it, the more I see every one of it’s accomplishments, with fantastic gameplay and a great choice of art style and soundtrack jewels in its crown. Death’s Door does nearly everything right for what it is, and even the shortcomings of the narrative is barely a blemish on a spectacular résumé.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door combines excellent story and lore with challenging and rewarding combat. As an action game, there’s a lot to love about the enemies faced and customization available. Story can easily take the backseat in a game like this, but the sheer concept of it all and the lore dumped on top makes the story in Death’s Door equally intriguing. Acid Nerve delivers one of the more well-rounded titles I’ve played this year with Death’s Door.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door is a must for those looking to scratch the itch of a classic Zelda dungeon-delving game, with the added bonus of impeccable combat against waves of foes in a creepy world. Secrets are plentiful enough to offset the low variety of rewards, and the cohesion of puzzle-solving and combat encounters worked terrifically to challenge me in all the right ways. While I wish the adventure didn’t end so soon, as a reaper of souls I should know: nothing lasts forever.
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door feels great to play, it's beautiful to look at, and the characters and world are beyond memorable – clock in and get your reap on.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door crashes onto the scene stylistically with an amazingly detailed, interconnected world full to the brim with personality and secrets. The game introduces great characters that bring with them charisma and humanity as it lovingly juggles both the morbid and the beautiful sides of its narrative. With simply phenomenal sound design that lovingly accompanies and amplifies the visuals and atmosphere, Death’s Door presents one door absolutely worth knocking on.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door is a tremendously well-designed game, with superb production values and a tight core gameplay loop. I was immersed and impressed the whole way through, ready to rise to any challenge the game would throw at me, because I was so in love with its design and its world. You don’t have to be a fan of Zelda-style games to see the appeal of this one: Death’s Door is simply the tried and true fundamentals of game design, refined and polished to the ultimate degree.
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Jul 20, 2021Even with its grueling final boss fight, I absolutely adored every second of Death’s Door. The world developer Acid Nerve has created still feels rife with secrets I’m still yet to uncover after 10 hours with the game. Outside of a minor technical blip and a significant difficulty spike towards the end, Death’s Door is simply sensational. It may not have that AAA budget or cutting-edge super realistic graphics, but it’s jam-packed with charm, style, and challenging, rewarding action that it’s an absolute must-play this year.
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door is a beautiful, refined, and digestible action-adventure with particularly stunning visual and audio design.
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Jul 20, 2021For the most part, Death's Door hits it out of the park and is easily a contender for indie GOTY. Fans of top-down action RPGs shouldn't hesitate to pick this one up.
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Jul 28, 2021Death’s Door is a game that delivers on all counts: responsive control, interesting mechanics, satisfying story, replayability, and well-designed difficulty. Hard to think of not recommending it to anyone who plays video games. Death’s Door once again shows us that an indie title can be a great game and compete for the best of the year without spending millions of dollars. Direct to the best of the year.
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Jul 23, 2021One of the most surprising games of the year, Death's Door delivers a frantic and greatly enjoyable action-adventure experience with an ipnotic noir mood.
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Dec 20, 2021Death's Door builds a world that fully engages players in exploration, and it looks somewhat like an excellent fusion of The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls series. Although the ability design of this game is somewhat lacking in new ideas and the volume of levels is slightly insufficient, it is an excellent work that cannot be missed for any fan of independent games.
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Oct 5, 2021Overall, Death’s Door is an enjoyable homage to 2D Zelda games with some additional quirky flair thrown in. It is a satisfying experience whose main drawback is its overall safeness, plus a lack of replayability. Some may also be turned off by the lack of extreme difficulty, which can be another source of replay value for many similar games. I would recommend Death’s Door to those looking for a nostalgia fix that won’t try your patience or just want to enjoy a memorable and contemplative audiovisual style.
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Jul 21, 2021An Action-RPG full of passion that focuses on simplicity and, for this reason, it is incredibly solid. Level design, attention to detail, art style and soundtrack deserve just applause. Ok, it throws you in an huge labirint without any map, but it can be even a good thing.
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Jul 21, 2021This tremendously excellent Death's Door is a well-polished action/adventure hybrid that is worth your attention.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door has good core mechanics but does not introduce the one big innovation that could make it stand out. I enjoy the battles, especially the bigger ones, but I feel that the puzzles are average, as is the exploration. Some players might draw comparisons to Hades but this is a very different experience that does not aim for the same narrative depth. It’s linear, there are no rogue elements, and the variety in encounters is more limited.
