Line #132 VideoGame/TheLastDoor


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lastdoor_3144.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Malum in se."'' [[note]]A Latin phrase meaning "evil in itself."[[/note]]
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5	''The Last Door'' is an [[EpisodicGame episodic]] horror AdventureGame series by the Seville-based indie developer Creator/TheGameKitchen. Set in [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain 1890s Great Britain]], it puts the player in the shoes of Jeremiah Devitt, a man who's just received a strange and urgent letter from his old school friend, Anthony. When he reaches his friend's house, he finds things in a strange state: the house is seemingly deserted, spooky notes are scattered on the floor, and there's a murder of crows devouring... something in an enthusiastically bloody way in the backyard. Obviously, Jeremiah has some questions and sets out to get to the bottom of this mystery. Using a traditional PointAndClickGame layout very much akin to any given Creator/LucasArts AdventureGame, you'll guide Jeremiah as he unravels the mystery of what's occurred and why.
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7	The game is played in chapters and takes Jeremiah from Anthony's estate to their old school and deep into the frightening past they shared. A great deal of attention is paid to the thoroughly unsettling atmosphere of the game, particularly in regards to the music and the basic quality of the graphics. The game's developer, Creator/TheGameKitchen, has indicated that two of their leading inspirations were Creator/HPLovecraft and Creator/EdgarAllanPoe. It shows.
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9	The game can be bought through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} or be played on its official website [[https://thelastdoor.com/index.php/episodes here.]] The complete game consists of two "seasons" of content. In addition, several "minisodes" have been produced for the "Collector's Edition" version of the game. The two seasons consist of the following episodes:
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11	* Season 1:
12	** Episode 1 -- "The Letter", released March 15, 2013
13	** Episode 2 -- "Memories", released June 25, 2013
14	** Episode 3 -- "The Four Witnesses", October 19, 2013
15	** Episode 4 -- "Ancient Shadows", released February 18, 2014
16	* Season 2:
17	** Episode 1 -- "The Playwright", released October 31, 2014
18	** Episode 2 -- "My Dearest Visitor", released April 6, 2015
19	** Episode 3 -- "The Reunion", released August 17, 2015
20	** Episode 4 -- "Beyond the Curtain", released January 15, 2016
21
22	----
23	!!Tropes Include:
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25	* AlwaysNight: Most notably, Episodes 3 and 4. Chapter 1 and Chapter 7 both begin at sunset.
26	* AmbiguousSituation: Did the events of Chapter 3 actually occur or were they all a hallucination? Not helping is a minisode in the Collector’s Edition where Dr. Kaufmann is interviewing a young woman with a story not unlike the one experienced in Chapter 3.
27	* AmbiguouslyEvil: [[spoiler:The nuns. We never find out enough to know if they were in on Father Ernest's use of the patients or if he did it all under their noses.]]
28	* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler:According to Alexandre, Devitt was the one most devoted to crossing the Veil before he lost his memories. When Alexandre tries to bring him back, Devitt is so horrified at what the efforts of crossing the Veil have wrought upon Anthony and Father Ernest that he sets out to completely erase the Playwright from existence.]]
29	* AnachronismStew: The "Impossible Love" segment is done in the style of an early silent film melodrama, complete with intertitles and piano music. But the games take place in 1891, before films were ever long enough to warrant intertitle exposition and when such short moving pictures were still enough of a novelty in and of themselves that piano music had yet to be introduced to accompany the images.
30	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Season 2 has the player take control of Devitt's therapist, Dr. Wakefield.
31	* AnimalMotifs: To an extent. Crows (or ravens) appear to be a symbol for [[spoiler:whatever strange malevolent force the schoolboys and Father Ernest awoke when they "parted the Veil."]]
32	** There's also the parable about a rabbit tricking its predators that alludes, very generally, to the events leading to the plot.
33	* ApocalypticLog: Versions not lethal to their writers show up in Chapters 2 (regarding the closing boarding school), Chapter 4 (regarding [[spoiler:Alexandre’s deteriorating condition]]), and Chapter 6 (regarding [[spoiler:Professor Wright’s experiments]]). Chapter 7 features a more traditional version written by Brighid Laidcend.
