I actually played most of this some years back - in fact, it was one of the very first games I ever played on Steam! - but alas, my laptop back then was a steaming great pile of doggy-doo, and the lag I experienced ultimately meant that I had to throw in the towel and wait for a better computer. Well, I've now owned that better computer for well over a year, so I guess the time taken to get BACK to this game doesn't quite suggest that I found it all that "compelling" the first time around.
Coming back to it though, I gotta say, it actually stacks up EXTREMELY well next to a lot of the cheap, "indie" horror games which have come out since. It's maybe never quite "inspired", but Doorways: Prelude is consistently solid. Very solid. BRICK solid. Almost the textbook definition of "solid".
So what exactly does the gameplay comprise of, you ask? Is it a traditional "survival horror", in the vein of the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games? No. Definitely not. Is it more like a post-Amnesia: The Dark Descent "stealth horror" game, a la Outlast and Alien: Isolation? Again...no, not really, but definitely getting warmer. Is it a...gulp..."walking simulator", then? Well...hmmm...again, no. Not really. But kinda. But really kinda not, considering how many opportunities the game gives you to DIE.
"SO WHAT THE HELL KINDA HORROR GAME IS IT, THEN?!" I hear you scream, in mounting frustration. Well, hmmm...lemme think a sec...I guess it's really a bunch of quite different and varied "mini-games", and therein lies the difficulty in trying to nail it all down. This isn't a BAD thing, though, when the vast majority of said "mini-games" are actually rather GOOD "mini-games" - don't spend too long in the dark or die, find the correct path across the trap-laden floor, that kinda thing - and the overall game ultimately serves up oodles of what horror gamers generally seek the most: Spooky and interesting locations, puzzles which are challenging but not TOO tricky, and spooky atmosphere and (fairly minor) scares aplenty.
"BUT ARE THERE ENEMIES?" I hear you ask next, still not quite convinced what it is that you'll be buying if you throw down your hard-earned dosh for this game. Um...again, no easy, regular answer to this question, but my best attempt would be: Yes. Sometimes. Sort of. Though not generally in the "traditional" sense. But as I mentioned above, there's no end of ways to meet your demise, so don't fret if you're a member of the "not another ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ walking simulator" crowd. Rest assured, unless you're a much more competent gamer than myself - not hard, admittedly - you're not liable to complain that you didn't cark it enough times in the course of your play-through (which, for the record, is probably somewhere in the three to five hour range, making it kinda short but sufficiently sweet). There's certainly a fair element of trial-and-error style gameplay, though it's certainly no Limbo in that regard, and the save/check-points are frequent enough to never render it TOO frustrating in that department.
Sure, there's a few things wrong with it: It's insanely dark (I mean visually, not just tonally!), but once you crank your brightness up a little it's fine (and don't feel guilty for doing so...I certainly didn't, 'cause it really is borderline unplayable in parts if you DON'T). And sure, the whole "here's a static, cut-screen image of a spooky little girl to signify your death" thing is usually a sure-fire sign of cheap AND nasty, but somehow it seems justifiable enough in the way it's used in this game, and if you stick around long enough, you WILL encounter "enemies" which actually MOVE (but I won't spoil that for you).
So what about the price? Well, it's possibly a tad steep at ten bucks, so unless you're frankly unconcerned by such things, I'd probably wait for a sale. In any case, I'm taking it as a good sign of what's to come in the two episodes released since, and if it's any kind of incentive, I just purchased said remaining episodes on the strength of re-playing this one (granted, in a sale)! I can only assume that the games get BETTER as they progress, and if so, this is a pretty bloody good start.
Verdict: 9/10.
