Game Review: Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors

By Manuel

​Players: 1
Platforms: PC (Steam)

There was a time when I looked high and low for quality survivors-like games, but I couldn’t find any that filled the void left after I fully completed Vampire Survivors. This journey has brought me to several games of questionable quality, and some that fell just short of perfection. The game we're going to be looking at today comes to us by way of developer BINGOBELL, and publisher BeStarsGames. It's called Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors, and it's a fairy tale-themed game that's currently a Steam exclusive. There's really no need for further intro, so let's dive right in!

I don't want to start my review with a negative, but I think the lack of an actual in-game plot is Dreamland Survivors' biggest failing. You play as Pinocchio, and you take on the powers of Dream Eggs and Tarot Cards to fight off monstrous versions of characters and creatures that come from the pages of fairy tales. The game's description also makes mention of Cthulhu, but I don't see any of that in the game itself. This is simply a standard horror-themed game, but one with a fairly interesting premise. The problem is that no matter how interesting things are, none of that matters if you're not given any reason for going through the game at all. Making matters worse, all of the game's runs are referred to as "Dreams" or "Nightmares", so I'm not even sure anything in this game is even meant to be taking place at all. Are these just the dreams of Pinocchio? I really hope not, as the entire "It was just a dream!" trope has been done to death at this point. I do have to point out that this is a game from a very indie Chinese developer, so it's possible that the lack of a plot is due to inexperience. That doesn't change the fact that the game would've been far more enjoyable if players were given some sort of narrative throughline, but I think I've harped on this point long enough. Let’s move the discussion to gameplay next.

​At its core, Dreamland Survivors is your typical survivors-like where your one task is to.... survive... against wave after wave of enemies. This game goes for a level-based approach, where each run is separated into one-minute rounds. Each round will clear out all enemies, bring all experience and coins to you, and open up a shop and a portal to the next round. Controls are pretty simple, as you pretty much only ever have to worry about movement. Attacking is fully automatic, and you also have a dodge that has to be charged up between uses. You have a standard life bar, and losing it means the end of a run. There are ways to increase your HP, as well as refill it in-game. Bosses do sometimes pop up in Tarot Card sequences, but I'll get to those in just a bit. Outside of bosses, there are sometimes special enemies that walk around carrying chests containing coins and Dream Eggs or portals that take you to Tarot Cards. There are also more powerful monsters that you most likely won't be able to kill within the time allotted. Most runs in the early game only last for 15 rounds, though later runs can last longer. There's also an Endless Mode that I didn't bother with all that much, but it has some additional quirks all its own. Completing or failing a run means you can keep any in-game currency (Referred to as "Nightmare Sigils" in-game.) you've collected, and you can use those to upgrade your character in between runs.

There's actually a lot I can get into regarding Dreamland Survivors' gameplay, as just about every aspect of it is done in a way that is far different from what fans of the genre would expect. Rather than have weapons to equip and choose from, you have three types of attack that you can take advantage of in each run. The three types of attack are Lancer, Caster, and Archer, and there are also additional damage-dealing abilities that augment these main attacks in the form of Curse, Burn, Corrosion, and Blast. You start each run with one point in one of the attack forms, and you can eventually unlock them all by devouring Dream Eggs of the type you want. Your character does gain stats via levelling up, but most of their growth will come from the use of Dream Eggs. Dream Eggs are most often given during a level up, but they can also be found in chests, dropped by enemies, or bought from in-game stores. Each Dream Egg has two abilities attached to it, one that you gain from equipping it, and one you gain by eating it. Each Dream egg is also tied to at least one stat, and will grant a level in it when you eat them. Eggs can also be sold in the shop, but I'm of the opinion that even the worst Dream Eggs are better off eaten than sold.

