You’re a crow. You have a sword. Also, you work in a grey, bureaucratic purgatory filing paperwork for souls that don't want to die. It sounds like a weird fever dream, but Death's Door—the definitive "crow video game" of the last few years—managed to turn that bizarre pitch into one of the most soul-crushing, yet strangely cozy, experiences in modern gaming. It isn't just about being a bird. It’s about the specific, frantic energy of being a small bird in a very large, very dangerous world.
Developed by Acid Nerve, a tiny two-person team out of the UK, this game didn't just appear out of nowhere. It’s the spiritual successor to Titan Souls, but it traded that game's punishing "one-hit-and-you're-dead" mechanics for something much more refined.
People love crows. They're smart. They're morbid. They're a little bit cheeky. Honestly, if you look at the landscape of indie games lately, we’ve moved past the era of generic knights. We want to be animals with jobs. Whether it's the untitled goose causing chaos or a crow reaping souls, there is a specific mechanical joy in navigating a 3D space with a non-human hitbox.
The Reaping Commission and Why We're All Crow-Obsessed
The setup for Death's Door is basically The Office meets Dark Souls. You play as a "Reaper," a crow employed by the Reaping Commission. Your job is to collect souls. It's mundane work until a giant soul you’re supposed to harvest gets swiped by an elderly crow who’s desperate to escape his own encroaching mortality. Because your door—the magical portal back to HQ—won't close until you bring back that soul, you start aging. You become mortal.
That’s the hook.
It’s a brilliant bit of ludonarrative harmony. Crows in folklore are often psychopomps, guides for the dead. Acid Nerve took that ancient trope and gave it a corporate makeover. The "Hall of Doors" is all monochrome marble and clicking typewriters. It feels sterile. But the moment you step through a door into the overworld, the color floods back in. It’s lush. It’s decaying. It’s full of life that has overstayed its welcome.
The game hits a sweet spot. It isn't as hard as Elden Ring, but it isn't a walk in the park either. You have to learn patterns. You have to roll. You have to time your swings. It’s tight. The "crow video game" vibe works because the protagonist is silent, allowing the world-building to do the heavy lifting. You aren't playing a hero; you're playing a civil servant with a laser-focused objective.
Why the movement feels so right
Most games struggle with birds. Usually, they either make you fly—which trivializes level design—or they make you feel like a heavy human in a bird suit. Death's Door gets the "hop" right. Your crow has a weightiness to its movement that feels avian. When you dodge-roll, it’s a quick, frantic burst.
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The combat is built on a simple loop: hit things with your melee weapon to recharge your magic (arrows, fireballs, etc.). You can't just spam projectiles from a distance. You have to get in close. You have to risk your feathers. This forced aggression makes every encounter feel high-stakes, even when you’re just fighting a sentient ceramic pot.
More than just Death's Door: The broader "Crow Game" niche
While Death's Door is the heavyweight champion here, it’s part of a weirdly specific trend. Have you seen Crowsworn? It’s an upcoming Metroidvania that looks like a love child between Hollow Knight and Bloodborne. It features a plague-doctor-looking crow protagonist with twin pistols and a scythe. Then there’s Little Kitty, Big City, which features a crow as a primary (and hilarious) antagonist/sidekick.
Why crows, though? Why not pigeons?
Actually, there is a pigeon game—Pigeon Simulator—but it's a physics sandbox. It’s about chaos. Crows carry a different weight. They represent intelligence. Studies by researchers like Kaeli Swift and John Marzluff have shown that crows recognize human faces and even hold "funerals" for their dead. They are the only animals that seem to understand the concept of death in a way that rivals humans.
When you play a crow video game, you’re tapping into that collective cultural unease we have with these birds. They’re watching us. In games, that translates to a character who is an observer, a thief, or a reaper.
The Aesthetic of the Corvid
- Color Palette: Usually heavy on purples, deep blues, and greys.
- Sound Design: Sharp, rhythmic "caws" and the fluttering of wings.
- Scale: Everything is slightly too big for you, making victories feel earned.
In A Short Hike, you play as a bird (a hawk, technically, but it hits the same notes), and the joy comes from the glide. In Death's Door, the joy comes from the precision. You are a small point of darkness moving through a bright, dangerous world.
Combat, Bosses, and the Grumpiness of Giants
The bosses in Death's Door are legitimately fantastic. They aren't just big monsters; they are characters who have lived too long. Take the Urn Witch. She’s obsessed with "fixing" death by turning people into ceramic pots so they can live forever. It’s a tragic, creepy motivation.
Fighting her requires you to use her own mechanics against her. You have to reflect her projectiles. It’s a dance.
