Beyond Doors

We've all felt a bit tired and worn out from our jobs or studies at some point, it's just part of life. We may not have been quite on the same level as our protagonist Caleb though, one day he wakes up in a mysterious dimension after he started to feel just tired and burnt out at his job and he therefore needs to find his meaning in life. We are not told much more about the story than that and inside the game itself, nothing is revealed but it is in the description when you download it. Whether Caleb then comes to terms with his burnout does not tell the story either, nor do we get to know what his real purpose in life is, but after level 35 it is simply over. Which feels rather disappointing, it's not a particularly story-driven game, it's all about puzzling your way through to the best of your ability. While I obviously appreciate a good story, it's not something I expected to any great extent in this case, but it would still have been nice to know what happens when the game is over.

Surprisingly, all courses are unlocked from the beginning and you can thus tackle them in exactly the order you want. You don't have to complete one to unlock the next one, which I feel is a bit of a shame as it gives you a bit of a thrill and motivates you to keep going. Caleb can't do more than jump and walk and he develops absolutely nothing during the 35 levels. There are some extra obstacles and some things he can bounce on to get a little higher, but his own abilities are not affected. I find that a bit sad, it would have been a bit more interesting if he had learnt how to double jump along the way or something similar, it would have opened up more possibilities and made the courses much more interesting.

It is a very simple setup that is easy to understand and that does not require any direct prior knowledge to get into, it is a side-scrolling adventure with a lot of platform and puzzle elements. Nothing advanced but it is no more than jumping from plateau to plateau and collecting whole notes, half notes and a little later G-claws. However, this must be done in the right order and what makes it a bit more tricky is that there are doors that act as portals that move Caleb to another part of the level in a sideways direction and also portals that move him either up or down. Initially it's very simple, of course, but the paths become increasingly cluttered and there are even some portals that lead you straight to death, so you have to be careful. Fortunately, you can keep trying as you can't get a game over or anything like that. However, you have to start from the beginning on the current track in case of death and that is not always fun, especially on the last ten tracks which are quite difficult. The actual steering and game control is otherwise as simple as it can reasonably be, you move either right or left with the left joystick and jump with the A button. If I were to criticise anything here, it's that it feels a bit uneven and some parts, especially during the later parts of the game, require millimetre precision on the jumps, otherwise you die and have to start over.

It's definitely not an ugly game, I can't say that. But it's very dark and Caleb doesn't have many character traits, he looks a bit like a shadowy figure or maybe a demon depending on how you want to see it, what stands out is his red tie and the briefcase he insists on carrying. There is not much colour in general but it is always dark, the moon lights up a bit so you can see where to go. From time to time we actually get to experience the famous blood moon as well, and then it glows a lovely and slightly porny red instead. The environment is otherwise not particularly changeable, but gradually there are some mushrooms with good bounce you can jump on to get a little higher and also special fields where you can either hover or the control changes and you have to steer just the opposite from before. It's not an easy adjustment and those moments require some concentration and patience. But I would have appreciated a little more variation than that, maybe some of the tracks would have been a little lighter - that you can start to sense the dawn as you approach the resolution, for example. It would have given a little more dynamics and made it feel a little more alive than it does now, despite the moon's changes.

If you like to pick achievements, this is definitely a game that can fit, they completely hail in and for each completed course you get one that is worth 25, which then means that when all 35 courses are completed, you can add 1000 new fresh points to your gamerscore and it always looks pretty nice with a 100% completed game on the list.

I can't say that I feel that Beyond Doors is an experience I will carry with me for a long time. In many ways, it doesn't feel like much more than a shrug of the shoulders, but it's a pretty harmless and light-hearted pastime that lasts for around two hours if you feel like doing some puzzles. I would have liked a bit more variable environments and even picking up an ability or two along the way. That it also ends so abruptly without revealing anything about what actually happens to Caleb after the 35th track is a bit of a shame, did he find his calling and was he happy with his life? Maybe we will never know.