The Last Door | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | The Game Kitchen |
Publisher(s) | The Game Kitchen |
Composer(s) | Carlos Viola |
Engine | Adobe AIR (The Last Door) Unity (The Last Door: Season 2) |
Platform(s) | Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Windows Phone, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
Release | 2013-2016 |
Genre(s) | Graphic adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Last Door is an episodic psychological horror graphic adventure video game developed and published by The Game Kitchen for the Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux platforms. [1] [2] [3] As of January 2016, eight episodes have been released. A collector's edition of the first season was released in May 2014 by Phoenix Online Publishing, featuring new content. [4]
The plot revolves around four childhood friends, of which the player controls Jeremiah Devitt (and later his psychiatrist, Doctor Wakefield), who attempt to explore a supernatural territory/phenomenon known as the Veil. The story takes place long after the friends have separated, and Devitt is summoned by his old friend Anthony Beechworth's last words to investigate the mysterious supernatural forces that now threaten them all.
The Last Door was crowdfunded on Kickstarter in December 2012, and the first episode was released in March 2013, with three more to follow. [5] Each new episode could be unlocked by a donation of any size, creating a successful ongoing financial model that allowed them to complete the series. [5]
The game was inspired by works from Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. The soundtrack of all episodes was composed and arranged by Carlos Viola. The Game Kitchen lets the community hold an important place in the development of each episode, with select players playing through beta versions and helping the team by finding bugs, contributing in-game text, and suggesting improvements.
The game was developed episodically from 2013 until 2016. In late 2015 it was announced that the series would end with the finale of Season 2 because the game was not generating enough income for The Game Kitchen, and the developers wanted to move onto another, hopefully more successful endeavour in order to save the business. The series finale was released in January 2016, marking the end of The Last Door saga. The developers have said that the finale is not necessarily the end of The Last Door, as they may choose to reopen the project at a later time, when it is more realistic for the company.
In June 2015 The Game Kitchen released the assets of season one under the CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. [6]
As a point-and-click adventure, the player controls the character, moves him through various locations, picks up and uses items to move the story forward, and solves puzzles. Red herrings are rare, with each item generally having a single use. Episodes start out with a number of locked areas, which can be unlocked by finding keys and using other items to expand the explorable world. In episodes 1, 2, and 3 of the Season 2 a larger, map based world was introduced, giving players the ability to open a map to travel to different regions or areas of the overall map, and then being able to explore the area selected on foot. This feature is absent in the final instalment of Season Two, "Beyond the Curtain."
In terms of interface, The Last Door is a fairly typical third-person point-and-click adventure. A smart cursor shows hotspots that can be looked at, picked up or interacted with. It also shows exits from the current screen; double-clicking one instantly moves you to the next. The inventory is shown at the bottom of the screen where you can combine items occasionally, and there is a magnifying glass that gives descriptions of each item you’ve acquired. There are lots of doors in the game, as the title suggests, and doors stay open to signify unlocked areas.
Although the abstract graphics naturally make identifying specific details difficult prior to Devitt’s guidance—such as the fact that a painting is a portrait of Beechworth—locating the interactive objects in each small room is never too challenging, and never feels like a hunt and peck quest. The puzzles, and their required implementation of those objects, are similarly straightforward, with the most complicated solutions requiring no more than three items.
Aggregator | Score |
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GameRankings | 75.50/100 [7] |
Metacritic | 79/100 [8] |
Publication | Score |
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Adventure Gamers | 4/5 [5] |
GamesMaster | 84/100 [7] |
GameSpot | 7/10 [9] |
IGN | 8.5/10 [10] |
Darkstation | 90/100 [11] |
Gamefront | 80/100 [12] |
The game has been well received by critics and fans of the genre, and has been variously described as "Simple but effective", "a great, chilling narrative experience", [11] and that "apart from ever-building dread, there are a few great popcorn-tossing moments mixed throughout". [12]
Its puzzles were described as "generally rewarding and solvable", and that "its graphical style works to help make the game feel strange or otherworldly". The plot was "able to give some chills", [10] but was considered a cliffhanger ending by some reviewers. [12]
The game received numerous awards, including: [13]
Carolyn Petit of GameSpot praised the engrossing gameplay and suggestive graphics:
The Last Door exhibits a few frustrating relics of adventure game design, but it also weaves an unsettling tale of insanity and psychological horror. But this web-based adventure game is off to a promisingly frightening start. The Last Door is all the more engrossing for the ways in which its visuals encourage your own imagination to play a part in creating its horrors.
Adam Smith of the Rock, Paper, Shotgun online magazine praised the crowdfunding model:
The Last Door’s approach to crowdfunding is elegant. Seriously, it is. Good for the game and great for the audience. By releasing episodically, The Game Kitchen are effectively telling a story and shaking the can for tips at the end of each chapter to see if people are willing to pay for more. And the audience is happy to cough up the cash.
— Adam Smith, Open For Business: The Last Door Season One Ends, Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Jillian Werner of Gamezebo praised the soundtrack and music:
While every detail of The Letter is perfectly arranged to immerse players in this tragic story, the music and sound effects create the strongest pull. The exquisite orchestral soundtrack, while an original work by Carlos Viola, could just as easily be an undiscovered composition by Chopin. Select tracks, like "A House in Silence," provide short glimpses of the scientific and occult plot points that are only briefly hinted at in this chapter. The house itself—though silent by Devitt’s account—speaks volumes in its creaky floors, drafty windows, and other ambient sounds, like a crow tapping on a glass window.
Katie Smith of Adventure Gamers praised the "retro" feel of the graphics:
The Last Door is a great retro atmospheric horror game that will make you want to keep opening up its mysteries until you reach the end. Retro pixel art and sound work great together to create a spooky Victorian era atmosphere and plenty of chills; interesting supernatural horror story; good variety of locations to explore. The graphics are distinctly retro, and the blocky textures and low resolution will probably turn off gamers who demand only the newest graphic technology. However, the pixel art works well for this type of game. As with Lovecraft, this game is all about suggestion, not showing what frightens us but rather letting hints stimulate the imagination.
From here, the game has at least two alternate endings. Wakefield can either travel through the curtain, or he can let the curtain close. Each triggers a unique ending to the game. If the player goes through the curtain, Wakefield sacrifices himself and takes Devitt's place. He stays behind to close The Last Door and is killed. Devitt then finds himself in a London street, where he returns home and burns evidence. If the player lets the curtain close, then Devitt is killed as he closes the Last Door. After closing it, Wakefield is transported to a London street and he finds his way home, before burning all remnants of his journey through the Veil. In both endings, the surviving characters makes a pact to "see that no one knows," reflecting the Playwright's motto, videte ne quis sciat. Additionally, both endings also feature those members of the Playwright who were in the Veil (including Alexandre) becoming trapped in the Veil, essentially rendering them nonexistent.
Chapter | Release date |
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Episode 1 – "The Letter" | March 15, 2013 |
Episode 2 – "Memories" | June 25, 2013 |
Episode 3 - "The Four Witnesses" | October 19, 2013 |
Episode 4 - "Ancient Shadows" | February 18, 2014 |
Chapter | Release date |
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Episode 1 - "The Playwright" | October 31, 2014 |
Episode 2 - "My Dearest Visitor" | April 6, 2015 |
Episode 3 - "The Reunion" | August 17, 2015 |
Episode 4 - "Beyond the Curtain" | January 15, 2016 |
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