Death's Door

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JaySevenZero
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Death's Door

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Death's Door for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Truk_Kurt »

I picked this up after it won the TCGS podcast 2021 GOTY. Whilst it wouldn't have been mine, it certainly made the top 3. The closest game I could compare Deaths Door to would be the top down Zelda games but I think one area where it was better than Zelda is in it's combat which felt much more satisfying to me with some really tough but fun boss battles. I loved the art style and the variation in the environments you got to explore. The only complaint I would have is that it started to feel unfairly hard at times towards the end and particularly in the final boss battle which seemed to go on forever but other than that I had a great time with this game.
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Taz
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Taz »

Death's Door is the best Zelda game I've ever played
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Buskalilly
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Buskalilly »

This is one of those games which Dave Turners banged on about, I thought could never possibly be as good as he said, but then infuriatingly agreed with him about. Packed with charm and with combat action that feels so good to go back to and give one more try, this was a delight from start to finish.

I'd also say it got the length and linearity just right to feel like an adventure while never being overwhelming. It was a Goldilocks game - just right.
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designermatt
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by designermatt »

Death's Door was one of my favourite discoveries last year. To my shame I've never played a Zelda game, but after watching a Noclip documentary on the team behind it, and liking the art style, I decided to give it a try. It's gorgeous - beautifully designed environments, animations and characters, and a great sense of humour in the cutscenes, too.

This is also one of the few times my partner has taken an interest in a game and sat on the sofa next to me to watch, so that's saying something. Some of the later bosses got pretty tough - but I wanted to push on and see everything this delightful game had to offer, so I persevered (if i can beat Bloodborne, I can beat this!), finally finishing it after a couple of weeks where I looked forward to playing it every evening. Just lovely.
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markfm007
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by markfm007 »

I really liked the world of Death’s Door. It reminded me of Terry Pratchett, a reassuring mix of fantastical creatures and down to earth characters mixed with corporate bureaucracy and social commentary, all with a great sense of humour. I always looked forward to going back to it and exploring its nicely crafted isometric maps. Learning the history of each Lord of Doors, discovering Death, and the gorgeous fight with the Grey Crow were highlights for me.

The game controls brilliantly, and I love the agility and quick feet of our crow. I did an umbrella only run, which was a decent challenge and for some reason, really suited the crow, carrying this dark umbrella. The combat doesn’t evolve too much, and I found it becoming a bit repetitive and dull after a while. The yeti and final boss fights really seemed to drag on, dodging the same moves again and again. Possibly a downside of using the umbrella. I think one or two more tools or strategies could go a long way though. Overall I had a good time with the game despite a few weaknesses, and I’d love to see what this studio moves on to.
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RadicalDog
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by RadicalDog »

I've never finished a Zelda game, despite trying a few. Death's Door showed me that it can be done in a way that works for me. Something about the atmosphere is magnetic, with an inspired fantastical setting, and quirky characters that aren't overwritten.

The combat could have perhaps used a touch of Celeste's assist mode as my RSI made it a bugger to finish, but finish it I did.
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Alex79
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Alex79 »

I initially started this on Xbox Gamepass but after an hour or so lost interest as it's really the sort of game I prefer to play in handheld, so when I saw it at half price on the Switch over Christmas I instantly snapped it up.

And I'm glad I did, because it's a cracker. Looks great, some nice music, and the controls are perfect for guiding your crow around the world. I really enjoyed exploring the different areas and the combat was just as fun. I won't go on because I'm sure the game will get enough praise on the show, so I'll highlight my only two slight criticisms; and they are slight.

Firstly, I could have done with more of it! It was all over too soon, and whilst the game can be extended by finding all of the hidden secrets, I'd have loved a couple more areas and bosses to fight.

And the bosses are my second criticism. As great as they looked, and as fun as they were to fight, they were just too easy, right up until the final Lord Of Doors, which took me more attempts than every other boss in the game combined.

If we get a sequel I'd love to see the world expanded on, with just a bit more challenge to it.

But minor quibbles aside, I really enjoyed this game and really hope we see more of this world in the future.
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Angry_Kurt
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Angry_Kurt »

Alex79 wrote: January 27th, 2023, 3:54 pm I initially started this on Xbox Gamepass but after an hour or so lost interest as it's really the sort of game I prefer to play in handheld, so when I saw it at half price on the Switch over Christmas I instantly snapped it up.

And I'm glad I did, because it's a cracker. Looks great, some nice music, and the controls are perfect for guiding your crow around the world. I really enjoyed exploring the different areas and the combat was just as fun. I won't go on because I'm sure the game will get enough praise on the show, so I'll highlight my only two slight criticisms; and they are slight.

Firstly, I could have done with more of it! It was all over too soon, and whilst the game can be extended by finding all of the hidden secrets, I'd have loved a couple more areas and bosses to fight.

And the bosses are my second criticism. As great as they looked, and as fun as they were to fight, they were just too easy, right up until the final Lord Of Doors, which took me more attempts than every other boss in the game combined.

If we get a sequel I'd love to see the world expanded on, with just a bit more challenge to it.

But minor quibbles aside, I really enjoyed this game and really hope we see more of this world in the future.
Easy bosses! I thought this was one of the hardest games I’ve ever played! 😂
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Alex79
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Alex79 »

Well you know, I'm a pro gamer :lol: Haha, no, I don't know what to say - there were plenty of sections in the games that took me a good few goes, most notably the parts where enemies would spawn through doors and you had to kill waves of them, but the bosses themselves, I don't think any of them took more than a couple of attempts. They all had really predictable patterns of attack, and once you learn that you can do them without even getting damaged.

