Doorways

Doorways
by Saibot Studios - September, 2013

Available at:
Official Site
Desura Chapter 1 & 2
GamersGate Chapter 1 & 2
Steam Chapter 1 & 2



Doorways is an episodic survival horror game, featuring a complex story and deep atmosphere. Each chapter will challenge you with its fast-paced gameplay and breathtaking visuals and sounds, so prepare to immerse yourself in a terrifying psychological experience.

You're playing as Thomas Foster, a special agent who must track down four psychopaths. Who are these people? What is this place and how did you get here?

These are just some of the questions that you must answer during your journey...

• Horrifying exploration adventure with an immersive atmosphere
  
• Ingenious puzzles as well as challenges that put your reflexes at test
  
• Inspired voice acting by Sam A. Mowry (the voice of Alexander in Amnesia: The Dark Descent)
  
• Replayability through many secret places
  
• Full Controller support
  
• Native Oculus Rift support
  
• GGG Group Play Thread
  

Doorways Chapter 1 & 2 (Survival Adventure)

There are options for Controls, Video, Audio, and Language.

Default Controls are:

---W---------A------S-------D
Forward - Left - Right - Back

Shift - Decelerate
Crouch - Control
Jump - Space Bar
Inventory - Tab
Notes - N
  Or use the direct approach: Items - I, Notes - N, Relics - R

Push - Left Mouse Button
Pull - Right Mouse Button

ALL of these can be adjusted in the options menu.  Personally, I changed Crouch to the Shift button, and I never needed to use Decelerate.

TO ADJUST CONTROLS:
Go into the options menu, and use Enter button to make an adjustment.  Once you hit Enter, select the key you want to have as that control.  If you want the Enter key to be used for that action, just hit the Enter key a second time.

Under Video, the graphics can be as small as 640x480 and up to 1920x1080.  There is also a full-screen option, and it looks great on widescreen   You can also adjust the quality of the graphics if the game is running slowly -- the default is Medium.  On the next page (which I missed until AFTER I completed the game!) are settings for brightness (wish I'd know this was there!!!   ), Additional Light, Noise Effect, Depth of Field, and Vignetting Effect.

For Audio we can adjust the Volume, and whether or not we want voice overs, and finally, for Languages, we can choose between English and Spanish.

Now that I've gotten all of the technical stuff out of the way, here's my review!

I did not think I could play this kind of game... I've never played anything like it!  I bought it because so many of YOU, my dear users, purchased it, and I wanted to be able to play along with you!

The game takes two hands to play -- One for navigation on the keyboard, and the other on the mouse to direct your gaze.  We ARE our character, and what he sees, we see.  We have full 360-degree movement via the mouse, and it was really a pleasure to look around and just enjoy the environment we've been placed in.  If you take your time (which you can do for most, but not all of the game,) there is a lot to see and appreciate!

The graphics themselves, like the soundtrack and voice over, are deeply environmental, plunging you into despair, fear, and madness.  The default setting for brightness was sufficient for all of Chapter 2, but I spent much of Chapter 1 finding my way blindly, and getting through some sections through sheer tenaciousness and experimentation!   Now that I know we can adjust the settings for brightness, I imagine I won't have such a hard time in the future!

One of the perplexing things about this game is... How do you save?    There is no option to do so anywhere, so how... ?  The answer is that saving is automatic.  Periodically as you progress, the screen will go black for about half a second -- that's one of the automatic saves going on   If you should mess up... Say, fall into a chasm, you will be returned to the last save point, which, thankfully, is never far behind where you've had your... *ahem* ... accident.

As mentioned you need to have two hands to play this, and you really do need to have some coordination to get through this game!  I can't even tell you how many times I had to replay certain sequences!

For the most part the gameplay is easy to understand, and can be figured out if you stop to consider your surroundings and inventory.  The game is designed to keep you from getting lost, blocking off areas that you no longer need access to, and/or removing the light source from the room.

The story progresses via finding notes, which voice YOUR thoughts.  Interesting way to handle story progression, to be sure, and it worked for me just fine~

This isn't a game that I can see playing straight through from stop to finish.  Any time I got stuck, I'd walk away and do something else for a while, then come back to have a fresh perspective on it.  This worked out very well for me!

In the end I enjoyed stepping into this creepy and sometimes-scary world!  I look forward to seeing the next chapter(s) when they come out.  For updates, check out the Official Site.

Great set of instructions, genki.  I opened the game and sure did miss the "brightness" page.  So now I can go back in and be able to see where I'm going.  :D