Review Haxiel 4/5 · Feb 21, 2024
Doors: Paradox reminds me a lot about The Room, another atmospheric puzzler series with a very tactile approach. While The Room is laid out as one giant interlocking puzzle, Doors: Paradox is organized into bite-sized levels. This approach has its own pros and cons. On one hand, levels have their own distinct style, from the sound to the art …
Doors: Paradox reminds me a lot about The Room, another atmospheric puzzler series with a very tactile approach. While The Room is laid out as one giant interlocking puzzle, Doors: Paradox is organized into bite-sized levels. This approach has its own pros and cons. On one hand, levels have their own distinct style, from the sound to the art to the backgrounds and the mechanisms. In a pirate-themed level, you use a fishing rod to pick up a key. In a futuristic arcade themed level, you beat the high score on a game to unlock a key card. The variety on display here is really impressive.
The downside is that the puzzles don't really have a chance to become significantly complex. When you know that everything required to solve the puzzle is right in front of you, being stuck simply becomes a matter of looking harder for the key. Brute forcing is very much a possible option here.
Also, there isn't much of a story here. There are notes you can collect about the opposing forces of Order & Chaos, but apart from a few levels around the respective theme, it doesn't make a difference.
Doors: Paradox appears to be a port of a mobile game, and that explains most of its characteristics - short levels, good visuals, a minimal story. That said, there's a certain satisfaction you get from tinkering with its levels - twisting, turning, sliding and poking your way to a solution. A good way to spend a few hours.
