Doorways

 PC
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 34
  3. Negative: 12 out of 34

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  1. RegenaldS
    Dec 15, 2013
    5
    CHAPTERS 1 & 2

    The main protagonist is a cop/detective who is tasked to find 4 criminals, all while trying to avoid being killed by various traps, ghosts, and animated statues. The setting is creepy, dark, and beautifully done. Levels vary from being outside with walls of spikes all around you to the interior of old, dark castles. The game tries to scare you, but doesn’t do a great    CHAPTERS 1 & 2

    The main protagonist is a cop/detective who is tasked to find 4 criminals, all while trying to avoid being killed by various traps, ghosts, and animated statues. The setting is creepy, dark, and beautifully done. Levels vary from being outside with walls of spikes all around you to the interior of old, dark castles.

    The game tries to scare you, but doesn’t do a great job doing so, but there are some pretty scary moments, like being chased by a huge statue when you can only see 5 feet in front of you, or when you’re running through the darkness hoping your torch doesn’t die out leaving you vulnerable to the ghosts that dwell there. The fear from this game comes more from psychological things instead of physical objects or beings, like seeing a man being tortured with a device intended to rip the flesh from your bones. All that and the grainy visual effects still are not enough to make this game reach the level of horror they were probably attempting to achieve.

    There are notes and small statues you can search around for, while the statues unlock achievements, the notes are basically the only story there is in this game, and it could have been done better.

    Pros:
    Beautiful environments.
    Some fun moments.
    Voicing by Sam A. Mowry.

    Cons:
    Controls are bad.
    Very short (60-90 minutes).
    Boring for most of the game.
    Tries to be scary, but fails most of the time.

    Score: 5/10

    CHAPTERS 3 & 4

    -not released yet-    … Expand
  2. Yerczeys
    Nov 20, 2013
    3
    I enjoy an atmospheric game done right, and this isn't it. The first chapter is absurdly dark, even with the gamma turned all the way up. And by absurdly dark I mean it's difficult to see the ground on which you're walking, which really throws an annoying wrench in the works when there are pitfalls. The game did have one good scare, but all in all it was a bland and boring experience.
  3. I_Am_Turok
    Nov 4, 2013
    4
    If you're a fan of Amnesia/Penumbra, there's some things to enjoy here. The ambience sound effects are good, and chapter 2 is the best of the 2 (and intro). It's a bit repetitive and fairly basic puzzle solving, but short enough that it won't bore you too much. Even one or two nice graphic touches. But be warned, it may well annoy/bore you because: a) there's no sense to the story really,If you're a fan of Amnesia/Penumbra, there's some things to enjoy here. The ambience sound effects are good, and chapter 2 is the best of the 2 (and intro). It's a bit repetitive and fairly basic puzzle solving, but short enough that it won't bore you too much. Even one or two nice graphic touches. But be warned, it may well annoy/bore you because: a) there's no sense to the story really, it's a mess. b) it has tomb-raider-esque puzzles of get 4 pieces to get X running, mmm, why would someone's mind have a need to turn on the power??? c) the scares are few and expected. d) picking up notes a la Alan Wake was annoying in that game, and is again here. e) finally, apparently psycho's minds all look like the last level of Doom 3 in hell, tedious then and tedious here. There is a nugget of a game idea here, working through a person's mind to solve a crime, but this game is so far away from that idea that it's more a jumble of different ideas from other games meshed into a non-sensical story. It gets a 4 because it is short and I probably will play the next chapters, hey, I've paid for it.… Expand
  4. Benshes
    Dec 10, 2013
    10
    First of all I have to say that this is the best horror game I've ever played. It got atmospheric and scary music, a good gameplay and it scares you to the bones. Especially the second chapter is so well made that you have to play it. I've already gone through the first two chapters so many times and I really look forward to the release of the next chapters.The start was great and I knowFirst of all I have to say that this is the best horror game I've ever played. It got atmospheric and scary music, a good gameplay and it scares you to the bones. Especially the second chapter is so well made that you have to play it. I've already gone through the first two chapters so many times and I really look forward to the release of the next chapters.The start was great and I know the game will become even better.… Expand
  5. Joso2304
    Sep 21, 2013
    10
    A unpleasant game who knows how to scare you. It is a pleasant unpleasant game. Eh... It's very scary. It makes me not want to play it in a good way. It's so scary that I just don't want to launch the game again. It gave me the good horror feeling Amnesia: The Dark Decent did, and I love it! If you're looking for awesome horror games, this or Outlast are the games you are looking for! TheyA unpleasant game who knows how to scare you. It is a pleasant unpleasant game. Eh... It's very scary. It makes me not want to play it in a good way. It's so scary that I just don't want to launch the game again. It gave me the good horror feeling Amnesia: The Dark Decent did, and I love it! If you're looking for awesome horror games, this or Outlast are the games you are looking for! They will both scare you. But do not pick up Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, that games was the dissappointment of the year. All in all, super scary game, can't wait to play again and the quit and out.… Expand
  6. HasAnyoneReally
    Oct 31, 2013
    2
    This game did not know what it wanted to be. It brought in interesting elements and left them in the dust not to be mentioned again. I would not call it a horror game, more a slow and dull adventure game. Started intriguing, turned into a puzzle game and then into a find the object game. Why did the game start with promising scares and atmosphere and completely abandon it? why does theThis game did not know what it wanted to be. It brought in interesting elements and left them in the dust not to be mentioned again. I would not call it a horror game, more a slow and dull adventure game. Started intriguing, turned into a puzzle game and then into a find the object game. Why did the game start with promising scares and atmosphere and completely abandon it? why does the character have to find and collect notes that he himself wrote? Just some of the questions this game left me with. I played until late in part 2, i don't regret it but i probably wont ever play it again.
    Promising start, interesting idea for story, not a fan of the execution.    … Expand
  7. Jodeth
    May 2, 2015
    8
    It's coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.
  8. lelefoxx00
    Sep 25, 2013
    10
    One of the better indie games out there! Put together real nice and has quite a few scares. I watched a "Let's Play" of this game on Youtube and was real excited when I saw it was available on Steam. Definitely a memorable indie game of it's time.
  9. Aberzanzorax
    Jan 1, 2014
    2
    The only positive I can give it is "slightly creepy atmosphere". I'm being generous with a 2, because I found I could play it even though it made me not want to.

