The Last Door is an episodic psychological horrorpoint-and-click adventure game developed and published by The Game Kitchen for the Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux platforms. 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. The plot revolves around four childhood friends, of which the player controls Jeremiah Devitt, 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.
Development
The Last Door was crowdfunded on Kickstarter in December 2012, and the first episode was released in March 2013, with three more to follow. 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. 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.
Gameplay
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."
Reception
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", and that "apart from ever-building dread, there are a few great popcorn-tossing moments mixed throughout". 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", but was considered a cliffhanger ending by some reviewers.
Awards
The game received numerous awards, including:
"Coolest Videogame" - Indie Burguer Development Awards 2014
;Season 1 ;Season 2 ;Alternate Endings 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 becoming trapped in the Veil, essentially rendering them nonexistent.
Characters
;Jeremiah Devitt ;Anthony Beechworth ;Dr. John Wakefield, Ph.D. ;Dr. Johann Kaufmann, Ph.D. ;Alexandre Du Pré ;Father Ernest Glynn ;Hugo Ashdown ;Professor Wright ;Captain Skidd
