Death’s Door is a mildly unforgiving game, it’s important for players to unlock new abilities and keep them upgraded as the difficulty progresses. Although the journey itself is simple, there are several abilities that must be gained to go further in the adventure. The arrow, flame, bomb, and hookshot are all needed throughout the game.
While the crow starts Death’s Door with the arrow, the other three can only be found in each dungeon, housing a large soul. Collecting four reaper crow souls unlock the ominous crow door, leading to the reaper’s home but in an unreachable area before. There is a nearby chest that looks harmless but suddenly devours the crow, which brings it to an avarice battle which is a Dark Souls reference in and of itself. Here the crow will have to battle through four waves of enemies to prove it’s worthy of wielding the magic.
Death’s Door does give players a lot of freedom to decide which upgrades to pursue. All of the abilities can be upgraded in any order after getting them from the dungeons. The order to obtain upgrades depends on individual playstyle; however, none are mandatory aside from 100% completion.
Death’s Door Spell Upgrades
Flame Spell
Acquiring the Death’s Door flame spell in the Ceramic Manor grants the ability to hurl fireballs at enemies. An achievement can be earned by lighting the Urn Witch’s pot on fire by hitting her with a fireball at the right time. To upgrade the spell, backtrack through the Estate fields toward the Lost Cemetery. Take the elevator back down to the crypt then, head to the left to find two statues with flaming heads standing beside a path blocked off by cobwebs.
Burn through the webs with the flame spell and head inside to find a hazy white door. Stepping through the door starts a battle against one of the silent servants. All silent servants have similar fighting patterns, but this one can have a maximum of three fireballs rotate around its body as the battle goes on. After defeating the Servant, the fire ability upgrades to having a lasting burn effect on all enemies and bosses.
Bomb Spell
Getting the bomb ability in Death’s Door is as simple as completing the Mushroom Dungeon and finding the four lost crow souls. After completing the avarice battle to get the bomb ability and returning to the crow’s hub, go back to the Lost Cemetery. From the crow’s door in The Lost Cemetery, go up the stairs to the right and continue up the ladders that are on the way. At the top of the second ladder, turn right and follow the path passing over a trapdoor and going up that ladder.
Use the elevator down and go straight ahead to the bridge. At the center of the bridge, drop down and use the bomb spell on the nearby cracked wall leading to the hazy door. This Silent Servant will periodically fling bombs at the crow and even more bombs as the battle progresses. Defeating this Servant upgrades the bomb by making them detonation safe for the crow, negating any damage that could be taken at a close-range use of the spell.
Hookshot Spell
Castle Lockstone has to be completed in order to get the hookshot in Death’s Door. Finding the four crows there will open the way to the avarice battle. As a note, the crow does a different animation before being swallowed by this chest. It makes stretches as if it already knows what’s about to happen next. Clearing all the enemies grants the hookshot ability letting the crow pass over gaps and close into enemies quickly. To upgrade it, pass through the crow’s door leading to the Stranded Sailor and walk towards the Lost Cemetery. After entering the cave, look to the right, past the water, to see an anchor that can be reached via hookshot.
After crossing the gap, pull the lever nearby, and that will lower the gate in the same area with two flaming statues beside it. Walking through the gate reveals the hazy door and the boss battle with another Silent Servant. This Servant will hook to different anchors located around the floating platforms that damage if the crow is in the path. Beating this Servant is very useful as it gives the new ability to the hookshot. The crow will unleash a powerful area of effect swing attack when using a melee attack during the pull towards a target. This synergizes well with all weapons as it dishes out the damage of a charge while negating the windup.
Arrow Spell
Unlike the other abilities gained in Death’s Door, the arrow is the default ability given to the crow. However, the path to get to the upgrade requires all the powers. Head to the left from the Lost Cemetery crow’s door and go through the nearest entrance. Burn the cobwebs that are blocking the path down. Then, jump in and progress through the dungeon filled with spiders until coming to the room with two pink torches lit and a fuzzy white door. The Silent Servant here is different from the rest because it does not use a specific ability and is a jack of all trades as it uses all the skills from all the other Servants but to a slightly lesser degree. Slaying the final Servant powers up the arrow ability by adding a charge to the shot. The longer the arrow is held, the stronger the shot becomes to a certain limit.
Death’s Door is available on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC.
