The Seventh Door

I. When I started The Seventh Door I didn’t know what to expect from the initial premise and knowing the game was developed in a round robin fashion. It seemed interesting, but I assumed it had to be incoherent with so many cooks in the kitchen. I’m happy to report this wasn’t the case!

II. This is a fun game to play, with each section having its own particular flavor but with several common ideas and mini-games. They come to center around certain special abilities, and I particularly liked one of the late-game sections where you got to deal with several abilities at once -- both using them and having them used against you. There were a few sections I was less thrilled about, but as they were all pretty short whenever I got to something I didn’t like I knew it’d be over soon. Funnily enough, this was one of the strengths specific to the game’s development style.



III. I was really surprised at how coherent the story was. Towards the end it’s very cutscene heavy as the creators try to tie all the plot threads together, and although they do succeed, it did make the later parts of the game drag on. Still, the gameplay gimmicks kept coming all the way until the final section, and I had a fun time with most of them. There’s some twist and turns in this one, which I definitely won’t spoil!

IV. The extras were fun -- I loved "Zikaz at the Funfair". There's also the game script as a stage play.. which is a joke and has some tasteless humor. Your mileage may vary on that. I think I got all the extras based on how the screen looked, and they were interesting to see, especially the ones discussing what didn't make it into the game.

V. However, the way this game handled women sucked. With the exception of Alize and Iris, the (few, thankfully) times they came up I grew to expect some unnecessary sexual comment.

(This screenshot has some NSFW text, though the visuals are fine. I'm still not displaying it directly to be on the safe side.)

Note that with the above comment the main character says it's disgusting, so it's not like the game is celebrating this kind of attitude.

It didn't add much, even if it was realistic in the sense that it's really not surprising to find someone, say, harassing you on the street (as another example that happened). Plenty of people like that exist and the game portrays it as a shitty thing to do. Still, adding this kind of "realism" was pointless, save as a reminder that women can expect to deal with a lot of the same shit in the future. Unless there's something beyond "hey remember sexism? that still exists", I think it's better to leave out. This goes for racism, transphobia, homophobia, etc... I get enough reminders about that IRL, but if a game actually does something with the topic I tend to mind it less.

VI. As for aesthetics, some of the graphics did clash, but I suppose it’s to be expected with so many different people working on it. The music had some notably differences in style, too, but I thought the developers did an okay job blending everything. I may or may not have downloaded the track “Highway BDM” so I could listen to it whenever I wanted.

VII. Overall, I found The Seventh Door to be a fun and varied experience. Give it a try! Chances are you’ll find a mechanic you like, and it’s worth it just to see how this collaborative story unfolds.