Day 27 of the October Horror Reviews - Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh
I actually started the Doorways series around the time it came out, if I'm not mistaken. Was quite intrigued by the atmosphere, and the way it approached a complex topic: Exploring the minds of serial killers and evildoers. It's taken me a few years to finally finish this one, and I feel like maybe that was for a reason.
Short of embarrassing myself, I actually looked at a few reviews for the game after finally finishing it and I found that I was not the only person to have to look up a guide for a couple of the puzzles. This is not an indictment of the devs, they did a great job with producing genuinely challenging puzzles, though the signposting could use a little work and there aren't enough hints for a couple of them. The changing room puzzle was tough, and I believe I also encountered the same issue someone else did with the TV - I figured it out on my own, but it was just a bit squirrely with the placement.
Signposting appears to be one of the bigger issues in this game in general, really. For example, at the end, there's no indication that you have to take the dagger back off of the pedestal to use it again. So you can literally walk right past it without even having it highlighted to reclaim it.
The game appears to have dived a little more into the motivations of the protagonist, and the company they work for. It seems as though they went a darker route here and suggested that even though the monsters they stop are indeed monsters, they're also basically putting a halt to anyone who dares know too much, so the game feels like it's discussing amorality at large, something I find quite interesting.
Level design is pretty interesting. Each act pulses with dread, there's a bit of a paper trail to find, but finding the notes left behind informs the player of some fairly dark intentions, and each monstrosity you encounter seems to be an amalgamation of all of those intentions.
Sound design feels tense, eerie and gritty - the voice acting is charming and it's fascinating to know that the VA from Amnesia was also in this. That's pretty cool - but without allowing myself to be overtaken by bias, I will say that there were certain points where the VAs came out sounding a little rough, if only because it was overlayed with a few other sounds.
Final thoughts on the game are that after years of playing this, this is not a game I'd play twice. The story, while obviously something they've worked on a while, feels a bit clunky and convoluted, and the puzzles really can be off-putting for people. The game definitely feels like a real thinker, and I suppose if you're looking for that type of game, even if it's a bit heavy-handed, it's still worth a try (just remember to play the first two first). 5.5/10
