A House of Many Doors is a game that obviously pays homage to Sunless Sea while presenting its own version of reality. It's also noteworthy that Failbetter Games was fully supportive of this endeavor. So, what makes A House of Many Doors unique?


The story in AHoMD begins with you, setting out to find a way to escape The House, which pulls beings, objects, even the land/water itself from various realities/dimensions into this one, a realm of inherent darkness and madness formed as many rooms to a singular house (dimension).

The writing is pretty involved and has quite a few intricacies that fans of this budding genre will appreciate. It obviously borrows heavily from Lovecraft and other horror luminaries (but mostly Lovecraft). The story also evolves based on some of the choices you will be faced with. Beyond that, this is a living breathing world (well, mostly living and breathing) with plenty of bastions in the darkness for a person to take refuge at. Maybe questionable refuge, but at least you escape the darkness.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908098439309/4637A62751FC9406D9D47A57EA41D3CE3ED76734/

There are three endings. I played through two of them and they were quite interesting. The third is kind of a joke/extremely harsh reality ending and I wasn't quite ready for the repercussions of taking that route lol. The quests and side quests were all interesting, and honestly, despite having finished the game, there is actually a ton of other stuff to do in this world that actually also builds on the lore of the game.


The overhead world map which you travel through is set up like Sunless Sea, but with some key distinctions. For one, the world is, as mentioned before, broken up into "rooms," and so you will only ever be accessing a small part of the map at any given moment. Additionally, combat is not resolved on the world map, although the inevitable chase or clumsy driving leads to combat quite often.

Combat is resolved on a separate, tactical turn based map, where two ships duke it out with cannons and of course boarding parties, while also trying to control distance to prevent boarding (or encourage it lol). Whichever ship doesn't explode wins. :)

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908099578141/45C19FD52AF05B58CBE1A586CE2777AF96AF15BF/

Navigating the world is mostly done via giant insect vehicles. Yours is modeled after a centipede, but there are a few others out there, including elemental and meat vehicles (lol). Your ship (centipede thingy) can be modified by adding more storage, a better engine and legs, and better armaments.

You have a ship light that is literally powered by a heart. Should you ever lose the heart, you will be forced to travel in the dark, which leads to some unique encounters, and as a general rule, nothing good can come of it other than being able to avoid the notice of other, potentially hostile ships. In each room, there is also a chance to find a building which will have special items, lost people, etc....

There is also a madness mechanics, which features the deterioration of your sanity via what you do and what you witness. Your character/crew is customizable as well with plenty of shipmates to choose from in the world, each with their own goals and motivations. You will gather "apprehensions" which is basically xp used to upgrade said crew and your overall abilities as a result.


The graphics are pretty simple, making use of some very basic assets. The artwork on the other hand is really cool and is featured in a lot of the text parts of the game. Most of your encounters happen in "choose your own adventure" style text, but, and especially in combat, you do get to see at least a little variety. Also, each city or unique area has its own cool print, which make for some neat screenshots. It all works well, but graphics are definitely not the focus of this game. Rather, they are more an enhancement and a means to an end. There is also an RPG Maker section towards the end of the game that I thought was pretty cool and a nice little change of pace.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908102605675/2138E864399F43AD54D06E1CE900EBC508B60CA1/


The audio is mostly of the background variety, although the music tracks are cool, and there are little audio alterations to the world as your mental state deteriorates. Overall though, this also is more an enhancement than a feature of the game in my opinion.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908102599463/E8201DB3EFFB173EEDEDD33A1C447B5090FAA913/


If you enjoyed Sunless Sea, you almost definitely will enjoy this. If you have never tried Sunless Sea, you still will probably enjoy this. I felt like the learning curve was a bit steep initially, but at some point, you'll become pretty overpowered and maybe even a god. There is a ton to see and do in this game. I'd say it took me about 15 hours to complete the game and see two endings, but there is at least another 20 hours of content packed into this game I'd say. Probably more. This is an easy recommended at full price.

