Title: Dream Alone
Platform: Nintendo Switch [reviewed], PC,
Genre: Action, Adventure
Developer: Warsaw Games
Publisher: Fat Dog Games
Release Date: June 28, 2018
When you think back on some of the most acclaimed indie games to come out in the new millennium, you’re guaranteed to hit one of the major inspirations for Dream Alone.
Dream Alone is an action adventure game in a style similar to Braid and LIMBO. But you’re probably wondering how it stands on its own.
The story revolves around a young boy tasked with finding the cure to the lethal illness that swept through his village. If only he could find Lady Death (yes, really), she might be able to heal them all.
But to find her, he has to travel through the dangers of the forests, cemeteries and everything in between. And he can’t really fight anything that’s trying to stand in his way.
Graphically is where the game’s going to get most of its points from me. It very much evokes the appearance of Tim Burton’s heyday. But there are a number of graphical touches in the game that, at least from my perspective, hold it back.
For one, the game is very monochromatic. Which probably doesn’t sound like a problem, but it is; often things like traps will blend into the terrain, making them impossible to see, much less differentiate from other, harmless objects.
There is also the fact that the screen blinks, making it almost completely impossible to see anything for a fraction of a second. Unfortunately, the blink itself takes longer than that, meaning that for a second or so every few seconds, you can really only see a third or so of the screen.
I’ve also noted a few graphical glitches here and there, mostly with the climbing animation. Those are less of an issue, though.
And this really is the meat of it. The game is like a number of other games, which is fine. But it’s very hard for it to manage a trick of its own, here. Neither of its gimmicks (alternate dimension shifting and a clone) are in and of themselves original.
But that’s not really a problem; no the problem here really kind of loops back to the graphics section, honestly. To put it short: this is a dark game. And I don’t mean thematically (though that’s true, as well).
The last game that made me strain this hard just to see what I was supposed to be doing was released in 2001. You might notice in my screenshots a few pits you’re supposed to jump over.
The blinking, monochromatic color palette, controls, and general effects made those a nightmare, even when I knew where they were. Not to mention, placing blurry foreground objects in front of a ledge you need to land on is not cool.
The game in general also feels kind of loose. It loves dropping enemies from above on you. And due to a quirk of the engine, sometimes those enemies start moving before they hit the floor, meaning this is a trap that requires you to be both in the right place, and hope the enemies don’t move out of position. And sometimes, checkpoints don’t happen often enough for that to not be a problem.
Remember up above, where I said this game felt loose? Well, you’ll feel it every time you jump. Which is odd, as the floaty jump is not usually seen with tight walking controls like this. It is, however, all compounded by platforms not having clearly defined boxes.
You’ll hit your head on the edge of a ledge, and be forced to move away to actually make the jump. Which isn’t necessarily a control concern, but certainly feeds into one. Also, considering the type of game this is, you kinda want things to be less floaty and slow.
I have little to say, as my time with the game didn’t give me much of an impression. I will say, however, that it struck me as well matched to the art design. So they get a pass on that.
I honestly find it hard to recommend Dream Alone. The time I spent with it wasn’t, for me, enjoyable. I’ll happily concede that there may have been things just beyond the horizon that would’ve tipped me in the right direction on it.
I don’t mind hard games, but I don’t like feeling as if I’m smacking my head against a brick wall, either. That said, they were clearly trying for something, and that deserves to be applauded.
Maybe I’m not the right person for it. But I can’t recommend a game that was quite so unpleasant for me to play. But there may be others for whom the game is great; I won’t dispute that.
“Dream Alone might be a bit too dark for its own good. But that might not be a problem for the right player.”
Final Score:
2/5
*We were provided a copy of this game for review*
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