Doorways: The Underworld

The last sequence of the game is by far the most entertaining. The flashback system with the watch was a great and unique take I haven't seen from a game so far. but the majority of the game is your typical grab a key to find a valve to unlock this door. The story is unoriginal but for a game released in 2014 its acceptable. Enjoyable overall for an old game.

*sigh* Ah, Doorways. (Reviewing the entire 4 chapters / 3 games at once; no spoilers).

Rarely if ever have I encountered a game that had me both very intrigued AND utterly annoyed, often changing between the two in a matter of minutes, while sadly often remaining on the "annoyed" part longer.

It literally goes from "Man this is so cool" to "What in the actual ****, who the **** designed this and where can I go to have them banned from ever making video games again?" (Okay, maybe a bit harsh, but frustration levels can get quite high when playing these.)


The good:

- The one thing that all games nail is the immersion. Sound design (including the voice actor), overall aesthetics, level design, all creative / 3D artist work, genuinely outstanding stuff here. That is, if you turn up your gamma before playing, because everything is ridiculously dark on default, especially in the first game.


The bad:

- Story-wise it's confusing at best. While I get that they needed an excuse to create bizarre dark fantasy settings, just calling it "Going into the mind of serial killers" and then never explaining anything about it is really detrimental to the great atmosphere the game does manage to create.

- Poor sense of progression and feedback to the player. This becomes especially egregious when you're on the lookout for the collectible relics. These often spawn at places you've already been to, with absolutely zero indication that something has even changed. Even "better", some become quickly inaccessible if you accidentally progress beyond certain points, requiring you to restart the entire game because there's no manual saves and chapter selection doesn't save overall collectibles progress.

- The puzzles, including enemy / boss encounters. While some are intuitive, many get (the wrong kind of) confusing or frustrating. Doesn't help that some of them just keep reoccurring, sometimes basically unaltered. Shout out to the end of "The Underworld", which I'm pretty sure is actually violating the Geneva Conventions.


So where's the thumbs up coming from? If you find this on a steep discount and if you're a sucker for creepy indie horror games with a unique feel and atmosphere, you could give this a go. Just be prepared for some frustration, which will likely occur at some point.

Note for Linux / Steam Deck players: While there are native versions for all 3 parts, most achievements are broken and will not unlock. Thankfully plays very well with Proton.

I can't believe I am having to give this game a bad review, because it's beautifully horrifying and twisted. Great atmosphere and a cold, bleak soundtrack.

What got me to stop playing, was the basement maze levels. They were incredibly tedious and frustrating. You are without a map for the first portion of it, so good luck finding the switches to open the next area. Then you have to worry about one of the monsters who appears when you flashback (which is required to see some of the hidden switches). You have to race through these fucking cereal box mazes to get to the door before it shuts, WHILE having to worry about the monster who could literally just appear right in front of you and kill you without moment's notice. You have to put your map down and use your flashback ability to speed up your pace and slow down time. This hinders your ability to see where the fuck you are navigating, and risks the monster getting you.

I just found this all to be incredibly unnecessary and a shame to have ruined such a great game.

This is easily one of the most unfair and bs games i've ever played. Most of the monsters (except the Fatso the Fatty) have ridicullous unfair mechanics and appear in the most random and bs locations. Maps itself are as bland and uninteresting as it is humanely possible - textures and paths are just like my guts - narrow, dark, all shades of brown and straight.
First wheelee amputee is capable of seeing you across all the map, and zooms to you at flash speed, giving you no chance to survive. Last boss' flashback mechanic can spawn her 10 cm in front of you, resulting in instakill, despite game's popups saying that she cannot spawn near you.

Overall i'm very frustrated with this game.

I should have heeded the writing on the wall whilst meandering through the prelude of Doorways. The Underworld begins on a propitious note; the brief and harrowing venture in the mines abated a portion of my pessimism, and then I fell into the sewers. From here the game changes course and rolls down the mountain of melancholy, hitting every tree of torment along the way until finally crashing at its base. What remains is one of the most tedious and offensive final levels ever egested.

