Doorways: The Underworld

Oh, gosh. I have never felt so alive and stressed out at the end as this. Seriously I entered some kind of zen mode and that is the only reason I managed to beat the game. Remembering labyrinths and pulling triggers and avoiding the enemy. I don't know how I managed. Tune down the difficulty on the sequences before the last part will you? Don't expect to beat the last part, this was too difficult. If you manage this your a gaming god.

Una muy buena segunda parte a la altura de la saga muy recomendado. Juego Completo : https://youtu.be/-eBcvFiRAfY

It's not bad. It's almost good and an easy recommend, but some chase sequences are too punishing and the maze part is extremely frustrating. Seriously wtf. It starts strong and intensely atmospheric, but then it gets super annoying and frustrating as you start to die over and over. I would prefer to give this a mixed review, but unfortunately there's still none of that, so let's keep it at positive.

Неплохая бродилка а-ля Амнезия или Аутласт.

!

*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.