By the way, did you ever play Hyper Light Drifter? Amazing game, which you might enjoy if you liked this. It's a very different visual style but a lot of similarities with regard to structure of the game and combat etc. It's the closest game I can think of to Deaths Door, in that you have to beat bosses to the north, west, east and south before taking on a final challenge (from what I can remember).
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Angry_Kurt
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Angry_Kurt »

I didn’t know but remember Sean from tcgs talking about it, the high difficulty put me off. Have you played Tunic as even though I haven’t played it, I always thought it looked very similar to DD.
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Alex79
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Alex79 »

Angry_Kurt wrote: January 29th, 2023, 8:21 am I didn’t know but remember Sean from tcgs talking about it, the high difficulty put me off. Have you played Tunic as even though I haven’t played it, I always thought it looked very similar to DD.
Yeah, same as Deaths Door, I played an hour or so on Xbox then added it to my Switch wishlist for a sale sometime.
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Nicktendo
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Nicktendo »

I can't remember how I came across Death's Door, but the art style and combat instantly drew me in. I've played it through three times. Twice on PC and once on Switch, plus I purchased the Special Reserve physical release for Switch. Every once and a while a special games just comes completely out of nowhere. Death's door is an excellent action/adventure game set in an imaginative world where crow's are the servants of death and collect souls for profit? No, sorry that's something else, in order to maintain the balance of all things... Or to keep one immortal. The combat is a mix of soul-like difficulty mixed with the precise operation of Hyper Light Drifter leading to a very well refined system. The charming array of Studio Ghibli-esque characters you meet on the journey are brilliant, my personal favourite being Pothead! The musical score of this game is also wonderfully crafted. The main tune variations (reminding me of Banjo Kazooie) rang in my head for months after putting down the controller on this gem. It'll be a game I'll play again in a few years time when it's memories are faint, but for the brief 10 hours of my first play-through, it was perfection.
Three Word Review:
Dark Ghibli Zelda-ooie
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Toon Scottoon
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Toon Scottoon »

Death's Door

I have played through Death's Door twice. The first time was on Xbox One in early August of 2021. As a fan of most top down games with Zelda DNA, I watched the trailer, read the reviews, and gave myself over to my FOMO even though I knew I didn't have a lot of non-portable gaming time in my future. Tethered to my television, I squeezed this title into my life, rather than making room for it. It was a mistake. I arrived at the final boss underpowered for my skill level, which made this last conflict, especially the wrought memorization platforming part, a sour affair.

Fast forward to January of this year, and seeing the game was on the Cane and Rinse docket I decided to buy the title again on Switch during a digital sale with some spare gold coins and a gift card. Now free to take this adventure on the road, I lingered in every field and dungeon, gathered souls, hummed along with the terrific soundtrack, took down optional bosses, and nicked every shiny object I saw. It was a delightful journey, even the fight with the Lord of Doors, which was challenging, but no longer felt like a chore to be checked off but a proper send-off worthy of one of the gravedigger's thoughtful eulogies.

Three word review - A(door) fowl Zelda
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shadowless_kick
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by shadowless_kick »

especially for a game I was so excited for pre-release, I'm sorry to say I never made it to the end of Death's Door. the tone and presentation were interesting and the writing was pretty good, but the overall pace was just too slow for my tastes. that includes traversal, combat and the frequency with which weapons and upgrades were doled out.

I probably could've persevered through its more deliberate nature had it included a map to help me find my way. but its strange exclusion meant that on top of everything else, I was also wandering around aimlessly very slowly.

my initial interest and excitement mutated into annoyance and finally disdain over the time I put into Death's Door. I'm glad it found an audience, but with me, it wore out its welcome quickly — which in hindsight was the only thing it didn't take forever to do.

three-word review: needed a map
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Mr Ixolite
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Re: 573: Death's Door

Post by Mr Ixolite »

Booting up Deaths Door after a wave of praise, I was initially underwhelmed. Is this all the combat is? Do the environments just look like this? Whats’ the plot again? Is pulling a lever to lower a ladder supposed to be satisfying? But it didn’t take long for the game to get its hooks in me, and have me gleefully throwing myself into as many tough as nails fights as possible. Beyond the satisfying combat itself, this was in large part due to the aforementioned Ladder Levers – by being generous with opening up shortcuts the game ensured that I always just had a short walk to get back to any particular encounter after dying, which made retrying them feel unpunishing.
However, one area where the game never quite came together was the story. I felt like the game was desperately lacking in Setup to make its later narrative beats have weight; we’re told the mortal realm is somehow “out of balance” and needs to be saved, but since I have no real reference for how the world is “supposed to be” in the first place and my avatar is mute, I just have to take the games word for it. Theres some sort of conspiracy going on and the crows are maybe mistreated and rebel, but I never fully understood the how or why of either. The various worldbuilding ideas also felt sometimes contradictory – we’re told that being out in the field renders a crow Mortal, but then again death doesn’t exist for creatures in the field, such as Grey Crow, and so on.

It to me felt like a game that had prioritized having a lot of capital L Lore, where a more straightforward narrative would have fit better*. Especially since the writing for the cartoony characters is often quite good, and the “accepting the inevitability of death” is a fine theme to have as your narrative backbone.
At the end of the day the gameplay was still so good that I’m very interested in what the team makes going forward, it just wasn’t quite the full package for me this time around.

3 Word Review: Level-Linking-Ladders

* this is where I profess to having never played a Fromsoft game, as I understand that “piecing the story together through lore snippets” is their whole thing, I just can’t say it worked for me here.
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