Doors: Paradox is a point-and-click game available on Steam/ Epic Games Store.
Format
Style of Play:
- Point-and-click
Who is it For?
- Puzzle lovers
- Scenery snobs
- Newbies
Required Equipment: computer with internet connection
Having a PC touch screen or mouse is helpful for some of the more finicky interactions.
Recommended Team Size: 1
Play Time: ranging from 5-10 hours over a multiple sessions
Price: We played this when it was a weekly free game from Epic Games Store; now $14.99 on Steam/ Epic Games
Booking: purchase and play at your leisure
Description
In this point-and-click escape room-style game, instead of escaping a room, in each chapter you explore a Monsters, Inc-style door placed on a little floating island. By clicking around the environment and interacting with props, you’re able to uncover puzzles in order to unlock the door and advance to the next level.
The game is divided into 3 chapters each containing a series of levels. The first chapter contains 20 levels, while chapters 2 and 3 each contain 16 levels. For each chapter, there are also two bonus levels unlocked by finding all red or all blue gems. Note that there are only 18 levels on the mobile version.
Joel Smileypeacefun Reaction
Visit little islands full of mysteries and obstacles to overcome. One by one a little black cat is revealing your past and leads you to a tough decision.
At its best, plenty of levels divided into three chapters guarantee multiple hours of content to plow through. Even though you can choose between different languages, most of the gameplay is non-verbal and communicates through fun interactions and gorgeous graphics. The puzzling aspect is presented in a very relaxing manner where you can get in the zone easily.
At its worst, I appreciate the collectibles in each level, but they’re often in plain sight and the reward for gathering them all is not as significant as I hoped for. The story is kind of gaslighting the player by reiterating vague plot points that don’t really go anywhere. It’s weird how the levels all vary in theme and puzzles, yet they rather quickly start to feel repetitive. Only towards the end, some surprising interactions start to appear.
If you look at this as little bite-sized brainteasers you can come back to every now and then, this will be a nice companion at your own leisure.
Scott Olson’s Reaction
Seemingly taking inspiration from the puzzle series The Room, Alice in Wonderland novelty, and steampunk design, Doors: Paradox is a visually beautiful point-and-click game. Puzzles are straightforward and familiar to any player of this game style, with more novelty and fun mini games in later chapters. Bonus games can be unlocked by finding gems that connect to a dichotomous dilemma posed to the player, which adds more depth to the experience. The hinting system is basic but effective, with the option to skip a puzzle if one is not to your liking. But ultimately, it was not clear to me who this game is for. Puzzle enthusiasts will find the game lacking, while those seeking a more casual game have lower priced options in the genre. Leaning the game one way or the other would create a more satisfying experience for the target audience.
Theresa Piazza’s Reaction
Doors: Paradox is a simple puzzle game with a moderate level of difficulty. If you’re looking for a mobile game to kill time while in transit, this will do the job, but I can’t recommend sitting down and playing the game on PC for two reasons.
First, the game is comprised of about 50 different doors that you need to unlock, but the series of actions needed to unlock each of them is quite formulaic and becomes repetitive: find some items hidden under other objects, insert those items into their counterpart, solve a sliding maze, use a key, open the door. I prefer playing games that level up the challenges as you go along, but I didn’t see that happening within Doors: Paradox.
The second reason I don’t recommend playing is because some of the puzzles don’t work within the medium elegantly. More than once I found myself wondering why the designer had chosen to include a particular type of puzzle within a video game, when in a virtual world like a video game, anything is possible, so why am I playing a jumping peg puzzle? Couldn’t something more interesting or complex have been created, something I couldn’t do in my daily life with my own two hands?
That all out of the way, some of the sets were really cute looking and they definitely got more interesting and looked better in the later episodes and chapters. For $15, your money is better spent on any of The Room games.
Christina Rohlf’s Reaction
I found Doors: Paradox to be a nice, casual point-and-click puzzle game. I enjoyed playing the game in short sessions, filling breaks in my day with a level or two at a time. The game contained 58 total levels which each took about 10 minutes to complete. The game length was long enough to give me enjoyment for several days. However, I also found the levels became repetitive as I neared the end of gameplay.
Doors: Paradox contains a variety of puzzles: from finding a uniquely shaped object to fit a similarly shaped hole to solving complicated manipulation puzzles. In fact, there are a number of Rubik’s-cube-esque manipulation puzzles throughout the game, and I would not recommend this game for anyone who does not enjoy these types of puzzles. While I was able to play a majority of this game with just the touchpad on my laptop, there was one puzzle that is nearly impossible without a mouse.
The story in Doors: Paradox is relatively non-existent told only through a series of scrolls which you find throughout the game. In general, these scrolls led to more questions that remained largely unanswered at the game’s conclusion. However, I appreciated that the collectible scrolls and red and blue gems needed to unlock the bonus levels were relatively easy to find during the game.
In summary, Doors: Paradox is a fun point-and-click game with some clever manipulation puzzles. Doors: Paradox is certainly well worth a play if you picked it up free from the Epic Games Store in February.
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