A trip to Tophet that is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

3/10

I encountered a bug in the basement level. It put me in a constant state of a flashback and the enemy disappeared. I believe that was the only way I was going to beat the level. I got the bug to trigger twice. Hit F as the flashback is about to end and you should get the bug. Makes the maze level a hella easier and less frustrating.

First level and enemy was pretty good. The sewer levels I didn't care for. I liked the hospital level but it was short. The basement level was aggravating especially with the enemy randomly appearing everywhere. The basement enemy was something from Clive Barker. Reminded me of Hellraiser. I think the creepiness was better but I believe atmosphere from the first was gone. Looking forward to the next one.

From what I heard original Doorway title was supposed to be recieveing new episodes for free but seeing how tough indies somehow have it, I don't mind too much that they have sold these separately. It's the next part after Prelude. Still with film grain for no good reason, that you can disable. Still horror exploration.

Having heard feedback from the Prelude, mostly about how it feels like monster-less walking simulator, devs take an aim, swing their arm aaaaaaand.... miss the mark once again.

Because this time they went into generic "pacman with one monster" mazes. And this ones fill like fillers a lot of times. It's all extremely predictable.
Albeit I did like the final maze core gameplay at first. Until the monster, who is supposed to follow consisted rules, would RNG where he shouldn't. Which was pain because there is a timed switch and there is only enough time if nothing goes wrong. So I only was able to beat that part by glitching the flashback state permanently.

They also tried to make it more filled with story details, just a bit. Mostly your main hero talking for a bit. Going "what the hell is this place" at the start of a game, despite experiencing Prelude, not patting an eye when a freak of a monster appears and chases him, then falls into pit and jumpscares himself by looking at a tidy mr skeletar.
So it's still rather silly.

Yep, solid but skippable. Few inspiring moments but still mostly a filler.

Nice Premise: Shame about the game

Oh what a gem! I'm so glad I stumbled upon the Doorways series because horror is pretty dull nowadays. And hey, the devs turned up the brightness for all of you 'complaining people'!

This chapter was a lot more frustrating than Prelude (in a good way!) and Queen of Sorrow made my life a living hell. Completed with 100% achievement progress though :)

A continuation of Prelude with again some really twisted visuals.

Definitely looking better. Puzzles are about the same: look for items and use them to open doors and such, but there's a new level to it. A sort of parallel reality by using a flashback amulet, looking both back in time and interacting with objects.

Plus there are monsters. Monsters that chase you. And while that sounds like a lot of fun (it mostly is), in one particular case (the maze) it can become quite annoying because it requires a lot of trial and error and even some blind luck to get through the last part of that maze. Although, probably there was some more logic to it which I just didn't see.

So, like Prelude, The Underworld is a disturbingly fun game.

Great 2nd saga in the story. Wonderful sounds and pop-scares. Nothing like running from something that is chasing you and you forgot where you were. lol

Play it in the dark and with the sound up. The only way to keep the hairs on your arm standing on end.

I will say, when you get towards ther ending og the mazes it can be very fustrating.

The whole game is going around at escaping from some monsters in dark tunnel/labyrinth systems. I think developers got run out of ideas especially at the last part of the game because they have you pull a lever in a damn labyrinth while escaping a monster for 6-7 times. Boring as hell game if you ask me. Overall rating is positive because most of the people on steam don't really bother to finish a game. Prelude is more enjoyable and scary actually.

Pretty good horror game.
I liked the first two chapters and this one feels like a more polished version, with better visuals, less darkness and more varied puzzles. And again, the checkpoint system is very well-designed.
I have just one big complaint - unlike the previous game, this one relies too much on chase scenes. I hate them in most horror games and this is no exception. They break the atmosphere and change the genre from puzzle adventure to frustrating trial&error racing game. And no, after dying and repeating the stage for the tenth time the monster is not scary at all. It's just stupid.

"Oh, my God! What...what is this place?! WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!?"

Think that's a tad melodramatic? Well, if you're gonna buy this game, you'd best get used to it.

