History Main / TacticalDoorUse

* The ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' mod ''VideoGame/CryOfFear'' uses the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' model... except on occasion, an enemy will simply break down the door, causing a pretty big JumpScare and incidentally connecting two sections of the level together.

* for ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'':

** There are at least two instances of enemies attacking you through doors - a hunter attacks Chris through one in the ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilRemake REmake]]'', and zombies shamble through the loading screen in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''.

** In ''VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense'' and ''VideoGame/XCOMTerrorFromTheDeep'', a door only closes if a unit goes through the threshold. The ''[=OpenXCom=]'' port makes opening and closing a door a contextual action, though the AI doesn't do it.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}} game ''VideoGame/LockNChase'' was all over this one. The maze setup was a ''VideoGame/PacMan'' knock-off, but the player character locked the police (enemy) characters into corners or otherwise trapped them to buy some safety and score points.

* When being chased by high-security mental hospital orderlies in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', a hopelessly outnumbered [[GeniusBruiser Sarah Connor]] who moments prior had been [[TookALevelInBadass feigning being]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity heavily drugged]], takes advantage of closing barred doors behind her to slow down her pursuers, who are forced to pull out their keys to unlock each door in turn. When she starts getting slowed down by having to do the same thing at the next several doors, she even breaks off the key in the lock from the other side to slow them down even more. [[MemeticMutation It's super effective.]]

* A real life example: if there's a fire inside a home or building, it is usually a good idea to close the doors behind you as you get out to safety. Closed doors can significantly slow down the spread of the fire since the fire has to eat through the door first before it can spread to other rooms. If a door is open, then there's nothing stopping the fire from spreading.
** Moreover, closing the door creates one less opening to vent new oxygen in to fuel the fire.
** Some larger buildings have doors specifically designed for just that purpose, out of material strong enough to actually withstand the fire until it runs out of oxygen, limiting the damage to a portion of the building. This is usually why building security can be ''extremely'' anal retentive about removing doorstops and keeping certain doors shut even though those doors don't pose any obvious security risk. Most people are quick to assume the security people are just being, well, anal.

* In VideoGame/TomAndJerryChase, the doors in some stages can be used by the mice to stall the cat, or by the cat to trap the mice with it. Equipping the "You Shall Not Pass" perk card allows mice to turn this into TaeKwonDoor.

* In VideoGame/TomAndJerryChase, the doors in some stages can be used by the mice to stall the cat, or by the cat to trap the mice with it. Equipping the "You Shall Not Pass" perk card allows you to turn this into TaeKwonDoor.

* In VideoGame/TomAndJerryChase, the doors in some stages can be used by the mice to stall the cat, or by the cat to trap the mice with them. Equipping the "You Shall Not Pass" perk card allows you to turn this into TaeKwonDoor.

* In VideoGame/TomAndJerryChase, the doors in some stages can be used by the mice to stall the cat, or by thre cat to trap the mice with them. Equipping the "You Shall Not Pass" perk card allows you to turn this into TaeKwonDoor.

* In [[VideoGame/TomAndJerryChase]], the doors in some stages can be used by the mice to stall the cat, or by thre cat to trap the mice with them. Equipping the "You Shall Not Pass" perk card allows you to turn this into TaeKwanDoor.

** ''VideoGame/XCOM2'''s door usage works a lot like the prequel, with a few alterations: opening a door is an action that pops up at the bottom bar, and you can close doors back up to block sightlines. With the way Concealment works[[labelnote:*]]a concealed soldier is invisible to the enemy unit if there's cover between them and the alien, even if the soldier is inside the enemy detection radius[[/labelnote]], it makes quickly scouting the inside of an enclosed space very simple. To mind, running through a door automatically breaks concealment.

** In ''VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense'' and ''VideoGame/XCOMTerrorFromTheDeep'', a door only closes if a unit goes through the threshold. The ''OpenXcom'' clone makes opening and closing a door a contextual action, though the AI doesn't do it.

* ''{{VideoGame/XCom}}'' plays with it. The doors cannot be locked, and both your men and aliens can get through them. However, doors can be used to hide or set up ambushes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' {{zigzag|gingTrope}}s this one. Wooden doors cannot be locked, while iron ones have one built in because they need power to open or close. Villagers can go through wooden doors at their leisure, sometimes making them TooDumbToLive. Zombies alone of the hostile mobs can use doors... as in, they'll break down wooden doors given enough time (and only on the highest difficulty at that).
** It should be noted that even then they will only break down 'closed' doors...so if you place a door so it is actually open when in its 'closed' state and closed when 'open', they'll just stand there trying to go through an 'open' space.

* While monsters can open many doors in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', there are several ones they cannot (particularly ones requiring keycards or opened by switches, although these are not the only examples). Similarly, players can quickly open a door, shoot into the next room and close the door again as a means of slowly picking off opposition from behind cover (or inducing [[SetAMookToKillAMook monster infighting]] as the monsters end up accidentally hitting their buddies with fireballs).

[[folder:Action Adventure]]

* Quite often in ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' one can back in and back out of the doorway, letting it take the enemies' shots.

* In ''VideoGame/KillingFloor'' a lot of the maps have an abundance of doors to [[WeldTheLock weld shut]]. This is usually used to channel a horde of enemies down a select number of paths so they won't all swarm the player, though sealing yourself in so that the enemies spend time battering the doors down is also an option. You can also lay a pipe bomb on the inside so that a large group gathers at the doorway before breaking through.

