Death’s Door

Acid Nerve’s minimalist riff on The Legend of Zelda creeps up on you. Death’s Door is slow, lonely, and a hundred shades of gray at first. But then its rich world and the subtle secrets hidden therein begin to unfurl like a carefully wound clock in the way only a small indie game crafted by fewer than a dozen people can. You play as a workaholic crow in a bureaucracy of grim reapers collecting the souls of creatures both big and small until you’ve built up enough of an arsenal to unlock one final door that will shed light on the truth about existence, mortality, and regret. Heavy stuff encased in a beautifully arcade-action wrapper that makes staring into the abyss fun. Lots of games try to do what Death’s Door does, but almost none of them do each individual part as well, or culminate in a maze that’s as rewarding to get lost in as it is to finally escape.

Playable On: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Rough Average Playtime: 10.5 hours