The Last Door — Collector's Edition (2014)
Developed on a tight schedule and funded through crowdfunding, The Last Door turned out to be a highly enjoyable point-and-click adventure. I'm particularly fond of its four-episode first season, available as a full Collector’s Edition. With deceptively simple means, the game tells a genuinely disturbing story. Its 19th-century Gothic atmosphere draws inspiration from classic horror literature, including Lovecraft and Maupassant.
The Last Door is developed by the Spanish studio The Game Kitchen. A defining feature of the project was extensive crowdsourcing. Each episode — roughly a half-hour long — received a separate Kickstarter campaign. Whether the story continued depended entirely on demand. The audience also influenced development directly, not only as beta testers but as contributors of ideas and narrative elements. The first season originally released episode by episode in 2013–2014. It was followed by a second season, although funding challenges have since put the project on hold.
The Collector’s Edition, which includes all four episodes of the first season, adds bonus content and upgrades the visuals and audio.
The Last Door builds its plot from the components of a tragic paranormal horror story: mysterious deaths, murky environments, dreamlike sequences, secrets and religious overtones. At the beginning of the game, Jeremiah Devitt — the main character the player controls — travels to the childhood home of an old school friend after receiving an alarming message.
During their shared school years in Scotland, a group of four boys founded an occult secret society. Those youthful experiments never left them in peace. Instead, they led to obsessive fringe-science research and, for some, outright madness. The player must uncover what happened — and what Devitt’s role truly is. Progress is linear, and you can’t really get stuck or make any fatal mistakes.
The atmosphere is driven by a fully classical orchestral soundtrack and detailed sound design. The score feels authentic and high-quality, despite being newly composed rather than period-appropriate. The result deserves enthusiastic applause — Carlos Viola’s work is superb. The ambient soundscape supports the mood brilliantly.
The graphics rely on extremely coarse pixel art, which sits in sharp contrast to the high-fidelity audio — yet this combination makes the experience unique. The sound design constructs the oppressive mood, while the visuals introduce a near-naive, lightly comical tone. I still found the total package compelling. Even so, the graphics could have been a touch sharper; even late-1980s games were not this blurry. At times it felt like playing while severely short-sighted.
The episodic structure works exceptionally well for this story, and none of the episodes disappointed me. The plot is easy to follow, and the puzzles never derail the narrative – everything pushes the story forward. Flashbacks, dreams and occasional theatrical set pieces add variety to the storytelling. The balance between horror clichés and originality works. In terms of gameplay, The Last Door is not difficult and the interface is classically intuitive. The bonuses included in the Collector’s Edition suit the game perfectly.
Verdict
I wholeheartedly recommend The Last Door for atmospheric solitary evenings. This seemingly simple retro experience hides an intriguing narrative and resonates strongly with modern players. Each episode is filled with discoveries. All the pieces of the game seem to fall neatly into place – created under fortunate stars and potentially destined to become a minor indie classic.
My sincere enjoyment places it at a solid 82 out of 100.
Availability
The first season of The Last Door is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android and iOS, and can also be played in a browser. The first episode of the season can be tried as a free demo.