Doorways: The Underworld is the third chapter in the Doorways series. Since there’s no review of the previous two chapters on this site, I’ll give you a run down on them first.
The premise is a little difficult to get to grips with; but essentially, it sees you as the agent Thomas Foster, who is tracking four psychopaths. It isn’t entirely clear how he is doing this or where he is, but it appears (or it is strongly suggested) that the whole experience is psychological – you are exploring the psychos’ minds in order to defeat them. What this translates to in gameplay form is exploring a variety of spooky areas, collecting items and solving some light puzzles.
The first two episodes offered some fairly interesting environments, but not a lot in the way of actual gameplay. We have some dank cave, a forest and a dungeon all brimming with atmosphere, but not a whole lot to really do in them. There is the occasional interesting puzzle and mechanic, such as matching pressure plates on the floor with a particular sequence, and trying to keep your torch lit in the dark forest (if your torch runs out you are plunged into darkness and will die); and there is also a bit of a boss fight at the end of chapter 2, which sees you timing the boss’s attacks and hiding behind columns that will inevitably collapse; but generally speaking the majority of the game sees you picking up notes and keys, and none of the puzzles or problems are very challenging.
For what they lack in interesting game design, however, they make up for with that atmosphere as I mentioned. It is quite similar to Amnesia: The Dark Descent in some ways – not just with respect to item gathering, but also to the narrations from your character Foster when reading notes. It’s very good voice acting, and adds a lot to the overall feel of the game.
The third chapter, The Underworld, sets right a few of the poor aspects of the previous two chapters. For a start, the story becomes a little clearer, courtesy of an opening cutscene; and the game just generally seems to have more of a drive to get to this episode’s particular psychopath – all three episodes are decidedly ‘dream-like’; however, The Underworld is much clearer.
The levels in The Underworld are also a fair bit more ‘nightmarish’. To some that could be a negative – I quite liked the more subtle, creepy areas of the first two – but to others this will be a bit more overtly scary. Similar can be said for the gameplay. While the first two chapters were atmospheric, there wasn’t a whole lot of responsibility thrust on the player; but The Underworld steps things up a bit. Now they have incorporated some run and hide gameplay, in which the player must search an area (a sewer or a maze) under the constant threat of an enemy waiting round the corner. These parts of the game are really well put together, and create some genuinely tense and scary moments.
Towards the end of the game, a particularly interesting mechanic is thrown in – a device, which shows you flashbacks revealing things that were previously there, such as doors and so forth. One way specifically that this mechanic is used well, is in some of the ‘run and hide’ sections. When you use the device, a monster (possibly the psychopath – it’s a little difficult to tell) can be revealed and will start to chase you. You need to use the device to activate certain levers and buttons, so you are essentially compelled to put yourself in danger. Both this mechanic and the ‘run and hide’ gameplay do a lot to progress this series as a decent horror game.
There are still some issues though. Although generally speaking this episode is superior in quality to the previous two, its differences do feel a tad jarring if you are a regular to the series. That sounds like a weird criticism, I know, but the games really don’t follow on well from each other. Similarly, it seems that in an attempt to make the game more scary/striking, a small bit of dialogue has been added in-game (i.e. not just when your character is reading notes). It seems really weird to hear your character exclaim “what is this place?” or “what’s happening?” when he has actually been through scary stuff in the first two games without as much as a peep.
And perhaps the most damning thing is that the game still feels a bit shallow. The gameplay has been ramped up, and there are some more horror focussed levels; but it is still a bit too easy, repetitive and to a certain extent generic (the premise is original, but the presentation is not).
On the one hand it is a shame that The Underworld doesn’t reach the heights it is so clearly capable of achieving, but on the other this is a distinct improvement over the previous two episodes – Saibot Studios have genuinely made a better game, and with another episode planned I think this series could become a great one.