34	* ArcWords: Several, and each repetition piles unease on top of unease.
35	** "Malum in se" which means "evil in itself."
36	** "Videte ne quis sciat" which is, apparently, the motto of the witnesses' "philosophy club" [[spoiler:and Playwright]] that translates roughly to "see that no one knows."
37	** "Simurg"
38	** "the Four Witnesses"
39	** "the Eye of the Bird"
40	** "part the Veil"
41	* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:At the end of Season 1.]]
42	* BehindTheBlack: There are two instances (namely, [[spoiler:the crows tapping on the glass before breaking into the attic in Chapter 1, the circle of rabbits in Chapter 2]]) where Devitt ought to have been able to see the scary things approaching but apparently didn't react because they were concealed from the player by text boxes. The latter is somewhat justified by it being in a NightmareSequence.
43	* BedlamHouse: The setting of Chapter 5, East Hill Mental Asylum.
44	* BigBad: The Playwright in both seasons. [[spoiler:The Playwright, in this instance, being two people; Jeremiah before getting amnesia and during the events of Season 2, and Alexandre Du Pre during the events of Season 1.]]
45	* BigBadFriend: For Devitt, [[spoiler:Alexandre]]. [[spoiler:For Dr. Wakefield, Devitt.]]
46	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: A male version with Devitt's circle of friends from the boarding school; he is the redhead, Anthony is the brunette, and Alexandre is the blonde.
47	* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: The setting of Chapter 2. [[spoiler:Mainly due to the ritual performed by the Four Witnesses]]
48	* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Hugo’s fate.]]
49	* BuriedAlive: This is what happened to [[spoiler:Baldwin’s victims]].
50	* CacophonyCoverUp: Chapter 2. There's a blind character in the room, and you can cover your footsteps whenever he moves or makes a cough.
51	* CampbellCountry: Large, isolated, rundown estates in the English countryside at dusk? Oh, yes!
52	* CatScare: Just once, so far. And unlike most examples of this, it was meaningfully connected with the plot. [[spoiler:See EyeScream.]]
53	* ChristianityIsCatholic:
54	** Father Ernest and Mother Elizabeth are two prominent examples. It also appears that Jeremiah and Anthony's school was run by the Catholic church.
55	** Also worth noting is one of Anthony's servants: the only religious object you can find in the mansion is a rosary.
56	* ColdOpen: Each episode typically starts with a somewhat mystifying sequence before the opening credits and title card show up.
57	* CreepyCrows: Crows, particularly aggressive ones at that, are a recurring presence.
58	* DownTheRabbitHole: The climax of [[spoiler:Chapter 2]] invokes this motif heavily.
59	* DreamingOfThingsToCome:
60	** [[spoiler:Dr. Wakefield]]'s dream about [[spoiler:meeting the man on crutches in an alley at the beginning of Chapter 5]] eventually comes true.
61	** [[spoiler:Also in Chapter 5, Dr. Wakefield dreams of a conversation he eventually ends up having in Chapter 8.]]
62	* DrivenToSuicide: Anthony at the start of Chapter 1; [[spoiler:Monsignor/Father Ernest at the end of Chapter 2.]]
63	* DroneOfDread: Most notably in Chapters 6 and 7.
64	* EldritchAbomination: Many, many of the creatures beyond the Veil, most notably The Simurg.
65	* EldritchLocation: [[spoiler:The Veil and Zha’ilathal]]
66	* EmptyPilesOfClothing: After comforting the nun at the window and watching her leave the room in Chapter 2, Devitt can find her abandoned clothes laying on the beach.
67	** There's another, far creepier example [[spoiler:in Chapter 5, where you find a yellow robe and a cultist mask. What makes it creepy is that, until you remove the mask, it looks like someone ''is'' wearing them]].
68	* EyeScream: Quite a few times now.
69	** The first, and most memorable so far, is when [[spoiler:Devitt breaks open a weak wall of fresh concrete in Anthony's basement and discovers a live cat trapped behind it. Its eyes have been torn out, presumably by Anthony]], as there is a note written by him that suggests that [[spoiler:he blinded the cat himself in his madness as a form of "punishing him for his mockery"]].
