Released last summer on Xbox and PC, the title of Acid Nerve certainly caused a sensation and was able to animate the summer of a good number of players! For my part, I followed the little phenomenon from afar while waiting for the port on Nintendo's hybrid console... before changing my mind at the last minute and enjoying it on PS5! No regrets however, because regardless of the platform, the adventure is worth living!
Dance Death's Door, we embody Raven, an employee who works for a somewhat atypical company (irremediably reminiscent of Grim Fandango) who does in the harvest of the dead. Our protagonist is given a seemingly simple mission: to recover a soul that has been playing Death for too long now. Lack of luck, the latter is more difficult to catch than expected, and we will therefore find ourselves traveling between the different regions available, via a hub (incidentally the workplace of our crow). The trip will be smooth, as a giant gate opens the way to the desired kingdom.
What hits the mark as soon as you land in the universe of Death's Dooris his artistic direction. The hub you land in is all shades of gray, with just the blazing red weapon in the back. The contrast is all the more striking as the levels that we go through are colored. From gloomy and gray offices to the green forest passing by an old castle... Each place visited has its own identity and a story to tell, with death as a backdrop. The characters that we will meet will not be outdone, with personalities that do not leave anyone indifferent. We will also appreciate the soundtrack, perfectly accompanying our wanderings, with sometimes calm phases, and others more excited as soon as we get into action. Technically, the game is not very greedy and we will be entitled to a solid 60FPS on Sony's latest console (30 on PS4 and Nintendo Switch), perfect for a game that will sometimes put our reflexes to the test.
Because yes, in its register, the title of Acid Nerve requires that we remain vigilant and that we sometimes think about how to approach the fights. I have seen, everywhere on the web, comparisons with games like Hades or, even crazier, Dark Souls. If this can reassure you (in any case, controller in hand, it - personally - reassured me), it is not the case. Death's Door eyeing more on the side of adventure/action games as we have seen for several decades and whose most faithful representative would be The Legend of Zelda, with a small tweezer of Hollow Knight. We will evolve in more or less labyrinthine areas which will oppose us to different minions most of the time, to then make us arrive in an arena putting us in front of a boss. During these fights, the difficulty will vary from one boss to another, depending on their design. Some bosses will surprise with their ingenuity, while others will seem extremely classic and deja vu, if you have already played works of the style.
Death's Door gave me a little tatany, I must confess. I expected a nice little game, but it's much more than that. It's a title that keeps you going, skillfully combining nervousness and strategy, and offering a nicely worked universe, with a refined and intelligent French localization, all the more surprising in an action game, where writing is often neglected. . Perfect to end 2021 in style!