The game doesn't give you a map. This is a controversial choice for some, but honestly, it’s the right move. The world is designed like a clockwork toy. If you pay attention to the landmarks—the giant statues, the specific trees—you’ll never actually get lost. It forces you to inhabit the space like an actual bird would, learning the perches and the shortcuts.
Upgrading your crow is handled through "Soul Energy." You drop points into Strength, Dexterity, Haste, and Magic. It’s a standard RPG system, but it’s stripped of bloat. You don't have a hundred different swords to manage. You have a few distinct weapons—the default sword, a heavy hammer, some daggers, and a secret umbrella.
Pro tip: Doing a full run of the game using only the umbrella as your melee weapon earns you a specific achievement. It’s significantly harder because the umbrella does half the damage of the sword. It’s basically the "hard mode" hidden in plain sight.
Is it a Soulslike? Well, sorta.
People love to throw the "Soulslike" label at anything with a dodge roll and a stamina bar. Death's Door is more of a "Zeldalike" with some teeth. It has the dungeon-key-boss structure of classic Legend of Zelda, but the combat requires the discipline of a FromSoftware game.
You don't lose your souls (currency) when you die. That’s a huge departure from the Dark Souls formula. Instead, death just sends you back to the last door you entered. It removes the frustration of "the run back" while keeping the tension of the boss fight. It’s a friendlier kind of challenge. It respects your time.
The music deserves a mention too. David Fenn, who also did the sound design and production, created a soundtrack that is mostly piano-driven but swells into these orchestral movements during boss fights. It’s melancholy. It’s the kind of music you’d expect to hear in a graveyard that’s also a playground.
Real talk: The Crow Game trend isn't slowing down
We are seeing a massive shift in what players want from protagonists. We're tired of the "gruff father figure with a beard." We want to be a crow. We want to be a cat (Stray). We want to be a shark (Maneater).
The success of Death's Door (selling over a million copies) proved that there is a massive market for high-polish, mid-length indie games that focus on a singular, strong aesthetic. It’s about 8-10 hours long. That’s perfect. It doesn't overstay its welcome, much like a crow visiting your garden. It shows up, does something interesting, and leaves you thinking about it.
The ending of the game—without spoiling too much—dives deep into the philosophy of death. It asks if a world without death is actually a world worth living in. It’s surprisingly heavy for a game where you play as a bird with a glowing sword. But that’s the magic of the genre. By removing the human element from the protagonist, it's easier to explore these massive, abstract human themes.
How to get the most out of your "Crow" experience
- Look for the shiny things. Just like real crows, you should be obsessed with collectibles. There are "Shiny Things" scattered throughout the world that provide lore snippets.
- Talk to the NPCs. The writing is top-tier. Pothead (a man with a literal pot for a head) is a fan favorite for a reason.
- Experiment with the Hookshot. Later in the game, you get a hookshot. It completely changes the combat rhythm. You can zip toward enemies, land a hit, and roll away before they even swing.
- Find the Seeds. You heal by planting seeds in pots found throughout the levels. These seeds are finite until you find more, so managing your "heals" is a core part of the exploration.
Looking Forward: What's next for bird games?
While we wait for Crowsworn and other similar titles, Death's Door remains the gold standard. If you haven't played it, it’s available on basically everything—PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox. It even made its way to Netflix Games for a while.
There's a specific kind of peace you find in these games. Even when you're fighting for your life against a giant frog king, there’s a sense of order. You’re a small part of a big system.
If you're looking for something to play after finishing your crow journey, I'd recommend checking out Tunic. It swaps the crow for a fox and the corporate purgatory for a mysterious island, but it shares that same DNA of "small animal, big world, tough combat."
The "crow video game" isn't just a meme or a aesthetic choice. It’s a subgenre that thrives on the contrast between the dark and the whimsical. It’s about finding beauty in the macabre. Honestly, we could all use a bit more of that.
Actionable Steps for New Players
To master Death's Door and the "crow" style of gameplay, start by focusing on your dodge timing rather than your attack combos. The window for invincibility frames is generous, but the recovery time can be punishing if you’re caught mid-swing.
Secondly, don't hoard your magic. Since you regain MP by simply hitting things with your sword, you should be firing off arrows or fireballs constantly. It’s much safer to chip away at a mini-boss's health from across the room than to stay in their face for the whole fight.
Lastly, keep an eye on the environment. Acid Nerve loves to hide paths behind foreground objects. If a wall looks slightly different or if there’s a break in a railing, try walking through it. Nine times out of ten, there’s a soul orb or a collectible waiting for you. This game rewards curiosity just as much as it rewards reflexes.