Doorways: The Entire Collection of Nightmares

Doorways: The Entire Collection of Nightmares is a comprehensive compilation of the Doorways series, bundling all chapters including Doorways: Prelude (chapters 1 and 2), Doorways: The Underworld, and Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh, along with the complete soundtracks and art books. Released in 2016 for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh by Saibot Studios, it offers players the full nightmare-laden adventure across eerie, otherworldly settings explored in the series.

Doorways: The Entire Collection of Nightmares: Review

Introduction

Imagine stepping through a doorway not into another room, but into the fractured psyche of a telepathic investigator, where every shadow whispers of unspeakable crimes and every puzzle piece carves deeper into your own sanity. Doorways: The Entire Collection of Nightmares (2016), the definitive compilation from indie developer Saibot Studios, bundles the complete saga of agent Thomas Foster’s descent into horror across four chapters: Prelude (chapters 1 and 2), The Underworld, and Holy Mountains of Flesh. Released amid the mid-2010s indie horror renaissance—echoing the atmospheric dread of Amnesia: The Dark Descent—this package not only gathers the episodic releases but enhances them with soundtracks and art books, inviting players to immerse fully in a world of psychic torment. My thesis: While technically rough around the edges, Doorways stands as a bold, underappreciated gem in survival horror history, pioneering a unique blend of telepathic empathy, puzzle-driven exploration, and body horror that prefigures modern indie psychological terrors like SOMA and Layers of Fear.

Development History & Context

Saibot Studios, a small Argentine indie outfit founded around 2011, birthed the Doorways series as a passion project rooted in the founder’s vision of “dark pathways” and “inhumane torture chambers.” The saga began with Doorways: Prelude in 2013, followed by The Underworld in 2014, and culminated in Holy Mountains of Flesh in 2016, which launched episodically (Act 1 early access, Act 2: The Mansion in March, full Act 3: The Temple in August). The Entire Collection of Nightmares arrived later that year on Steam for Windows, macOS, and Linux—published and distributed via Valve—packaging all content with extras like OSTs and art books for a commercial download model supporting keyboard/mouse and controller inputs, plus native Oculus Rift VR compatibility.

This era’s gaming landscape was dominated by the indie horror boom post-Amnesia (2010) and Slender: The Eight Pages (2012), where Unity-engine darlings emphasized atmosphere over AAA budgets. Saibot, operating under technological constraints like modest polygons and fixed camera angles reminiscent of PS1 survival horror (Resident Evil), leaned into these limitations. Voice acting by Sam A. Mowry—iconic as Alexander in Amnesia—elevated the project, lending authenticity. Episodic releases mirrored The Walking Dead or Life is Strange, building hype via the official site (doorwaysgame.com) with trailers, prototypes (a free 2016 “Old Prototype”), and updates. Yet, self-publishing on Steam amid oversaturated horror markets meant slim visibility, with MobyGames noting zero critic reviews and only one collector by 2023—highlighting indie struggles against giants like Outlast (2013).

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

At its core, Doorways chronicles Thomas Foster, a “Doorways” agent prized for psychic abilities, tasked with infiltrating the minds of depraved criminals by reliving victims’ torments. Each chapter thrusts him through metaphysical “doorways” into nightmarish realms mirroring psychotic imaginations, blurring reality and hallucination.

Plot Breakdown

• Prelude (Chapters 1-2, 2013): Foster awakens in twisted worlds—frozen museums of suffering, torture chambers—grappling with existential questions: “How did you get there? What’s real? What kind of nightmare is this that can hurt you or even kill you?” He hunts initial madmen, uncovering scattered victim trails.
• The Underworld (2014): Foster’s psyche frays; memories riddled with holes, he delves deeper, “tempting the thresholds of sanity” for his next target. Psychic toll mounts, dragging him into a “vortex of utter insanity.”
• Holy Mountains of Flesh (2016): Climax in Argentina’s Salta province, El Chacal village (pop. ~4,800). Foster pursues Juan Torres (“El Asador”) and family—Celia and Jeronimo—rumored cannibals wielding black magic and sects. Juan, heir to fortune, rules via superstition and disappearances. Acts span arid mountains, a mansion, and “The Temple,” escalating to familial lunacy.

Characters and Dialogue

Foster is a tragic anti-hero: stoic yet unraveling, his internal monologues (voiced by Mowry) pulse with dread—”the pain in every scream reaches his senses.” Villains embody primal horrors: Torres clan as cannibalistic cultists, previous foes as abstract psychos. Dialogue is sparse, poetic, and inspired—Mowry’s gravelly timbre amplifies isolation. Themes probe empathy’s curse (telepathy as double-edged sword), madness spirals (player “corrupted” alongside Foster), societal taboos (cannibalism, sects), and reality’s fragility. It’s H.P. Lovecraft meets Latin American folklore, with psychic odysseys justifying Foster’s motives while warning: “Nobody should EVER play this game.”

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Doorways fuses adventure with survival horror: first-person exploration, inventory puzzles, light combat/reflex challenges. Core loop: navigate mazes, solve environmental puzzles (levers, keys, contraptions), evade horrors, relive visions.

Core Systems

• Exploration & Puzzles: Ingenious, multi-layered—combine items across realms, uncover secrets for replayability. Reflex tests (dodging traps) add tension.
• Combat & Progression: Minimal; no deep trees, but psychic “reliving” simulates vulnerability—damage feels visceral, no health regen crutches.
• UI/Controls: Clean keyboard/mouse scheme, full controller/VR support. Fixed cameras build suspense, though jank (clipping, controls) betrays indie roots.
  Flaws: Repetitive backtracking, unfair deaths; innovations: Empathy mechanics (torments advance story), branching secrets. Single-player offline focus suits solitary dread.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Settings are psychic hellscapes: Prelude’s eternal ice tombs, Underworld’s sanity-shattering voids, Holy Mountains’ fleshy Argentine badlands—arid Salta evoking real superstitions. Visuals: Low-poly dread with gore bursts, twisted architecture (flesh mountains, torture galleries). Atmosphere thrives on shadows, fog—Oculus enhances immersion.

Sound design elevates: Eerie ambiences, Mowry’s monologues, OSTs (included) blending industrial dread and folk horror. Screams echo psychically; silence amplifies paranoia. Extras—art books reveal concept horrors, soundtracks loop nightmares—cement sensory assault, making worlds “museums of suffering.”

Reception & Legacy

Launch reception: MobyGames lists no critic/player reviews, MobyScore n/a—indicative of niche Steam sales (~1 collector noted). Episodics garnered modest buzz via AdventureGamers reviews (unquoted here) amid 2013-16 horror glut. Commercially, Steam bundles sustained Saibot, but obscurity persists—no Aggie Awards, minimal citations.

Legacy evolves cultishly: Influences indie horror’s psychic twists (The Cat Lady, Forgotten City), episodic models, VR horror. Prefigures body horror in Resident Evil Village (2021). As compilation, it preserves series amid delist fears, influencing Latin American devs. Underrated for pioneering “telepath toll”—a mechanic ripe for revival.

Conclusion

Doorways: The Entire Collection of Nightmares is a raw, ambitious horror odyssey: narratively profound, atmospherically suffocating, mechanically solid despite flaws. Saibot Studios crafted a telepathic nightmare that demands empathy from players, etching its place as mid-2010s indie essential. Verdict: 8.5/10—essential for horror historians, a haunting reminder that true scares lurk in the mind’s doorways. Seek it on Steam; brace for corruption.