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door is a solid title that gives a great sense of discovery, while also providing some challenging highlights that never feel unfair. A few more bosses would be appreciated, and some of its characters could use some more love, but the fluid combat and simple but enjoyable puzzles make it a pleasure to play. It's an easy recommendation to anyone looking for a lighthearted, quirky adventure.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door breathes some life into the generalized umbrella of action-adventure titles thanks to its efficient level design coupled with simple to grasp yet enjoyable mechanics. While a few factors, such as the ranged skill usage bar, are questionable in execution, the game’s flow and pace are never significantly hindered from ruining the experience as a whole. Furthermore, the dreary thematic tones exuded by the loneliness of the varied explorable sections alongside the appealing characterizations and dialogue also serve to make Death’s Door an assuredly exceptional time for those feeling even remotely curious.
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door boils modern action-adventure game design down to its fundamentals, and the reduction is excellent.
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Jul 20, 2021Overall, Death's Door is a success. It's a short but entertaining and combat-heavy Zelda-like action-adventure that is only limited by scope. It might not have the most memorable puzzles or dungeons, but it has enough heart and skill to make up for its few, minor missteps.
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Aug 16, 2021If you don’t own a Nintendo Switch, this is one of the best takes on the classic Zelda formula, a combination of fun combat, beautiful graphics and many, many secrets. Prepare to be charmed!
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Edge MagazineAug 14, 2021A distinctive twist on an established formula, and a remarkable accomplishment for such a small team. Its subject matter might seem like serious business, but this game about death feels thrillingly alive. [Issue#362, p.112]
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Jul 30, 2021The beautiful aesthetic of Death’s Door is elevated by the amazing soundtrack establishing a world that is a pure joy to explore. A well-rounded isometric adventure with combat that is fast without being overly punishing, consistently clever level design, and story that presents an enjoyable dark fairy tale with nice humorous touches.
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Jul 28, 2021With Death's Door, Acid Nerve hits the mark once again. The British studio unveils here a magnificent epic which, admittedly, may lack originality in substance, but charms in its form. In addition to enjoying spectacular clashes, the action / adventure game takes you on a journey by revealing an inspired universe. All in nuances, the world of Death's Door is constantly highlighted by its varied artistic direction, its rhythmic sound-design and its characters torn between life and death. Sold at a low price, the title published by Devolver Digital is in our opinion the breath of fresh air not to be missed this summer.
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Jul 28, 2021The general feeling with Death Door is being in front of a good game, which ends up getting lost a little when trying to do a little more than what the design intuits during the first hours. That does not detract from the fact that it is a tremendously enjoyable title and very careful in multiple aspects. A solid game that also has a perfect duration for what it proposes.
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Jul 28, 2021Death's Door is a great Zelda-inspired game that relies on exciting (boss) fights and an excellently set up world. The game never really manages to rise above its great example, but is so solid and equipped with such a good soundtrack that this is never a serious problem. Death's Door even has enough surprises in store to keep it fun after the end.
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Jul 27, 2021Death’s Door is definitely good. The problems it has are not dealbreakers and the places it excels - namely gameplay and atmosphere - more than suffice for a robust experience. Sure, it is short, but it’s also no longer than it needs to be, a lesson that a lot of games still need to learn. Enjoy it across a weekend or a week at most, and try not to burst a blood vessel on some of the later bosses.
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Jul 23, 2021Death's Door is a nervous action game that transcends Acid Nerve's old formula. Thanks to a clever difficulty, fights with brand new situations, a rewarding exploration and a beautiful soundtrack, Death's Door is the perfect well-balanced experience of this summer, despite a very light pathfinding.
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Jul 21, 2021Death's Door is one of the indie surprises of the year. Very well designed, melancholic and challenging, without being difficult. It knows how to transfer the essence of games like Dark Souls and Zelda in a delicious isometric perspective, with well-designed puzzles and a very well measured combat. Acid Nerve has done its homework.
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Jul 21, 2021Death’s Door welcomes the player to its consistently entertaining world of unique, stubborn bosses and intriguing exploration with surprising accessibility, humor and elegant design. Once you pick it up, you’ll find yourself eager to conquer the game’s balanced challenges. There are frustrations here, but they’re few and far between.
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door is a wonderful action RPG, and a great option for fans of challenging games who are looking for something a little more accessible.
