Death’s Door is finally out! For those gamers who are already huge fans of Devolver Digital's published games, Death’s Door was probably already on their wishlists. If not, this game is still a fantastic little indie darling.
Made by Acid Nerve, Death’s Door is an isometric action-adventure game that will probably remind most players of the classic handheld Zelda games like Link’s Awakening (likely a big reason why it's being so highly rated). That said, there’s quite a bit that Death’s Door does differently, so here are some tips for newcomers from the pros who already have the game 100%'ed.
10 Always Keep Track Of Breakables In The Area
First and foremost, let's talk about the innovative way Death’s Door approaches ranged weapon ammo. Instead of giving players a recharging bar, infinite bullets, or ammo drops from enemies, this crow reaper recharges their ranged ammo by hitting breakables and enemies alike.
This design choice might seem simple, but it’s actually pretty ingenious. Usually, in these types of games, players will quickly find ways to abuse ranged damage in order to fight bosses and enemies alike with no risk to themselves. But, because players literally can’t get any ammo back without hitting enemies/breakables, it forces them to use both melee and ranged attacks without feeling overly forced or lazy.
With that in mind, always keep track of any breakables in each room and mentally mark them as "ammo pickups" for emergencies in the middle of combat. And, so players will stop breaking everything before combat, the only “breakables” that have items insides are the wooden crates which sometimes have Life Seeds.
9 Life Seed Flowers Respawn
This is something a lot of players have been misunderstanding in their first few hours of Death’s Door. This game doesn’t give them an Estus Flask, potions, or any other classic portable healing item. Instead, this crow will find Life Seeds spread throughout the world which they can then plant in these green pots sprinkled across each biome. Once the seed is planted, a shining flower grows, and the crow can “Consume” it for a full heal.
For some reason, the context of growing a flower seems to subconsciously cause people to think that these flowers are a one-time use. But, they actually respawn either on every death or every time players go back to the Hall of Doors and back out again.
8 There’s No Punishment For Dying
This is not a Dark Souls-like game. Metroidvanias and Isometric-Adventure games are occasionally labeled as "Souls-likes," just because of their tone and combat-focused gameplay. To prove that this game isn't in that genre, Death’s Door has absolutely no consequence for dying, other than starting back up from a checkpoint door. There may be other games similar to Death's Door, but this mechanic is relatively unique and a breath of fresh air.
This also means that they can just run past all the enemies if players want to get back to where they originally died, with the only consequence being losing out on the minor amount of souls they would have received for killing each enemy again.
7 Underground Grates Reminiscent Of Super Mario Sunshine
For those who have seen these intricate stone/metal plates on the ground in Death’s Door and were wondering what they were for, it turns out they’re like sewer/underground grates players can slam through to access new areas. To get into them, the player character crow simply needs to perform an aerial slam (attacking in the air) directly above the grate and they'll go through it, Mario Sunshine-style.
Something about the visual design of these things had people thinking they were like teleport spots or something, and almost no one thought they were underground access covers until they accidentally slammed through one.
6 Enemies Don’t Stagger
Another thing that Death’s Door does that’s unique is the fact that enemies simply won't stagger. Sure, some jump back or teleport away in response to getting hit, but players won’t ever be able to “interrupt” and enemies attack with their own like they would in Dark Souls or most roguelike games. This means that there’s absolutely no reason to rush through combat since enemies will always attack in response to a certain number of attacks towards them and so on.
Trying to get one extra swing in the hopes that it’ll kill the enemy or “stagger” them is not only fruitless, it'll also usually result in a player taking unnecessary damage. Be patient, keep consistent, and the combat in this game should seem a lot more predictable as a result.
5 Melee Weapons Have Different Charge & Rolling Attacks
This next tip is something that the game doesn’t really explain, the developers likely just wanted players to experiment and figure it out for themselves. So, there are a variety of different optional melee weapons to find throughout the game. And, thankfully, these weapons aren’t all just different recolors of the same sword (in fact one is an umbrella).
They all have different combos, damage modifiers, and swing speeds. They also all have entirely different rolling attacks and charged attacks. For example, the Discarded Umbrella has a Devil May Cry-like Stinger rolling attack, while the sword has a downward slash that doesn’t quite reach as far. Experiment with them all and see which attacks fit a certain playstyle more, or even which ones work better against certain enemy types.
4 Returning To The Hall Of Doors Is A Quick Reset
One thing that Death’s Door does have in common with the Dark Souls games, in particular Bloodborne, is that returning to the hub area also respawns all the enemies in the game. Thankfully, going to the hub and back out into the world also fully heals the player character, so it’s useful for the times when players might forget where the closest healing flower is.
Though, keep in mind, this doesn't reset ranged weapon charges, which is likely an oversight that may be fixed in the future.
3 Keep Track Of Any Progression Blockers
The main thing a lot of people likely wish they had done more in their first playthrough of Death’s Door is to keep better track of progression blockers. This game is designed around backtracking to old areas after gaining new abilities, and if players don't keep track of odd terrain or path-blockers and where they are, the process of backtracking to these areas is a lot slower.
For example, these giant cross-shaped things stuck into the ground (seen in the image above) are everywhere in the game past a certain point, but it takes a bit before players actually unlock the item that lets them interact with them. But, if players mentally note where they saw these landmarks, going back and finding new paths to 100% complete the game will be a breeze, given how relatively short it is.
2 Learn The Audio & Slight Visual Cues For Fully Charged Weapons
Now, this might seem obvious to anyone familiar with these types of games, but there’s actually both a visual and audio cue for when a charged or ranged attack is fully charged. In terms of audio, that little “shwing” noise is the identifier that an attack or spell is "charged," while the visual cues are a bit more individual to the spell/weapon.
The melee weapons all seem to have the same timing for their charged attacks, but some spells take a bit longer. If players train their brains a bit to react to these audio/visual cues instinctually, it's likely that the combat of Death's Door will feel a bit more natural than it previously did.
1 Farming Souls Is Incredibly Easy But Tedious
Now, if after all these tips players are still struggling a bit with Death’s Door, the solution might just be that they didn’t stumble upon enough Soul Orbs yet and they need to upgrade their stats. Upgrades cost 400 souls to start, then 600, 800, and so on. And, while that may seem like a lot of souls to farm off of enemies (who only drop a couple individually), it’s actually not that bad if players find a good spot near a checkpoint door.
In particular, a fan-favorite spot is down the big hole directly south of the Lost Cemetary hub door. To access this area, players will need the Fire Spell, and once they drop down, it should immediately become clear why this area is so great for soul farming. There are a ton of eggs spread throughout this giant room, and each one has one of the beetle enemies (about 30+ per room) inside that die in 2 hits.
This is all to say that players can absolutely grind and overpower themselves in Death’s Door, all it takes is a bit of searching and some time commitment.