Video games have come a long way from when they first appeared to become mainstream. All of this has been made possible by amazing advances in technology that have made the future of gaming even brighter. They pushed games to develop, reborn into other forms, such as gambling games that allow you to win real money at online Сasino, etc.
Today we will talk about a game released on June 20th called Death’s Door. In Death’s Door, Death’s helper, a raven, helps send lost souls to the other world. It’s a dashing action game, a little unconventional in each of its manifestations. We also take an in-depth look at what usually happens in games like this – and what the authors of Death’s Door have offered instead.
The Game
This is an action game about the massacre of monsters. The closest reference points are Enter the Gungeon, Hyper Light Drifter, or Below. The basis of combat mechanics – roll. It has a lot of usefulness: this way you can jump over the abyss, dodge shells that are launched at you, and get away from blows in close combat. The game’s authors – Mark Foster and David Fenn – released the excellent minimalistic action Titan Souls 6 years ago. Death’s Door is exactly the same game, only with an increased budget and elaborated gameplay design.
Synopsis
What’s Usually There?
Usually, there is no story. In a short video, you are told about the motivation of the hero. After that, you are not distracted from the story. The exception is Hades, and Death’s Door has something in common with it.
What Death’s Door Offers
Having realized that you have to kill many people in the game of this genre, the authors made the main character Death (or rather, his assistant). From there, everything worked itself out. The focus is on the office of Death’s assistants, who routinely carry out a plan to collect souls. One such soul has been stolen – your job is to find it.
In the adventure’s course, a gruesome plot of immortal beings, who have been hiding from the reapers for centuries, is uncovered; on the way, you constantly meet characters either associated with death. For example, one of the characters can’t die, and even the raven reaper can’t help him (we stabbed him with a dagger and blew him up with a bomb – all to no avail). Death’s Door has a thorough plot and characters, skillfully built around the central mechanics of incessant killing.
Weapons
What Happens Usually?
There’s usually a lot of it in games like this. Enter the Gungeon, for example, has 239 different weapons; Binding of Isaac, with all the additions, has about 500 unique items.
What Death’s Door Offers
Not counting spells, the crow has five weapons. But there are two – a sword and a bow. They are available from the beginning of the game, and you will use them till the credits.
There are only 5 arrows, but it is really easy to replenish the arrows – each strike of your sword restores one arrow in your quiver. With this simple rule, the developers instantly created conditions for intense gameplay. Shooting your enemy with the bow, you are in relative safety, but when you run out of arrows, get out of your comfort zone, get close to strike, and replenish your shells. You can’t mindlessly call out monsters with your sword – they can fend for themselves if you get too close. The result is an outstanding balance between desperate close-quarters combat and sneaky shots from afar.
Life
What Happens Normally?
There are a lot of interesting solutions here. The classic one is premeditated. If you die in Binding of Isaac, all collected items are lost, you have to start the race all over again. In Dark Souls, there is a similar principle, only on the map scattered coveted bonfires, at which you can save and refill medical supplies. That is a technique slightly improved by the authors of Death’s Door.
What Death’s Door Offers
At some point, the hero can find the seed of life. You can plant it in a special pot – it will sprout the flower of life. The flower will heal you – such a stationary first-aid kit, like the charger for the HEV-suit from Half-Life. The nuance is that someone generously scattered the pots throughout the levels, and it’s up to you to decide where to grow the flower.
You can be greedy and put the first aid kit at the beginning of the level. Then the small monsters will stop giving you problems, but waiting at the end of the stage, the boss can kill you. You can, enduring adversity, get the seed to the pot at the very boss. Then the fight with him will be relatively easy, but the road to this fight – difficult, because there will be no place to refuel. It’s as if you become a game designer, choosing where to put the first aid kit.
Death’s Door looks and sounds great, has an entertaining story about the importance of death, and is imprinted in the memory as a cozy adventure. Publisher Digital Devolver has once again sparked a gem, making us keep a close eye on the future work of Acid Nerve Studios.
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