Bird is the Word
Death’s Door is yet another bizarrely charming and charmingly bizarre indie game published by Devolver Digital, hailing from the same developers that made Titan Souls. With a pedigree like that, it’s no surprise that Death’s Door looks like so much fun in this new gameplay trailer.
This relentlessly beautiful action-adventure game combines the difficulty of a roguelike with the exploration focus of a Metroidvania, all set in a gorgeous and haunting world that death cannot touch. You take on the role of a reaper–specifically, a cute little Crow reaper–who must venture into this strange and dangerous land to retrieve a stolen soul and preserve your own existence.
This trailer begins with a brisk introduction to the game’s swift movement controls and monochrome environment before the Crow is sucked through a doorway and the setting explodes into color. The world on the other side of the door is full of surreal character designs, macabre environmental choices, and lots and lots of combat.
The Crow is shown scampering around through oversized mountain paths, graveyards, mansion rooms, and distinctly inhospitable gardens, among other areas, before returning to the monochrome world to buy upgrades at the Soul Vault. While Death’s Door isn’t a true roguelike because players lose nothing when they die, it demands about the same level of practice and polished skill from players, and upgrades will help make that a little easier.
At least one quest is showcased during the video–a quest to retrieve the horn of the Forest Mother, an enormous figure of antlers and fallen leaves. Then the trailer highlights some of the game’s puzzle mechanics, particularly the way they hook into its combat mechanics, and introduces a few other characters before launching straight into glimpses of boss fights. Specifically, against the characters just introduced.
Death’s Door doesn’t pull any punches with its combat, and boss fights are no exception. Each major battle shown here features different environments, attack patterns, and even boss sizes, making for a powerful combination of creativity and difficulty. We had a chance to preview this title earlier and we’re happy to show off some of what we experienced in our trip to Death’s Door.
Death’s Door will launch July 20th on Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, and PC.
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