#hypersloth

Dream  (HyperSloth  2015)

Dream is a first person atmospheric exploration game, made by indie developer HyperSloth. You take on the role of Howard Phillips, a young graduate with little direction in life who has an obsession with his dreams. As you play, you'll explore interesting dreams and creepy nightmares, both filled with puzzles and secrets. I found this game to be really original and fun. While the gameplay isn't revolutionary, you walk around, explore the world, solve some puzzles, the overall theme and experience felt fresh. The locations you visit are all pretty unique looking and filled with mystery (it feels like they hid secrets all over), making them enjoyable to run around in. Graphically it can be a very nice looking game. Colors are rich and the textures are quite detailed. The depth of field can be a bit much at times for my taste, so i turned it off for the screenshots by editing the "DepthOfField=false" line of the  "UDKSystemSettings.ini"  configuration file.

The puzzles were challenging and a few of them took me quitting the game for a while and coming back with a fresh perspective to figure them out. One thing that's great about Dream is that there's a sort of hub world, which lets you go back and revisit areas you've already played through, so not all the puzzles have to be figured out right away for you to progress the story. Another neat addition is that they've scattered explanations across the levels about what certain things mean in your dreams. It was always a highlight coming across one of them. The soundtrack is worth mentioning as well as it fit the games different areas (and dream theme) like a glove.

Dream is a quirky take on the exploration/walking simulator genre and HyperSloth did a good job bringing something new to the table. If you like these types of games, but want something a little different, this might be right up your alley!

Thanks to HyperSloth and Brian at Evolve Pr for the review copy. 

Dream is a great game. Good enough to recommend it. Besides a good premise, Dream is a high quality game . From the “get go” the game looks, sounds and feels great. I give much importance to soundtracks in games and the song that plays when we enter the first dream sequence blew my mind. It is absolutely beautiful. The graphics are not the very best but the game looks great, I enjoyed transiting through the various dream sequences just to admire the design. The scenarios are fantastically detailed and beautiful and it’s great to explore them due to non-linear game design. The puzzles are varied and at the same time are difficult to solve. The deeper you travel deeper into Howard’s dreamland a very beautiful and at the same time appropriate music for each scene is played. All these things speak a lot about the ambition with which developers faced this project. In general, I commend them for the courage with which developed this game.

Regarding the gameplay, basically we need to explore different dream sequences and solve puzzles in each one. The puzzles are very good, although at first they seem a bit ambiguous, they are easy to understand once you sit down to solve them (Sometimes the main character gives spoken hints on how to solve the puzzles). Yet they are quite complicated to solve, but I do not recommended at all the use of guides to finalize them. It is something that is much better and more rewarding to do by yourself.

I must be honest about the history. It is not as good as it could have been. Although the premise is interesting, it focuses on the life of a lonely young man whose life seems empty and not progressing, and he depends on his ability to lucid dream as a pretext to find reasons to live. And that simplicity would be fine if the plot was well executed. You’d think a plot that focuses on psychology and dream interpretation would open the door to deep and surreal material that could spice perfectly what would otherwise be a very basic plot. Unfortunately, this potential wasn’t fully exploited. I understand that Dream is an indie game made by a small, inexperienced team, but it would have been nice to play with these aforementioned elements. One thing that I have to thank is the variety of “endings” that complement the story perfectly.

This review is not without criticism, of course. To be set in the subconscious of a person, one would expect to be given more “freedom” in its gameplay and movement. I wish there had been sequences in which you could fly instead of walking all the time. Although the game is far from becoming a dreaded “walking simulator”. Besides, the nightmares are a bit short. While they have the proper atmosphere and a “bizarre” design, they feel more like genuine anxiety episodes instead of nightmares. They do not make the player feel truly “at risk” and they only slightly alter the game’s setting. Because nightmares are an important part of the plot, one would expect them to be a little more terrifying and also make some progress over the plot.

I applaud the team for facing such an ambitious project, particularly because it was their first too! It is a game totally worth buying to support developers. I am quite excited that there is a game about lucid dreaming and at the same time is so ambitious, I give it an approving review. I encourage you to take an interest in this game because it is a title full of potential.

AtypicalChuck Plays Dream! (Nightmare #2)

“Dream” is a really deep and meaningful exploration game, but, for the love of God why are they so good at freaking me out. T_T  This is a play through of the second nightmare in the game from my Thursday stream and it was just bonkers. Dream was developed by HyperSloth Buy Dream on Steam…

Hypersloth Reveals New Trailer For Adventure-Puzzle Game "Dream" | #Steam #PCGaming

Development team Hypersloth recently announced a new trailer for their new first person adventure puzzle game called Dream. Fans watching the game for a long time know that it’s been in Steam Early Access for two years, and will be released July 31st, 2015 for PC. (more…)