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door is a wonderful action adventure inspired by Zelda and rich with secrets and stories to unfold. Despite the on the surface simplistic combat system this is a great game both in combat and in exploration even if the latter is definitely the grand protagonist. [Eurogamer.it Recommended]
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Jul 20, 2021Sometimes Death’s Door is pretty crisp, especially a passage in the Ceramic Palace really made me curse. But I couldn't stop, I wanted to move on. The game did a really good job of keeping me going despite all the setbacks. One flaw: even before the test, I played a preview version of Death's Door, which ran very smoothly. That's why I'm pretty amazed that performance drops occur in the full version. For me the adventure is still an indie highlight and I wait patiently for patches so that Death's Door runs as smoothly as before.
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door is a game where the journey counts more than the destination: a fine experience overall, despite some minor flaws here and there.
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Jul 20, 2021With an engaging world to explore and consistently satisfying combat to keep things entertaining, it's easy to fall in love with Death's Door. Its premise hooks you immediately, and it has the style and the substance to maintain the captivating allure of its opening. Perhaps most importantly, it's just consistently fun to play, with sharp enemy designs that keep you on your feet to challenging boss fights that test your skills in satisfying ways. There's a lot of death to deal and souls to reap, but Death's Door makes it a delight every step of the way.
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Jul 20, 2021All in all, Acid Nerve did a great job with Death’s Door and by pushing just a little bit more while taking a few calculated risks, they would have an outstanding game rather than a very good one. Still more than worth playing if you’re a fan of the genre and aren’t looking for something revolutionary. There is also some post-game content that should add some additional run time to your enjoyment.
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Jul 20, 2021Death’s Door is a charming, enjoyable adventure we had a great time with, but it also fails to break through, becoming repetitive and lacking that something special that would have taken it much higher.
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Jul 26, 2021Death's Door is a streamlined action adventure experience that finds a groove and sticks with it. With a low asking price and high level of polish, fans of this genre should find the little crow's soul reaping journey quite endearing.
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Aug 13, 2021Death’s Door is a strong offering featuring challenging combat and amazing art design. The amount of love and care Acid Nerve put into this quirky afterlife can easily be seen in every little animation or dialogue. Granted, the combat may be a bit overwhelming at times (especially when the puzzles become infrequent) but for lovers of the genre and those who won’t mind a bit of swordfighting and dodging, Death’s Door might be one of the best titles to come out in 2021.
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Sep 2, 2021Its high difficulty (sometimes artificially) and its art direction make it a must-try video game. However, it can be frustrating due to the lack of maps, unnecessary difficulty peaks and some bugs that make the experience worse.
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CD-ActionOct 12, 2021The protagonist doesn’t have a believable motivation, while the enemies, the environments and the gameplay mechanics lack variety. Other than that Death’s Door is a really decent action RPG – it’s pretty, technically polished, rich in optional content, and welcoming of inexperienced players. [10/2021, p.68]
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Aug 15, 2021This fairytale is somewhat simplistic in its story and structure, but still charming.
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Game World Navigator MagazineSep 3, 2021The setting is intriguing, but the story is bland. Open world promises exploration, but there is nothing to find. The combat has all the beats – but it just isn’t interesting. [Issue#254, p.68]
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Jul 20, 2021Death's Door wins you over with its isometric action, well-designed exploration and constant search for secrets. [Recommended]
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Aug 3, 2021Within five minutes of starting Death’s Door I knew I was going to love it. The combat was basic but weighty. The visual presentation was sparse but bespoke. Its music, sometimes pastoral and serene, sometimes grim and despairing, made no secret that something special was going on, and my love for the indie action-RPG only continues to grow.
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Jul 20, 2021So apart from the fact that I AM BUSY, BETTY, I'm pleased with Death's Door. I like the endearing head twitches of crowboy during his idle animations. I like his birdy Naruto waddle. He is a cool wee guy. I enjoy how handy the camera is, allowing you to nudge the view and peek in any given direction (an always-appreciated feature in side-on metroidvanias or top-down slice 'n' shoots). I like how the music in the furnace dungeon is perfectly timed with the tempo of its steam pistons (the music in general is downright excellent, veering from eerie Firelink lament-o-notes to full-on forest dweller bops). I both like and am deeply unsettled by Grandma's Studio Ghibli eyes, which follow you around the room with the automated paranoia of security cameras.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 157 out of 218
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Mixed: 47 out of 218
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Negative: 14 out of 218
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Jul 22, 2021A masterpiece , can win the GOTY 2021 , the art and melody is beatiful. You need to play this GAME!
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Jul 21, 2021
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Jul 23, 2021