70	** There's also the recurring allusions to the Eye of the Bird in both Devitt's nightmares and in Father Ernest's ravings.
71	** We find out near the end of Chapter 2 that [[spoiler:Father Ernest ''burned out his own eyes'']].
72	* FantasticDrug: The “Hoopoe”, the name of the serum granting access through the Veil.
73	* ForegoneVictory: Despite the horrors Devitt and Dr. Wakefield face, dying while playing is impossible.
74	* FourIsDeath: Certainly seems to be! The Four Witnesses do not appear to be faring well.
75	* GainaxEnding: The ending to [[spoiler:the final chapter]] regrettably makes little to no sense. [[spoiler:Many issues regarding the nature of the Veil, the King of Birds, and the characters are all left unresolved, with no guarantee of a sequel.]]
76	* GlowingEyesOfDoom[=/=]HellishPupils[=/=]BlackEyesOfEvil: All very good descriptions of The Eye of the Bird.
77	* GreaterScopeVillain: The Simurg.
78	* GuideDangIt:
79	** The one and only use for the rolled-up music score in Chapter 3 isn't easily discerned: [[spoiler:you have to make Devitt blow through it at the feather in the cage]].
80	** To obtain a replacement red light bulb in Chapter 4, [[spoiler:you have to go back to the starting area, find a dead deer that wasn't there when you started, and smear the light bulb in its blood. The fact this deer is present to do this is never hinted at, nor would you expect to go back to an otherwise empty starting area for any reason.]]
81	%%* HammerSpace
82	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Dr. Wakefield’s fate if you go behind the curtain at the end of Chapter 8.]]
83	* HerrDoktor: Dr. Kaufmann.
84	* HumansAreCthulhu: [[spoiler:The Mr. Rabbit story takes this approach with its SuddenDownerEnding. It serves as a microcosm of the overall plot of the series.]]
85	* HumanoidAbomination: At the end of Chapter 6.
86	* ILoveTheDead: The "Impossible Love" film in Episode 2.
87	* IdiotBall: Devitt and Wakefield continually walk into situations that most sane people would run screaming away from. While they have their reasons to push on, there's often the feeling that, for instance, continuing on into that creepy, dark cave is a really bad idea, ButThouMust.
88	%%* InMediasRes: Chapter 4
89	* IncurableCoughOfDeath: [[spoiler:Dr. Kaufmann succumbs to this in the beginning of Chapter 7.]]
90	* INeverGotAnyLetters: In Chapter 2, Matthew Vinge didn't receive letters from his fiancé, because his sister intercepts them. When the Devitt gives the letter, Mary "reads" it instead, claiming that it's from his mother and that she's worried about him. When Matthew finds out the truth about the letters, Mary claims it is to keep the parasite out of the family - but is then sent away by Matthew.
91	* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Devitt is a university teacher in Classic Philosophy and has dedicated much of his life to his studies, and as a result he leads a lonely life.
92	* JumpScare: The game's usual M.O. These are particularly effective when punctuating the eerie, spooky atmosphere that the games very effectively cultivate. Special mention goes to [[spoiler:the one at the keyhole in Chapter 3. Even though you're expecting it, it doesn't actually happen until the ''third'' time you check the keyhole. The stress of knowing ''something'' is coming but now having no idea ''when'' makes its appearance all the worse]].
93	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Devitt was a victim of this, entirely forgetting the experiment at the old boarding school. [[spoiler:Turns out though he was much more involved in the Playwright society, and it was a second attempt to cross the Veil that erased his memories of the experiments.]]
94	* LittleBitBeastly: [[spoiler:Apparently part of the nature of people in Eilis Mor: developing animal heads on otherwise human bodies as a result of exploring the Veil.]]
95	* MadDoctor: Subverted, mostly, as the two ''real'' doctors in this game, Kaufmann and Wakefield, act as the two main protagonists of Season 2, and if they are mad at all it's due to the circumstances thrust upon them. Played straight however with [[spoiler:Father Ernest Glynn, as while he is still technically a [[SinisterMinister "holy man"]], he runs the hospice out of Jeremiah's old boarding school and has been conducting horrible experiments by trying to get his patients to see into the Veil leading to them all dying or going mad, on top of [[EyeScream certain self-inflicted horrors]].]]
