The White Door 2020:  A Unique Rusty Lake Split-Screen Adventure

The White Door is a very solid point-and-click adventure from Rusty Lake, creators of the Cube Escape and Rusty Lake series, which focuses on assisting a psychiatric patient in locating and/or resolving a jumble of terrible memories involving some rather well-known situations and characters from earlier games. Aside from those references (which are specific to one character), the game stands on its own. You can play this without knowing anything about the Rusty Lake universe. Rusty Lake veterans may be disappointed with the low challenge of this adventure, but they will be ecstatic with the lore dump (don’t worry, this is far from over). We recommend it based only on that. You knew you’d get it regardless, right?

The White Door is a complex and nuanced examination of not only the nature of video games and the gaming community but also of life and the fundamental essence of humanity. The seemingly basic, dull title and deceptively plain graphics conceal a deep, multilayered plot that is both a caustic parody of twentieth-century America and a contemporary reminder of the dangers of human greed. As is the case with such great pieces of art, Many uneducated thugs who are clearly not artistic savants of the medium will not appreciate this as the stunning tour de force that it so rightfully is, but will complain about the “boring puzzles,” “uninspiring graphics,” and “cliched story,” but they are merely pathetic subhumans who cannot comprehend the sheer complexity of this fine art. They are the same people who dismiss Rise of Skywalker as “pathetic fan service” with a “complicated plot,” despite the fact that it is an underappreciated subversive masterpiece, and who dismiss modern art like Agnes Martin’s “I Love the Whole World” as “meaningless” and “pretentious” – ignorant idiots who should be treated as such.

The game’s title “The White Door” itself has a satirical, multilayered meaning – “White” connotes both innocence and milk, thus a hidden comment on man’s duality – life itself being merely a countdown to death, while “Door” connotes both an opening or new beginning as well as oak, a sly, subversive comment on the two lives man leads – reality, and the consumption of culture through which we vicariously live out our deepest, dark Furthermore, “The” is a subtle audiovisual allusion to the letter “V,” which can indicate a variety of things, including the number five, a name, or a letter. Of course, this is a superb, timely commentary on the fundamental meaninglessness of life and culture, compelling the player to ponder why they are spending their time playing this game. Masterful.

The Rusty Lake series is held together by a single central event, and without that context, The White Door’s surrealism and visual shenanigans will be meaningless to you. Is this to say you shouldn’t buy and play it? Certainly not. You should definitely buy and play it, but first, you should make an effort to catch up. You don’t have to play the rest of the premium games (four or five games that won’t break the bank but, more importantly, don’t directly deal with the aforementioned central event), but you should at least consume the free Cube Escape games and perhaps watch the free movie they made (which is also awesome) before diving into this one.

Overall, The White Door is a fantastic addition to the Rusty Lake series, if you are a highly educated intellectual savant who regularly reads high 18th-century literature and is an avid fan of Philosophy and Classical Greek Drama, you may be able to fully understand and appreciate the sheer depth of meaning to this game, which redefines the very nature of gaming in general. If, on the other hand, you are an ignorant brat, as the majority of people are, you will be overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of this life experience, dismissing it as a “flash game.” For true men, though, this is a work of art for the ages. Impeccable. Brilliant and captivating. Beautifully written. A true work of art that pushes the medium and the gaming concept to new heights.

Click here to check out our last review on Milo and the Magpies.