In Doorways: The Underworld you play the single most hysteria-prone supernatural-investigator-of-evil-people's-minds that you will ever meet. Even after being chased down narrow, bendy, all-but-completely-dark tunnels by fucked-up dudes who look like they just stepped out of a Clive Barker novel, he's still prone to jump-scaring HIMSELF with the comparatively mild sight of a clean-picked skeleton or two. Seriously, the guy is kinda crazy: He talks to himself persistently, asking more silly questions than a six year-old child being raised in an Eastern European brothel, and they're all completely rhetorical because apart from the odd tortured, animalistic guy with a wheel in place of a pair of legs, HE'S ALL ALONE.

I mean, if the first sign of madness is talking to oneself, then the second must surely be skulking about in unfeasibly dark places when you're as unsuited to scaring yourself as an incontinent schoolgirl with a rare heart condition. This game's approach to scares brings two words to mind: "Heavy" and "handed". In roughly that order. Having said that, it IS quite genuinely scary at times, almost in spite of itself.

Proceedings get off to a particularly poor start, in any case, with a sub-Amnesia style bit which succeeds neither as "stealth" nor "pursuit", and yet BOTH are integral to getting through it. It's a bit trial-and-error to say the least, and I for one nearly gave up on the game there and then, not even ten minutes in. Fortunately things DO get better from there - at least until the heavily glitch-ridden finale - and there's actually quite a lot of really good stuff in this game if you stick with it. I certainly wouldn't recommend it, however, to anyone just "discovering" the horror genre for the first time. There's every chance you'll just throw in the towel with frustration, and never bother playing another horror game for as long as you live.

The first Doorways game (Doorways: Prelude) somehow turned minimal mechanics and an almost total lack of regular, mobile "enemies" into a strangely compelling and satisfying experience. Somehow, by adding more typical gaming mechanics, this second entry has done itself a bit of a disservice. With a bit of luck I'll find that by the third and final game in the series, the devs have ironed things out a bit, and consolidated the best aspects of the first and second game into some kind of harmonious whole. I have faith: Saibot Studios are far from stoopid or untalented, they just need to give themselves a bit of a kick in the arse from time to time.

Verdict: 8/10.

(PS Nice little "homages" to Outlast and Penumbra in the sewer section. You'll know what I mean when you see them, BELIEVE ME!!!)

One of the most boring and annoying games I've played! In the first one there was really great atmosphere Amnesia style and dark but beautiful leels, here we got mazes of the same textures. Level architecture? Neverheard about it. Only the Hospital level looks ok (or maybe it's just shorter).
As for the puzzles - here is how it works:
"Here is the the puzzle. Like it? Good, cause we got an other same one, but a bit harder. Now go to the next part of the level (that looks compleetly the same as the previous), and do some more of the same puzzles (now they're harder). Want some more of this cool puzzle? No? Want something different? Well, we don't give a f@#$, just go on with the same stuff over and over again!"
First game that I finished just for the achievements. But it's not worth it.

I somewhat enjoyed the challenges, though at times I felt it was a little repetitious. What got my blood pressure up was the fact that I cannot finish the game. The last level--the maze- I understood what I had to do. It was doing it--the last part just got me so frustrated I just decided it wasen't worth the aggravation.
When I am given seconds to attempt to run from one spot to another with some stupid map that either
blocks your view or you cannot read because it is out of view and you know you have ran out of time, well,
why bother when your near the end of the game anyway.
After awhile the "scary Person" is not scary, just annoying, and you want a weapon that will bludgeon her and
will help vent your frustration.

A good horror game with some cool puzzels and a sick atmosphere.
The graphics are good and so is the gameplay.
I recommend this game for all horror fans out there.

Doorways: The Underworld was absolutely incredible. Compare to Chapter 1 & 2, Chapter 3 was longer, chasers were more thoughtful, puzzles were harder, ambiance was deeper and more terrifying and control mechanics were absolutely amazing (That Flashback was just whow and sometimes really scary!).

Only thing what was negative for me was that chasers such as The Wheeler and others. When they were still attacking you - After a while it stoped being scary - It would be much interesting if they would have more random abilities... Other than that - THUMBS UP!

Rating 11/10

My whole playlist of this amazing game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR4Cfk2aZ8E&index=1&list=PL-MZNXe7HxNARkio9i2Gmut6naw_Wf4tp

★☆☆☆☆ Terrible!

