Originally released in July 2021, Death’s Door is an isometric action-adventure game that proudly wears its Legend of Zelda influences on its sleeve. You play as a voiceless little guy — a crow actually — wielding a sword and bow on an adventure to save the land from a sinister threat. But with Soulsborne vibes to its challenging combat, dark humor, and charming art style with music to complement, Death’s Door is a complex and compelling experience. After spending a full four years on Xbox Game Pass, it’s leaving the service at the end of January. So you only have a matter of days to play the 10-hour adventure (more for completionists). Considering it’s one of the best games of 2021, then it’s a must.
As a Reaper working to collect souls for the Reaping Commission Headquarters, you’re sent out into the world to collect the soul of a large monster who refuses to die. But then a mysterious giant crow steals the soul, dropping cryptic hints about a conspiracy related to the RCH and its leader, the ominously weird Lord of Doors. Thus begins an adventure to collect three Giant Souls to open Death’s Door and unravel the secrets of this universe. Despite what sounds like dire stakes to the adventure, Death’s Door is utterly silly from start to finish. The Reaping Commission is a bureaucratic organization that’s stuffy and formal, despite the wacky characters working within it.
The characters you meet on your adventures are even sillier. One early NPC is a goofy knight with a soup pot as a head. (“Judge me not by the shape of my head, but by the deliciousness of the soup inside!”) A major boss, the King of the Swamp, has a ludicrously long name with ridiculous titles that keep getting tacked on as the music swells to a higher and higher pitch. Another major boss is a friendly old grannie who, when you discover she’s actually a powerful witch, drops the act and says, “You little shit.” My favorite is a late-game food truck owner called Jefferson who refers to you as a “fellow biped.” Not suspicious at all!
Structurally, the game feels a lot like a classic Zelda game as you explore three distinct biomes and dungeons to defeat the bosses and claim the prize needed to unlock your ultimate goal. While the narrative tone is grave and serious at times, the cute art and goofy characters make for some laugh-out-loud moments of tonal dissonance.
Gameplay loops and combat feel deeply reminiscent of a Souls game, with HQ serving as your central hub and various doors in the environments serving as checkpoints — but with a much kinder learning curve. Along the way, you pick up new weapons and abilities to help with the challenging combat. All enemies are fast and aggressive, forcing you to rely on dodging around the battlefield and managing stamina. Over time, you can mix and match different weapons and abilities with their upgrades to lean into your particular playstyle.
Ultimately, Death’s Door delivers a cheerful indictment of capitalism while meditating on the nature of mortality, but it doesn’t necessarily shove those poignant themes in your face. Is it braver and more admirable to conquer death or welcome the natural cycle of life and decay? If you don’t care about such questions, then relish the thrilling combat as you fight all manner of beasts as a naked little bird with a sword. But remember: You’ve got to do it quickly, because Death’s Door leaves Xbox Game Pass on January 31.
