A horror game that’s actually scary is a beautiful thing. More often than not it requires every component—eerie music, unpredictable events, solid writing etc.— working in tandem to cultivate the desired creepy atmosphere. But as we’ve learned over the years, realistic graphics are far from a necessity. Just take a look at Nanashi no Game and Home: both feature simple pixel art and are still incredibly frightening. The Last Door, a point-and-click adventure game playable via browser, is looking to follow this same humble path, offering up as many scares as it does pixels.
A horror game that’s actually scary is a beautiful thing. More often than not it requires every component—eerie music, unpredictable events, solid writing etc.— working in tandem to cultivate the desired creepy atmosphere. But as we’ve learned over the years, realistic graphics are far from a necessity. Just take a look at Nanashi no Game and Home: both feature simple pixel art and are still incredibly frightening. The Last Door, a point-and-click adventure game playable via browser, is looking to follow this same humble path, offering up as many scares as it does pixels.
The Game Kitchen, developer of The Last Door, is taking a very unique approach to the horror genre with the game. Most notably, it will be a free-to-play title playable in your browser. Furthermore, it will be episodic, with those who back the project on Kickstarter receiving early access to each episode. It should be noted, however, that The Game Kitchen will require additional funding in order to release future episodes. They plan to attain this through a variety of means, such as ads, crowdfunding, merchandise, donations, or however the community backing the project decides is the best way to approach this issue.
It may sound risky, but The Game Kitchen is confident they can draw in a large enough crowd to keep this creepy boat afloat. As they state on the Kickstarter page: “Once the project is running we will have to keep it growing by earning players confidence chapter after chapter. Players will be the ultimate judges deciding whether new chapters are released or not.”
With the external factors addressed, let’s discuss the game itself, shall we? It begins when the main character (who will be named by a backer) receives a letter from an old friend in need of help. Being the kindly fellow that the main character is, he immediately sets out for his friend’s home in Sussex County. If you’re at all familiar with horror setups, you probably know what I’m going to say next: something is totally awry at your friend’s house.
Being that this is an episodic game, you won’t find out all of what’s going on in the story from the get-go. Rather, you’ll learn more and more every episode, each one lasting anywhere between 15-30 minutes. That’s not a ton of time, but The Game Kitchen intends to pack each one with mysteries, secrets, and allusions to what’s coming next—just like a good TV show would.
The Kickstarter is home to some pretty awesome rewards, such as the opportunity to become a main (and playable) character in the story. You can also get a portrait of yourself done up in pixel art, access to project files, and even a handmade tapestry from the team working on the game. Most importantly, though, you can help out a developer in their journey to try something new!
Project Name: The Last Door
Platforms: PC, iOS, Android
Funds Needed: £3,852
Funding Acquired (as of this writing): £3,137
Days Left: 9
Kickstarter Picks is a series on Gamezebo that profiles Kickstarter projects in the world of video games. We’re doing this in the hopes of calling attention to interesting projects in need of funding, so please, if a game looks like something you’d want to play, don’t hesitate to lend it your support!
