PREVIEW : Doors: Paradox (PC)
Where else can you burn a vampire who is dozing in the basement or compete for a box of sushi with a hungry cat and a delivery drone? Even while each puzzle in Doors: Paradox will only take you around 10 minutes to complete, it features all the quirky tiny details that make each one special and incredibly interesting. It has stunning 3D graphics and a fantastically imaginative world where Chaos and Order are perpetually at war.
The Doors saga is called Paradox. You’re exactly correct if you believe it’s strange that a casual puzzle game would have a proper plot; but, Doors: Paradox begs to differ. Casual puzzle games typically don’t feature a proper plot.
Here, a feisty black cat guides you through a series of mystical gateways into several universes, launching you into a strange and amazing world. It’s a metaphysical voyage across portals that explains everything about Chaos and Order, albeit each new destination isn’t truly connected to the previous one. You’ll encounter mysterious writings scattered throughout each puzzle that provide tidbits of information about the rivalry between these two prehistoric species and how it dates back to the dawn of time.
Fortunately, since your mind will be focused on the riddles in front of you, you won’t need to figure out how their intricate past came to be. When you complete all the puzzles and unlock the epilogues, the story has an ending (and a crucial decision to be made), but even if you skip them, you’ll still feel accomplished when you finish each level.
Doors: A paradoxical game You must solve the puzzles in each scene of the diorama-like stage, which is its mini-escape room, to unlock the doors that lead to the next portal. Along with mini-games like arcade racing and memory games, there are hidden jewels you can gather to subsequently access the Epilogue stages.
The head-scratchers themselves are just enough to keep you from giving up and keep things interesting, but if you do feel like you’ve reached a brick wall, there’s a helpful hint tool that can help you out.
It won’t truly show you how to solve a puzzle; you’ll have to work it out on your own. It will just point out where you should examine more closely.
However, if you’re feeling very desperate, you may completely skip that challenge so that it won’t interfere with your enjoyment of the remainder of the diorama, each of which is truly breathtaking. Simply said, everything is so inventive that solving each riddle practically gives you the impression that you’re taking part in a point-and-click adventure without the adventure itself.
What draws people in? There are eight free levels and eight premium levels, with themes ranging from tropical island getaways to cyberpunk future scenes. The moments with a horror theme were my favourites since they are incredibly spooky while still being compelling enough to keep you interested. Of course, there will be a lot of trial-and-error involved in solving riddles, where you’ll keep tapping at anything you see in the hopes of setting off something. Since there are no instructions provided, passing each level will require all of your mental faculties.
Overall, I think the riddles in Doors: Paradox are quite logical, and each “eureka” moment is as enjoyable as the previous one. Even though you can complete it all in about two hours, it has a fairly casual vibe to it. But where’s the joy in that? I still believe that the game is best played in little doses when you need a quick break during the day because attempting to solve everything at once simply takes away from the bite-sized attractiveness of the game.
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