[b]A House of Many Doors[/b] is a game that obviously pays homage to Sunless Sea while presenting its own version of reality. It's also noteworthy that Failbetter Games was fully supportive of this endeavor. So, what makes A House of Many Doors unique? [h1]Story[/h1] The story in AHoMD begins with you, setting out to find a way to escape The House, which pulls beings, objects, even the land/water itself from various realities/dimensions into this one, a realm of inherent darkness and madness formed as many rooms to a singular house (dimension). The writing is pretty involved and has quite a few intricacies that fans of this budding genre will appreciate. It obviously borrows heavily from Lovecraft and other horror luminaries (but mostly Lovecraft). The story also evolves based on some of the choices you will be faced with. Beyond that, this is a living breathing world (well, mostly living and breathing) with plenty of bastions in the darkness for a person to take refuge at. Maybe questionable refuge, but at least you escape the darkness. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908098439309/4637A62751FC9406D9D47A57EA41D3CE3ED76734/ There are three endings. I played through two of them and they were quite interesting. The third is kind of a joke/extremely harsh reality ending and I wasn't quite ready for the repercussions of taking that route lol. The quests and side quests were all interesting, and honestly, despite having finished the game, there is actually a ton of other stuff to do in this world that actually also builds on the lore of the game. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] The overhead world map which you travel through is set up like Sunless Sea, but with some key distinctions. For one, the world is, as mentioned before, broken up into "rooms," and so you will only ever be accessing a small part of the map at any given moment. Additionally, combat is not resolved on the world map, although the inevitable chase or clumsy driving leads to combat quite often. Combat is resolved on a separate, tactical turn based map, where two ships duke it out with cannons and of course boarding parties, while also trying to control distance to prevent boarding (or encourage it lol). Whichever ship doesn't explode wins. :) https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908099578141/45C19FD52AF05B58CBE1A586CE2777AF96AF15BF/ Navigating the world is mostly done via giant insect vehicles. Yours is modeled after a centipede, but there are a few others out there, including elemental and meat vehicles (lol). Your ship (centipede thingy) can be modified by adding more storage, a better engine and legs, and better armaments. You have a ship light that is literally powered by a heart. Should you ever lose the heart, you will be forced to travel in the dark, which leads to some unique encounters, and as a general rule, nothing good can come of it other than being able to avoid the notice of other, potentially hostile ships. In each room, there is also a chance to find a building which will have special items, lost people, etc.... There is also a madness mechanics, which features the deterioration of your sanity via what you do and what you witness. Your character/crew is customizable as well with plenty of shipmates to choose from in the world, each with their own goals and motivations. You will gather "apprehensions" which is basically xp used to upgrade said crew and your overall abilities as a result. [h1]Graphics[/h1] The graphics are pretty simple, making use of some very basic assets. The artwork on the other hand is really cool and is featured in a lot of the text parts of the game. Most of your encounters happen in "choose your own adventure" style text, but, and especially in combat, you do get to see at least a little variety. Also, each city or unique area has its own cool print, which make for some neat screenshots. It all works well, but graphics are definitely not the focus of this game. Rather, they are more an enhancement and a means to an end. There is also an RPG Maker section towards the end of the game that I thought was pretty cool and a nice little change of pace. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908102605675/2138E864399F43AD54D06E1CE900EBC508B60CA1/ [h1]Audio[/h1] The audio is mostly of the background variety, although the music tracks are cool, and there are little audio alterations to the world as your mental state deteriorates. Overall though, this also is more an enhancement than a feature of the game in my opinion. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/782985908102599463/E8201DB3EFFB173EEDEDD33A1C447B5090FAA913/ [h1]Verdict[/h1] If you enjoyed Sunless Sea, you almost definitely will enjoy this. If you have never tried Sunless Sea, you still will probably enjoy this. I felt like the learning curve was a bit steep initially, but at some point, you'll become pretty overpowered and maybe even a god. There is a ton to see and do in this game. I'd say it took me about 15 hours to complete the game and see two endings, but there is at least another 20 hours of content packed into this game I'd say. Probably more. This is an easy [b]recommended at full price[/b]. [code]If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, it would be appreciated. Cheers. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/[/code]