Cosmic and Lovecraftian horror Horror puzzle Psychological horror PS1 horror

The Last Door: Season 2 - Collector's Edition

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A psychiatrist follows his missing patient past the Veil and toward madness.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, iPhone
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 991 reviews); Metacritic 85 on PC
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse: point and click
Made by: The Game Kitchen
Released: 2016

Get it on Steam GOG (Collector's Edition)App Store (Collector's Edition)Phoenix Online Studios

What frightens Psychiatrist John Wakefield searches for his vanished patient Jeremiah Devitt through asylums, abandoned manors and opium dens, uncovering forbidden knowledge that may be driving him mad and the otherworldly things behind the Veil, all in dim, low-resolution pixel art and unsettling sound.
Content: violence, drug use, disturbing imagery.

The Last Door: Season 2 is the second four-episode season of The Game Kitchen's low-res point-and-click horror adventure. As Dr. John Wakefield, psychiatrist to the first season's hero, you search Victorian asylums, manors and opium dens for your vanished patient and find a conspiracy built on forbidden knowledge.

About The Last Door: Season 2 - Collector's Edition

The Last Door: Season 2 continues the Victorian horror adventure begun in The Last Door. It was made by The Game Kitchen and published by Phoenix Online, released in episodes and then gathered on Steam as the Collector's Edition in March 2016, with four episodes, extras and a new score by Carlos Viola.

This time you play Dr. John Wakefield, the psychiatrist who treated Jeremiah Devitt. Devitt has vanished, and Wakefield's search for him leads into a web of forbidden knowledge and a conspiracy that hides it. The trail runs through mental asylums, abandoned manors and opium dens in Victorian England, and then beyond it.

Like the first season, it is drawn in very few, very large pixels, and much of the fear comes from what you cannot quite make out and from the sound: footsteps, music that swells at the wrong time, silence in a dark room. You play by pointing and clicking: examine scenes, pick up items, combine and use them, talk to people and read what they leave behind. The store says it was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe.

It suits players who finished the first season, and anyone who likes slow occult ghost stories and point-and-click puzzles more than action. Playing Season 1 first is the natural order, since Wakefield's search starts where Devitt's ended.

How to play The Last Door: Season 2 - Collector's Edition

Click to walk Dr. Wakefield through each scene and examine people and objects.
Pick up items and use or combine them in the inventory bar to get past each obstacle.
Talk to the people you meet and read letters and notes; the clues to the next step are in them.
Play the four episodes in order, ideally after the first season.

Screenshots

The Last Door: Season 2 screenshot: a man in a red coat stands in a green-walled library lit by three tall golden windows

The Last Door: Season 2 screenshot: candlelight shows a corner of a dark room with a desk and papers on the wall, the inventory bar below

The Last Door: Season 2 screenshot: a room bathed in red light under paper lanterns, with figures slumped on cushions and a mask in the inventory

Tips

Wear headphones; sound carries much of the dread and some of the clues.
Move the cursor slowly over dark scenes; small objects hide in a few pixels.
If you are stuck, re-examine items in the inventory; some reveal more on a second look.

Questions

Do I need to play The Last Door Season 1 first?

It is a direct sequel: its hero is the psychiatrist of Season 1's protagonist, and his search picks up from that story, so playing Season 1 first is recommended.

Is The Last Door: Season 2 on phones?

Yes, the Collector's Edition is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

Is it scary?

It is slow occult horror built on atmosphere, sound and what the low-resolution art leaves unseen, with a few sharp moments rather than constant jump scares.