Horror

[hr]A boring expirience![/hr]

If you're a fan of atmospheric horror, you'll be a fan of this. If you were a fan of the first two chapters of Doorways, prepare to be surprised...sorta.

From the offset it's got the same atmosphere, the same tension running throughout that made the first chapters stand out. Alongside this it has more traditional horror moments, putting this game somewhere between Chapter Two and Amnesia: Dark Descent in terms of play. Throw in some slightly more natural, less force-scripted, dialogue from Thomas Foster (that's YOU) and you're onto a winner.

But, the game does take a turn for the worst in the puzzle repetition. While the first real set of puzzles are basically split in two and repeated, it's forgiveable as the experience is new for the game (you'll know what I mean when you play it) and tense throughout. It's a constant threat, or it feels like it. But the second puzzle feels more lax and easier - just repetition without the fearful tension to make it ignorable.
Sadly this isn't just a one-off. I've not completely finished the story yet (couldn't find a certain something...), but what I assume to be the final puzzle/area is another case of repetition. I personally found this one the worst, as it had no tension and became a total grind of finding things and trying to figure out what to do with very little actual indication. I spent 50 minutes solid running around this bit pointlessly...without revealing too much, except puzzle initials, I hated the X-R bit.

But still, it's a solid game and so far it stands up. The price is arguably a bit steep, I completely agree, but this game is still damn good. It's enjoyable and it has a good share of spooks and jumps. I do not regret my choice of buying this.


If you want to look for yourself, here's a playthrough of the first part of the chapter with more following imminently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE2W-4q1ot4

It's hard to justify even $7 for this.

I really liked Chapter 1 & 2. Chapter 3 starts off just as strong! The scares were decent, the atmosphere was nice. This chapter features a lot of chase sequences, like the room with the giant statue in chapter 2. The first two with the first "monster" are really cool. The game has a very unique way of showing you help messages instead of using pop-up dialogue boxes, which is really cool. It adds to the stress of running away from the "monster". The story is pretty standard of this series, and the recap at the beginning of the chapter clears up some of the questions from the first 2. What confuses me, though, is in chapter 1 the main character barely remembers anything about what's going on, and now he seems to know exactly what is going on. Just weird, not a huge problem.

The game changes with the second set of chases, however, and instead of being kind of fun and a little creepy, just becomes tedious. You are basically in a big semi-maze, and you have to collect a key from one part of the maze to get an item that you need in another part of the maze to get through the end of the maze. (I don't want to spoil the whole thing, that's why I'm being so vague.) Essentially, this boils down to running around boring cave hallways, finding a key, running back to open a door, going through that door, getting an item, running back to the place to use the item, just to go find a different key and do it again. It's monotonous, and the "monster" chasing you during this time could have been cool if you didn't spend so much time doing everything. It's so tedious that it stops being scary 5 minutes into this section.

I didn't finish the chapter because of the section after that. The game just released, so I will go back to it eventually, but I'll explain why I didn't finish. The puzzle is either completely unfair and stupid, or I was missing something from the low brightness or my own stupidity. You have to arrange x-rays in a specific order, but where you find that order I have no clue. I ran back and forth through this part of the level about 10 times, not finding anything new. I had a frozen key to a door, but there was nothing to melt it out. There's a door that's locked with a numpad, but I didn't find a single clue to help open the door except for maybe some gibberish note on the wall that I couldn't make heads or tails of. Eventually, I got frustrated and ran around holding the frozen key, I jumped down a staircase, and one of the rooms was pitch black. I thought maybe I did something to trigger a change in the environment, so I stepped into the room. As I stepped in, I noticed some lights above me, and I looked up as I realized I was falling through the game. Somehow, the room had shifted upwards while the rest of the level stayed at the same position. This resulted in my continuous spawning underneath the level. I couldn't even access the menu to quit the game properly, because the menu appears sort of as part of the level I guess. I had to force quit the game.

All-in-all, the game starts out as good as the rest of the series, then quickly descends into monotony and poorly designed puzzles. Maybe the ending of the chapter would redeem this, but I won't know anytime soon. I wouldn't be too mad if I had paid $3, but for $7 this was really disappointing.