This follows directly on from 'Doorways: Prelude', a not unlikeable game with an interesting premise and short run time. They're cheap games in a series that includes 'Doorways:Unholy Mountains of Flesh' and a lot of what's happening in this second installment/third chapter doesn't require you having played the first installment/chapter one & two.

***There are minor spoilers regarding mechanics this game uses, so do not read further if this matters to you.***

You are stereotypically steampunk-esque-sounding protagonist, who is working for an agency called Doorways - a group that deals with extreme criminal cases via use of psychics. You are one such person and you enter the minds of murderers to try and bring them to justice.

Which sounds awesome except that it's a game and you can't do that. But nevermind, your proxy psychic on screen can do it for you! Badly. Whilst getting crazier with each passing encounter. It's a nice, new take on the detective story, a bright detective with an unknown past facing off against twisted genius but inside of the killers mind, rather than at the Reichanbach Falls.

Game play wise, this has much of the 'Escape Room' vibe. You're in a place and need to solve puzzles in order to move to the next area. You have the combat ability of a dead dried sprat. The puzzles are pretty simple, but finding what you need can be difficult. It's not a graphically impressive game and even on highest settings some items and buttons simply get lost amongst the areas.

One way in which this second part differentiates from the first is that there are now chase sequences involving some messed up monsters, and these are the parts where the game really comes alive. The claustrophobic atmosphere and the excellent sound work really do give a sense of building dread and terror. There are bits of information lying around about these subjects but I didn't feel anything for them, the game skimps over either humanising them as victims or building them up as something to fear, which I personally feel was a mistake.

Unfortunately, towards the end a new mechanic is introduced which is a little glitchy and awkward to control. The controls are about a half second out from the rest of the universe in general, so triggering an item which also triggers a monster spawn in entirely the wrong area is a regular occurance.

That absolutely killed the game for me, taking something creepy and forcing it to be repeatedly re-done ruins the fear effect, and clunky yet floating controls on both mouse & keyboard and controller simply annoy.

I still intend to finish it, but for now 'Doorways:The Underworld' has become dull, implementing some good sections but attempts to build on them fall flat, a passable game for the first two thirds, even interesting and creepy, which it simply cannot sustain in the final act. I recommend this if you can see past the above, for the musical score and atmosphere and the nice premise.

No, I will not give it a numerical score, I'll presume people are bright enough to read through a review without needing a layered opinion boiled down for them like they're a White House embarrassment.

[h1]Nice Premise: Shame about the game[/h1] This follows directly on from 'Doorways: Prelude', a not unlikeable game with an interesting premise and short run time. They're cheap games in a series that includes 'Doorways:Unholy Mountains of Flesh' and a lot of what's happening in this second installment/third chapter doesn't require you having played the first installment/chapter one & two. ***There are minor spoilers regarding mechanics this game uses, so do not read further if this matters to you.*** You are stereotypically steampunk-esque-sounding protagonist, who is working for an agency called Doorways - a group that deals with extreme criminal cases via use of psychics. You are one such person and you enter the minds of murderers to try and bring them to justice. Which sounds awesome except that it's a game and you can't do that. But nevermind, your proxy psychic on screen can do it for you! Badly. Whilst getting crazier with each passing encounter. It's a nice, new take on the detective story, a bright detective with an unknown past facing off against twisted genius but inside of the killers mind, rather than at the Reichanbach Falls. Game play wise, this has much of the 'Escape Room' vibe. You're in a place and need to solve puzzles in order to move to the next area. You have the combat ability of a dead dried sprat. The puzzles are pretty simple, but finding what you need can be difficult. It's not a graphically impressive game and even on highest settings some items and buttons simply get lost amongst the areas. One way in which this second part differentiates from the first is that there are now chase sequences involving some messed up monsters, and these are the parts where the game really comes alive. The claustrophobic atmosphere and the excellent sound work really do give a sense of building dread and terror. There are bits of information lying around about these subjects but I didn't feel anything for them, the game skimps over either humanising them as victims or building them up as something to fear, which I personally feel was a mistake. Unfortunately, towards the end a new mechanic is introduced which is a little glitchy and awkward to control. The controls are about a half second out from the rest of the universe in general, so triggering an item which also triggers a monster spawn in entirely the wrong area is a regular occurance. That absolutely killed the game for me, taking something creepy and forcing it to be repeatedly re-done ruins the fear effect, and clunky yet floating controls on both mouse & keyboard and controller simply annoy. I still intend to finish it, but for now 'Doorways:The Underworld' has become dull, implementing some good sections but attempts to build on them fall flat, a passable game for the first two thirds, even interesting and creepy, which it simply cannot sustain in the final act. I recommend this if you can see past the above, for the musical score and atmosphere and the nice premise. No, I will not give it a numerical score, I'll presume people are bright enough to read through a review without needing a layered opinion boiled down for them like they're a White House embarrassment.