When you have a murky point-and-click detective story at hand, it’s a particularly subtle thing to combine all the suspense and mystery involved with steadfast puzzle logic. The White Door does a good job of it. Inviting you into the world of psycho troubles and conscience shifts, it still retains that totally reasonable storyline you can follow on the quest of uncovering the truth about your own past. You might not be able to tell what’s really happening to you in that hospital ward and what is just images created by your sick mind. But you can definitely use every little clue to form a fuller picture of your own life that somehow brought you to this cheerless sterile place without any idea of how you got here. You will be able to restore the whole story, putting together all tiny shreds of information and memories you’ve collected. Just be attentive and shrewd, look for hints everywhere and don’t fall for all the things you’re being told by that nice doctor!
You’ll start out the game completely clueless. All the information at your disposal is limited by what you can see in the hospital and a few findings in your own ward. They allowed you to restore your name and the current date, but that’s it so far. So for now you don’t know anything better than simply being pulled along by the plot, following the trite daily routine at the mental facility. It basically consists of the small rituals like brushing your teeth, eating your lunches and taking your medicine. But even that is enough for staters because things will begin to take drastic turns very soon. Your mind will be flooded by startling visions. Are these just the side effects of the trauma or are you actually beginning to recollect some of your past? Finding your way through those images won’t be easy, many of them are too abstract to figure out immediately what they mean. But, as said earlier, there is a perfect logic in that string of flashes, you just have to approach the events with a cool head and firm reason.
The amazing visuals of the game should definitely be mentioned separately. The whole setting is designed in monochrome which helps in experiencing the atmosphere of despair and confusion. Everything is drawn in the iconic style of Rusty Lake. Add a suspenseful soundtrack – and you’re fully absorbed into the dim story unfolding before you on the screen. Will you be able to dig through the mess of your mind and restore the events of your past? Play The White Door and find out!