* In ''VideoGame/DeadCells'', doors can be open or closed, and enemies can hear you through closed doors, allowing players to kite foes through them. An additional use for doors, though, is by breaking them down, stunning foes directly on the other side. The [[VideoGame/HalfLife crowbar]] item even gives you a few second of [[CriticalHit critical hits]] after you break one down

* While the enemies in the isometric ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games can ''open'' doors, they cannot ''unlock'' them. Which means if you are going to be initiating a fight where the enemies are divided into different rooms, you can use your lockpicks to isolate them into neat little cells where you can brutally dispatch them at your leisure. You can also use this with undamaged force fields, and in the first game, at least, to protect your woefully fragile and suicidal companions from powerful enemies.
* The creatures in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' figured out doors. This allows the player, if fast enough, to set loose a Deathclaw on enemies hiding inside a structure. Or...innocent people inside. This turns into terrible options, however, if a bad thing breaks into a building and kills a quest giver.

* In the old computer game ''Dungeon Master,'' this trope is taken to its logical conclusion. Not only are monsters unable to open doors, allowing you to open the door, attack, and slam it shut again, all doors open and close vertically. This means you can lure a monster into the doorway and trigger the door, which will try to close, inflict heavy damage on the monster, rebound, try to close again, inflict more damage on the monster, and so on and so forth until the monster moves away from the doorway or is killed. It is often faster and more effective to crush monsters under doors while attacking them instead of engaging them in combat directly.
* Very effective version in ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} I'': closing doors will stop certain demons in their tracks. Combine this with a grate nearby that allows you to shoot through to the other side of the door, and soon you've got a pile of dead demons lying on the other side of said door.
* Actually averted in the final boss battle for VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder2, the dragon you have to fight will burn his way through the doors as you use them to try and block it until all the doors are destroyed so they're only of limited effectiveness.

[[folder:SurvivalHorror]]

** There are at least two instances of enemies attacking you through doors - a hunter attacks Chris through one in the REmake, and zombies shamble through the loading screen in ''2''.

* This is a key survival tactic in ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent''. Though the enemies can and will batter the doors down, blocking doors can give you crucial time to escape or find a good hiding place.
** And it gets used against you in one sequence where not only can your pursuer smash through doors rather quickly but you have a series of closed doors in your escape path, all of which need to be pulled inward to open in order to slow you down even more. Fortunately the monster can't climb the ladder that you use to escape at the end of the tunnel.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/SilentHill4''. Regular enemies can be stymied (temporarily) in the few areas that have doors you can close behind you, but neither the Victims nor Walter are balked by silly things such as doors--in fact, Walter even chases you across ''screen transitions''!

* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance'' series also in the same boat. Doors can be closed after you open it, and can hide you from enemies. However, keep in mind all enemies (as well as guards/militias and civilians) can open just about any door even if it is locked, and they seem to close the door immediately after opening it unless they are interrupted right after opening.

* ''DoorDoor'', one of [[Creator/SquareEnix Enix's]] first games, was entirely about trapping enemies behind doors. Enemies would march right inside if a door was opened in the right direction, and any door they were trapped behind would never reopen.

* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' the Birthright of the Dwarves quest ends with a boss battle against the leader of the Red Axe]] and his right hand man atop the Red Axe palace. A common strategy in this fight is to separate one of the two using a door in order to take them down one at a time.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Foxhole}}'', heavy gates can only be opened by your faction. Thus it's possible to escape enemies by closing the gate behind you, but you can also trap them within your fortifications.

[[folder:Non-Video Game Examples]]
[[AC:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' When the Metallix Mark 3 pursues Sonic, Tails pressed the switch to close the door and Metallix was crushed beneath it.

[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': The small crew of the Ghost often uses closing doors in order to put a barrier between themselves and approaching Imperial forces. On one occasion this completely fails because Ezra had earlier cut a large hole in the door to get through it without having to crack the lock, meaning that when they try to use it to block their attackers the blaster bolts go right through the hole.

[[AC:Real Life]]
* A real life example: if there's a fire inside a home or building, it is usually a good idea to close the doors behind you as you get out to safety. Closed doors can significantly slow down the spread of the fire since the fire has to eat through the door first before it can spread to other rooms. If a door is open, then there's nothing stopping the fire from spreading.
** Moreover, closing the door creates one less opening to vent new oxygen in to fuel the fire.
** Some larger buildings have doors specifically designed for just that purpose, out of material strong enough to actually withstand the fire until it runs out of oxygen, limiting the damage to a portion of the building. This is usually why building security can be ''extremely'' anal retentive about removing doorstops and keeping certain doors shut even though those doors don't pose any obvious security risk. Most people are quick to assume the security people are just being, well, anal.

A form of InsurmountableWaistHeightFence from the AI's perspective, and usually an example of HitAndRunTactics. SubTrope to TaeKwonDoor and DoorJudo.

[[AC:Film]]

** Later games from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' onward avert this with enemies who can get through doors even outside of scripted events, but they also gave you an advantage by allowing you to kick the doors open, stunning any enemies who were trying to break through on the other side.

* It's not actually used in the game, but many custom maps for ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' give you the ability to open and close gates at your convenience.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' plays it straight most of the time. Zombies look like they try to break down doors, but they cannot. The exception is the rare Blood Moon event, when they can.

* This is the easiest way to escape [[BeeAfraid bees]] in the ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' games--find the nearest building and ''run like hell''.

* In the original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'', no monsters or projectiles, except Blue Wizzrobes, can touch you while you're hiding in a doorway. Now, hiding in the door also prevents you from using any of your items, sword included, but at least you can wait until the monsters move into a more advantageous location. Doesn't work on bomb holes, however; as soon as you start to enter one, you automatically move all the way into the next room.

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* Actually averted in the final boss battle for Eye Of The Beholder 3, the dragon you have to fight will burn his way through the doors as you use them to try and block it until all the doors are destroyed so they're only of limited effectiveness.