96	* MadScientist: Professor Wright.
97	* MalevolentMaskedMen: [[spoiler:People in yellow robes and white masks appear at the end of Chapter 3. They're apparently part of some cabal that worships the Bird/Eye of the Bird/King of Birds. They also offer Jeremiah a mask of his own, which he apparently accepts.]] Season 2 further elaborates on it: [[spoiler:they're members of the organization known as Playwright, led by The Playwright]].
98	* ManChild: Cattie, an elderly woman who still dresses and acts as she did back when she was a child prodigy stage singer in the 1840s.
99	* MindScrew: Plenty, and there's little explanation for any of it so far. Particularly near the end of Chapter 3.
100	* MindScrewdriver: One of the Season One minisodes very strongly implies that yes, [[spoiler:the bizarre Impossible Love sequence in Episode 2 was about Baldwin.]]
101	* {{My God What Have I Done}}: Anthony’s reason for suicide. [[spoiler:Explored in more detail in Chapter 8: the guilt of losing his wife and dragging Devitt back into Playwright.]]
102	%%* NothingIsScarier
103	%%* OminousFog
104	* OminousPipeOrgan: At the climax of Chapter 2.
105	* OpiumDen: One shows up near the end of Chapter 5.
106	* ParentalAbandonment: A flashback shows that Devitt's father shipped him off to boarding school after his mother died, with the excuse that "a man of his stature can't be bothered to raise a little boy", and tells him not to bother writing home.
107	* PlatonicCave: While never explicitly mentioned, the concept of the Truth being hidden behind the veil of what we call reality heavily implies this.
108	* PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: An ''unintentional'' example caused by the graphics/pixel art-style limitations. You can't see any of the photos you pick up in your inventory bar, which can either take away from the plot or add mysticism to it.
109	* PosthumousCharacter: Anthony Beechworth. While he does show up alive in the first game [[StartsWithASuicide long enough to kill himself]], we mostly learn of him and how he drives the plot after he dies. [[spoiler:Especially since The Five Arches short story prologue is from his point of view.]]
110	* {{Retraux}}: In two ways, primarily:
111	** The graphics are chunky and heavily pixelated, on par with the early to mid-90s.
112	** The PointAndClick AdventureGame system evokes classic Creator/LucasArts.
113	* RiverOfInsanity: Downplayed in The Five Arches, as they don't spend much time on the river; most of the story deals with them confronting far, far worse things.
114	* RoomFullOfCrazy: There's more than a few.
115	** The best example is in Anna's room in Chapter 1, where you find graffiti scribbled in blood at the top of the walls and the lady of the house lying on her bed, dead from dehydration. [[FridgeHorror Then you remember she was paralyzed and needed a servant to get her out of bed, let alone write on the walls.]]
116	%%* SanitySlippage
117	* ScareChord: There are many of these throughout the game. A notable example occurs when [[spoiler:Devitt finds the note saying 'Baldwin lies' in the missing patient's bed]].
118	* ScoobyDooHoax: Devitt uses one in Chapter 2 to get to talk a patient who is closely guarded by a nun. [[spoiler:He places a teardrop-shaped piece of crystal on the face of a Virgin Mary statue and flashes sunlight onto it with a mirror, [[TearsFromAStone making the statue look like it's weeping]]. The nun takes this as an omen and leaves to pray about it, giving Devitt access to the patient.]]
119	* SecretCircleOfSecrets: Shows up [[spoiler:at the end of Chapter 3]], but there's hints of it in Chapter 4 and may be related to [[spoiler:the bunny scene]] in Chapter 2. It doesn't help that this overlaps with the MindScrew stuff that's going on.
120	* SelfImmolation: [[spoiler:Father Ernest sets himself on fire with a dropped lantern in the end of Chapter 2.]]
121	* ShoutOut:
122	** A couple to "Literature/TheRaven":
123	*** Upon looking through a keyhole, Devitt will comment "Darkness there, and nothing more."
124	*** An EasterEgg with a raven that says "Nevermore"
125	** Devitt meets Alexandre and his cult in a theatre. The cult are all [[Literature/TheKingInYellow wearing yellow robes and masks.]] Alexandre's blond hair showing above his mask also looks a little bit like a crown...
