Intro: The 9-5 grind can be chaotic, stressful and tiring. But for our feathered reaper friends this job is one of adventure, sorrow and self-discovery. Death's door is a top-down action-adventure game that dives into one little crows' journey about reaping souls and learning about death and its true maker. Deaths Door discusses Death in a beautifully funny and empathic way, creating a world for the player to not only get lost in with its humor, but learn from its characters and their surroundings, making a scary and unknown finality, into an approachable topic. The only Certainty of Life: Turning death into a corporate job makes the vibe and overall story of this game appealing and funny. Deaths Door plays on the reaper character and the usage of the crow as a main character that reaps souls in exchange for a paycheck. The crow has been known through many cultures to be a messenger of death, an omen, or the transformational process from the physical to the spiritual world. This game brings a lighthearted, carefree tone to a very sad topic and I couldn’t think of a better way to structure this game than to have an office filled with crows having meet a quota of souls captured. There is also the serious tonality of this game that questions reality and life in its entire splendor. Even the lord of doors questions his own existence buy the end of the game, which makes me think that no matter how powerful you are, no matter the life lived we will always question the unknown and fear it to some degree. Was it all worth it? Can I look back and say that life was well lived? It’s the constant struggle every human will face, the grand old question, why do I exist. This game approaches that question in a humbling way with a touch of humor, so it doesn’t come off as if the games story is preaching, rather conversing. This is a game I would highly recommend for children to learn about death in a cute and funny way explaining it in a way that won't incite fear, but a reassurance that death isn’t a scary thing it’s the only certainty that life has to offer. Balanced, Fun and Diverse: The game play and mechanics in Deaths Door are incredibly well done in terms of ease of use and approachability. This game is primarily puzzles, with mini bosses and five main story bosses. Each area you go is also incredibly different form the next in terms of puzzles and how you approach each main boss for that area. Puzzles range from retrieving keys, to lighting different areas, to the final boss which was, albeit a bit tricky in a fun “I need to have more games incorporate puzzle and mechanics like this” way. From a witch to a frog, to an abominable snowwoman named Betty, each character and boss has richness in how the game has the player approach them. And even after we beat them, we mourn for them, for even though they were still monsters, they served their purpose, and share their lesson. Deaths Ego: The ego behind not wanting to die, and the grace of understanding it in all that it is, is the most human thing in existence and its showcased beautifully in this game. Eventually the crows deny the existence of a savior (the Lord of Doors). This could be seen as an abandonment of religion, or not acknowledging any higher power simply existing on one's terms, understanding that unnatural immortality throws life off balance creating a high demand if you will for existence beyond the natural limit.
In the End: Deaths Door is a fantastic experience of a game that asks and proposes the hard questions about life, death and everything in-between. It's an elegantly crafted game with stunning graphics, mechanics that are to –die for, (pun intended), and characters that are beautifully human in all of their interactions. “A life is a life, and in death we are all unified.” SteadHone, The Gravedigger.
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