[h1] Missing a bit more interactivity for me [/h1]
[h3] Summary ; TLDR [/h3]
[b]Simple control scheme.[/b] Has a [b]few gameplay mechanics[/b] in certain levels.[b]Visually a stunning[/b] game and provides you with a retro style to suit its “anemoaic” theme. [b]Story mode is lackluster.[/b] I’d recommend playing peacefully in the relaxed mode. [b]Music was repetitive[/b], much better suited to silence or your own nostalgic playlist accompanied by the crisp and clear SFX in the game. Has a seemingly friendly and active community if you’re looking to share any new level ideas or improvements.
I personally don’t recommend this game as I don’t find it to fulfill the anemoaic genre of “ideal America in the 1980s and is quite limited in level concepts in that regard, provided a story that wasn’t necessary and goes against its purpose of wanting to be soft and dreamlike, some levels were tiresomely liminal and, [b]as a player I desire a bit more mechanical and meaningful interactivity from a walking simulator.[/b]
[h3] Game play [/h3]
[b]Simple and classic controls with a bit of quality of life settings[/b] e.g. head bob, walk/sprint speed etc. Initially it was a bit finicky to get this game to feel right in lieu with the graphical settings. [b]Had it crash a few times[/b]. I did get to a place where it was playable.
At the bare bones it does what is expected of a walking sim. In this case you are thrown into worlds of liminal spaces and slowly a story starts to develop. In each world there can be various mechanics which will “challenge” you in order to get to the next world. This game has an interesting premise which it [b]tried to utilise with the various game mechanics. However, it fell short for me.[/b]
While the spaces are indeed liminal, some are quite beautiful and interesting. Some levels such as ‘Highway’, the second half of ‘Greenhills’, ‘Dreampools’ and ‘Sunflowers’ felt simply like a mess, providing no interactivity to keep the player engaged. Now, I’m not saying every level requires this, but if you’re going to make someone walk and look at repetitive architecture you should give them something else to focus on. Basically [b]some are too big[/b], for the sake of being big. It’s tagged as exploration but there’s nothing really to explore. I literally went to each corner of the maps looking for anything intriguing only to come up with nothing.
My favourite liminal spaces were ‘Dream Sky’, the first half of ‘Greenhills’ and ‘School Gym’. What these levels achieved for me was simplicity. They were aesthetically pleasing, dreamlike or nostalgic, peaked curiosity, had very simple interactivity and/or game mechanics. ‘Sweet Home’ for me was a comfortable middle ground.
[h3] Graphics [/h3]
Most levels are visually stunning. There are [b]a few graphical errors[/b] such as world seams flickering or object flickering at certain angles and lights. The lighting when you walk through some areas or obviously facing away or towards a source of light though some seem intentional to create evoke a sense of dreamcore nostalgia, others are too luminescent and hinder the experience.
I’m not a fan of the ‘retro style’, it’s a cool idea but I had to turn it off because the haze effect was unpleasant for my eyes and gave me headaches so I had to wear my glasses and do interval sessions since I really wanted to give this game a red hot crack.
[h3] Story [/h3]
[b]At the time of this review, there are no plans to further the story[/b], so, moving forward.
In the beginning there was a sense of intrigue, I didn’t expect to find anything particularly complex being it is a walking simulator with a dash of story. Yet, I was left [b]overwhelmingly disappointed[/b]. Perhaps it was on purpose so the player can determine their own conclusion or it’s metaphorical to the dreamcore where some dreams are just left unfinished, or maybe there was some other meaning behind it. Regardless I wasn’t satisfied.
This story follows a man who falls into a “rabbit hole of dreamcore” trying to find his way back to reality. On his journey throughout the liminal spaces he [spoiler] receives phone calls from himself, a seemingly sinister version. [/spoiler] it helps you keep engaged as you wander the levels. But, it doesn’t particularly go anywhere in terms of story. The ending of [spoiler] him finding his way back and possibly releasing the alternate version of himself [/spoiler] isn’t really addressed thus, leaving me unsatisfied.
This game didn’t need a story, it was actually dragged down by the story and voice cloning. The game was designed not to “invent something fundamentally new” but evoke a sense of nostalgia through dreamcore aesthetics. The story doesn’t provide that and it certainly couldn’t with any voice cloning. I’d much prefer the developer to use their own voice. It would at least be able to capture the human essence. Although, with the dialogue choices it did help the AI to somewhat be a mediocre story telling medium. The story is quite simple and could have actually been evoked just as simply through subtitles of inner thoughts, music and visual aids; if you really wanted to create a story mode. [b]Again, if the game’s purpose was not to tell a story, why have it in the first place? [/b] If it's not AI voice cloning, I think the sound mixing needs some more work and the VA was unfortunately emotionless.
[h3] Music & Sound [/h3]
The music was not bad. Though it gets very [b]easily repetitive[/b]. I don’t like when the music was slowed, reversed or rewound; it was a bit jarring and to hear that constantly became a bit annoying. That being said, you can just walk around in silence.
[b]SFX’s were crisp and clean[/b]. Much more pleasant to walk through the levels without the music and enjoy the simple sounds of interactions.
[h3] Thoughts [/h3]
I like the idea of anemoiac and liminal spaces. Yet, I think the [b]level design or thought process is really limiting[/b] especially if it’s derived from the idea of the “Ideal America” in the 1980’s. I don’t really get that from the levels other than the second half of ‘Greenhills’ and ‘Sweet home’. But is that all to the ideal America? A white picket fence with some flamingos on the lawn? I don’t think the whole scope was fully captured in its essence.
However, the idea of anemoiac places I feel is quite a hard topic. Personally, some of these levels did give me a sense of nostalgia but not in a way where it’s anemoiac. By this I mean, anemoiac is a desire to have experienced a certain time period that you have never known. Whereas for me, who wasn’t born in the 80s or even in America, all of these levels, though they do evoke nostalgia, it's because I have already lived them as a child or even in my adult age. They’re even still perfectly obtainable in today's era; obviously without the dreamlike chaoticness of them. Unless, it’s to be interpreted as nostalgic things turned into a dreamcore like state then I guess to a degree it has accomplished that, but I wouldn't describe it as anemoaic. I personally don’t desire a meddling highway with a random motel with a pool in its centre.
[b]I don’t recommend this game for a person like me[/b], where I value more meaningful interactivity. I’ve played quite a few walking sims, Moon runner, baby steps, adorable adventures, limbo, copy cat, the companion, lost ember, spirit of the north, paperbark, the exit 8, endling, the big walk and more. They’re all walking simulators, some I don’t like and some I do but they all have a functionality, interactivity and an essence to them that I just don’t find in Dreamcore.
I would actually like to see what the developer and community could do with different themes rather than limit itself to such a small box.
Something like this, maybe it would be good to have two people play. So you can roam and chat.