126	** The Angel statues that move on their own in Chapter 4 whenever someone isn't watching them. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink Now, where has something like that been seen before?]]
127	** Chapter 7 is a massive shout-out to the classic version of ''[[Film/TheWickerMan1973 The Wicker Man]]'' -- which makes it all the more creepy if you've actually seen the film, but have no choice but to press on.
128	** The cat being blinded by Anthony and walled up in the basement could be a mashup of two of Poe's works, "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Black Cat."
129	* TheShrink: Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Kaufmann are both Type 3 - Dr. Wakefield for his dedication to helping Devitt, and Dr. Kaufmann for his clear knowledge on the dangers being faced.
130	* SignificantAnagram: Hugo Ashdown, a character that isn't properly introduced until Chapter 6, has a name that can be rearranged to the word "hand", [[spoiler:befitting the monstrous form he's taken]].
131	* SinisterMinister: Father Ernest, though it eventually gets revealed that he became that way because of some pitiable circumstances.
132	* SoundtrackDissonance: While the music's generally on-tone, with lots of dramatic strings and eerie laments, there are three instances of dissonance that deserve mention:
133	** While in Anthony's manor house, you can turn on a gramophone that plays a cheerful, jaunty song, although it's in need of tuning.
134	** While wandering the sewers in London, you can hear the pleasant hummed tune of "Hush Little Baby." It's creepy in context, but it still sounds nice. [[spoiler:The singing is the spirit of a singer named Daphne, whose body grew into the tree found in the sewers.]]
135	** The "Impossible Love" film depicts a man romancing a corpse and scores it with a very sweet, treacly song.
136	** Also worth a mention is the rather dainty and upbeat waltz playing [[spoiler:as you seek Professor Wright's hidden tunnel through a creepy cave.]]
137	* StartsWithASuicide: The opening of Chapter 1 has the player guiding Anthony to pick up a rope, sling it over a rafter, climb up onto a chair...
138	* SuddenDownerEnding: An InUniverse example with the Mr. Rabbit story in Chapter 2. It starts off as a lighthearted story in the tradition of Br'er Rabbit, with Mr. Rabbit tricking a wolf, a vulture, and a snake in order to keep them from eating him. [[spoiler:Then, in the middle of his getaway, Mr. Rabbit is abruptly killed by a human hunter. It mirrors how the interaction between {{Eldritch Abomination}}(s) and humans marks a sudden shift in the nature of human affairs.]]
139	* SurrealHorror: There are numerous scenes that don't seem related to the main plot and feel like something out of a Creator/DavidLynch film. [[spoiler:Particularly the Rabbit Scene]]. This and the fact that they don't have any explanation makes them even more haunting and disturbing.
140	* StageMom: Seems to have been the case with the delusional Cattie's father, who forced her to endlessly rehearse and repeat her songs and dances, and became violent and abusive when she asked to play outside after an 8-hour day of practice. [[spoiler:It's implied [[TheDogBitesBack she murdered him to put an end to it]].]]
141	* TheDrunkenSailor: Fred, one of the men Dr. Wakefield talks to in the Fisherman’s Lodge in Chapter 6.
142	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted; Devitt visits a therapist in Episode 2 in an attempt to get over seeing Anthony's dead body and all of the terrifying visions since. And this is in 1890, when psychotherapy was still a somewhat obscure treatment.
143	* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Literally a plot point, with the way the Veil is described.
144	* TitleDrop: Found in the recording that Dr. Kaufmann discovers in Chapter 6. "Primal terror is the key that we will use to open the Last Door."
145	* TomatoInTheMirror: The founder of the Playwright organization is [[spoiler:Jeremiah Devitt.]]
146	* TownWithADarkSecret: Eilis Mor
147	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Father Ernest in Chapter 2 after Jeremiah discovers the ritual room, the culmination of the growing realization that all the people he experimented on were driven mad and killed in vain because only The Four Witnesses could pierce the Veil.]]
148	* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler:It's implied Hugo Ashdown became the hand-like monster seen in Chapter 6]].

Context VideoGame / TheLastDoor