    The list of problems: relies on darkness way too much to create "challenge" (i.e. blundering about) and to scare. The actual scares are either laughably easily avoided or are merely a "don't go in the darkness." First person    The only positive I can give it is "slightly creepy atmosphere". I'm being generous with a 2, because I found I could play it even though it made me not want to.

    The list of problems: relies on darkness way too much to create "challenge" (i.e. blundering about) and to scare. The actual scares are either laughably easily avoided or are merely a "don't go in the darkness." First person perspective, but plenty of platforming. Darkness abounds but you're meant to find clues. Environments that are confusing primarily because the are so repetitive/uninteresting.

    The biggest challenges usually consist of "did I go the right way, since it was so damn dark and everything looks the same" and "can I jump well without seeing my feet?"

    A definite pass, in my opinion.    … Expand
  10. PublicNuisance
    May 27, 2018
    7
    Doorways: Prelude was a solid game. Not fantastic in any way but also not bad in any way. That's not a bad thing to be. The graphics were decent but not great. The voice acting was decent. The game had a decently creepy vibe. The puzzles were not overly difficult, usually just a matter of finding the hidden pieces. The game had a couple moments that were close to traditional "run and hide"Doorways: Prelude was a solid game. Not fantastic in any way but also not bad in any way. That's not a bad thing to be. The graphics were decent but not great. The voice acting was decent. The game had a decently creepy vibe. The puzzles were not overly difficult, usually just a matter of finding the hidden pieces. The game had a couple moments that were close to traditional "run and hide" horror but they were few and far between. It was mostly puzzle solving.

    There was one bad puzzle, annoying really. Lets just say it had to do with spears and I am pretty sure I beat it by pure luck. It was basically trying to clear this room where if you got too close to these clay statues they one hit killed you. The story wasn't very fleshed out, which normally isn't an issue when you are playing through episodes 1 & 2 of 4, but still a little more backstory about this Doorway's group would have been nice.

    The game didn't crash once on me. I found no artifacts or other graphical glitches. There were 4 graphics options to play with and you could adjust the FOV to a max of 90. The game ran at a solid 60FPS for the bulk of the game but there were drops to the 20's for short bursts. I am not sure why as the game shouldn't stress this system with these visuals. The game was really dark but I didn't have as much issues with this compared to some. My monitor is 350 cd/m2 so maybe that helps but I only had to up the brightness from 5 to 7 in order to have an enjoyable experience and didn't have to adjust the monitor at all.

    Overall if you like puzzle games with a horror vibe such as Conarium you will probably enjoy this. I beat it in 110 minutes so it isn't very long but it is also not very expensive.

    My system:

    AMD FX-9590 | 16GB DDR3-2133 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 18.1 | Samsung 850 Evo 250GB | Solus 3 | Kernel 4.16.11-71.current    … Expand
  11. PortalToH3LL
    Dec 16, 2018
    4
    I recommend it only on sale, the asking price is too high for only 2 hours of play. The game itself is atmospheric with added elements of horror.

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 3 out of 3
  1. 4P.de
    Sep 27, 2013
    38
    It doesn’t rock and it doesn’t shock. The biggest scare of Doorways is imagining that there will be more episodes like this one.
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  2. GameSpot
    Sep 24, 2013
    40
    Shoots for scares, but elicits yawns.
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  3. Gameblog.fr
    Sep 24, 2013
    40
    Saibot offers an interesting first person adventure here, but Doorways is very short. The story of each psycho killer is dissolved and the puzzles are no problem. But above all, despite a fairly "nice" sordid atmosphere, we cannot say that we have been frightened while playing.
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