All of these actions can help extend our natural lives, but they can also be exhausting and nerve-wracking. Our fear of an untimely demise is the main motivation to eat healthy, work out, sleep regularly, avoid hard drugs, wear seat belts, follow traffic laws, take medicine, purchase ergonomic furniture, wear sunscreen, cut down on the consumption of sugar and carbohydrates, drink red wine instead of hard liquor, and take daily B12 vitamins (OK, maybe that’s just me at this point). It’s in our nature to avoid dying at all costs (well, at least some of us). Something out there will be trying to kill you, and you have to be prepared. In addition, the player must mentally grasp that death is a possibility each time they enter a new area. Looking for secrets in Death’s Door is fun enough on its own, but the rewards for such wanderlust are typically more cash to use on attribute increases, making the general trek through treacherous areas a little easier.
#MAKING PEACE PSYCHONAUTS 2 HOW TO#
They must learn proper dodge rolls, how to time attacks, and how to optimize use of spells in order to stay alive. Much like the villains, the hero (if that word even applies) must do whatever it takes to survive even when the end feels inevitable. Despite many of Death’s Door ’s best NPCs demonstrating the joys of living through community-building, humor, and art, the concept of death is still framed as the outcome of a contest for the title’s greatest foes, and the player as well.Īlmost everything in Death’s Door underscores not just the somberness of passing away, but the extremely human tendency to avoid it, as trying to cheat death is a very difficult task. When all signs around you highlight the dreariest aspects of mortality, it’s hard not to view one’s end as a missed opportunity. Each environment in Death’s Door is littered with ruined structures, flooded temples, dust-covered artifacts, and abandoned castles, signs that death has come for these places and that everything that remains has been left to oblivion. To them, death is not just the end of life, but a form of failure, in the sense that they either failed to prolong their time in this world or failed to do much with the time they had.
Once the player kills her, Steadhone the Gravedigger delivers a eulogy for her (as he does after every boss fight), saying that she was “driven by her maternal instincts” to “outwit death,” and that she is “now in peace.” Her grandson, known as Pothead (yes, that’s his name), laments that he will forever have a pot for a head, yet still hopes the witch “finds peace beyond life.”Įvery other major antagonist embodies this theme. Take the Witch of Urns, the boss at the end of the game’s first big dungeon: In an effort to preserve her family members and ensure they never die, she turns their heads into pots so she can repair them using magic if they ever break. While these giant souls do, in fact, engage in nefarious behavior, it’s largely in service of survival, and even those most wronged may feel some sympathy for them, at least in terms of wanting to ward off death. The player besting each boss isn’t just an exercise in ridding the world of a threat it’s about forcing people to let go and accept their fate. Each “giant soul” you must reap consists of fighting your way through hordes of enemies and solving environmental puzzles, but typically the main foe at the end of each dungeon is aiming less to enact evil and more to prolong their life at any cost. Without explaining too much of the actual plot, I was often floored at how Death’s Door explores dying not through the lens of loss or mourning, but through one of inevitability and finality. While its Zelda- like approach to dungeons and tough-but-fair combat system make it one of the more mechanically satisfying titles of 2021, the game’s focus on a tight and thematically consistent narrative elevates it from “very good” to “excellent.” I won’t explain the entire set-up of the game, so check here for more info on the basics of the story.ĭeath’s Door, the latest action-adventure title from Titan Souls developer Acid Nerve, is an exciting sojourn through wondrous landscapes filled with daunting challenges and thrilling boss battles. Mild spoilers for the plot of Death’s Door.
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Welcome back to Punished Notes! In the latest edition, I’ll discuss Death’s Door and Psychonauts 2 (two of the year’s best games so far), share a brief thought on the new No Man’s Sky content, dish the dirt on the latest trashy reality TV show, and more.ĭeath’s Door and the Difficulty of Avoiding Death
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