The other stat boosting item that is rather complicated to mention are Tarot Cards. The theme of Tarot Cards runs throughout all of Dreamland Survivors, so it makes sense that they make up a big chunk of gameplay. You'll enter a specific Tarot Card zone after every three rounds, and these can make or break any run. You'll first have to choose a card at random, and have to fulfill a task laid out on it in order to get your rewards. I saw "rewards", but these are chosen at random too, and can just as easily boost enemies instead. In order to gain the use of a Tarot Card, you'll have to complete tasks like surviving the round, defeating all enemies within the time limit, or even defeating a boss. These might sound easy on paper, but you'll also have to deal with whatever effects the Tarot Card grants, and not all of them are positive. Some Tarot Cards grant you additional attacks, but the worst of them flip you upside down or create a mirror image of your character that can also take damage. Failing a mission while still having health means you can continue, but without any rewards, and losing all your life ends the run as normal. Tarot Cards are basically legendary versions of Dream Eggs, and I very often sold the ones that had effects I didn't like since they give you a ton of coins. There's also optional Tarot Card rounds you can go into, but dying in these means you lose access to your current character for a run or two. This all might sound a little confusing, but I can totally go more in-depth if I wanted to. I will return to this topic soon, but first I want to take a break and discuss some other bits of Dreamland Survivors.

If there's one place where Dreamland Survivors really shines, it's in its visual style. There admittedly isn't too much variety as far as enemy and backgrounds go, but what is here is amazing. Not only that, but each Tarot version of Pinocchio is pretty cool, and I wish that the game simply had more to it. I also never experienced any slowdown or gameplay issues, even when the action got really intense. On a similar note, I found the overall sound design to be good too, but the problem with variety pops up here too in an even worse way. I'm not sure how many music tracks are actually in the game, but it felt like I was hearing the same three or four songs for hours on end. The music is really good, but even the best of soundtracks will get old if you have to hear them on repeat non-stop.

Sadly, that's about where my strong positives end. While the visual style might be great, the menus are absolutely horrible. There are far too many stats tossed into a handful of screens, and all of them are technically important in some way. This brings up the bigger issue of the game design itself, as I feel like it’s at odds with what makes the survivors-like genre so addicting in the first place. Half of the fun one usually has in these types of games revolves around shutting your brain off and letting instincts take over. You can make random choices like I did in my first run, but you won't get very far doing just that. Rather than having a blast with the simple gameplay loop, you'll instead spend a lot of your time managing your inventory and wondering why the Tarot Card system screwed you over again. This leads me to my biggest gripe with the game, and we're going to have to tackle character growth and combat once again to cover it.

The only reason I didn't give up on Dreamland Survivors in the first hour was because I knew I had to write a review. It's not a bad game once you get the hang of it, but it has one of the worst openings I've ever seen. You're given about eight tutorials in the first minute or so of gameplay, and not a single one of the game's many complicated systems make sense at first. Everything feels like it was made different simply for the sake of being different, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I didn't know what I was doing in my first two or three runs. I even went into the game's discussions on Steam, and saw that other players had this exact same issue. One of the developers even came into the chat and encouraged people to just pick things at random if they didn't know what they were doing, and I don't even know what to say about that. I did start having a bit more fun once I things fell into place, but I'd be lying if I said that I understand everything the game has to offer. One reason I haven't talked much about permanent upgrades is because I'm still not sure how they work, and I'm pretty sure I wasted entire hours building up a character that I accidentally deleted. The game can be fun, but I really want to throw up my hands in an AVGN-like "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!" right now. This is also something that can't be easily fixed in updates, so it'll most likely always be a barrier to entry for some.

I didn't even cover all of the negatives either, like how gaining Nightmare Sigils also increases the strength of monsters, or how my unspent Nightmare Sigils disappeared on me more than once between runs, but I think you get the point. Dreamland Survivors is far from perfect, but it just might scratch that survivors-like itch for those looking for something to play now that they've finished the latest Vampire Survivors DLC. It's probably not the best the genre has to offer, but I think there's a decent game here if you get past the annoying first few hours. The developers have also released several updates since launch, so I hope that some balance fixes eventually make their way in too. Also, at just $4.99, it's hard to be too harsh on the game. If it were a few dollars more, I'd warn people away, but it feels more than fair as far as the game stands now. It may not be the most solid of recommendations, but Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors might be worth a look. On that note, I'll see you in the next one!

Check Out Dark Fairy Tale: Dreamland Survivors on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3288300/Dark_Fairy_Tale_Dreamland_Survivors/

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Story: N/A
Gameplay: C
Graphics: B+
Music/Sound: B-
Value: A

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ Even though some of the gameplay elements can be confusing at first, it is cool take on the survivors-like genre.
+ The premise of a fairy tale themed game where you play as Pinocchio is so good that it's a shame that it wasn't developed more.
+ Outside of the clunky menus, this is a great-looking game with a decent soundtrack too.
+ Perfect for those looking for more depth in their survivors-like games. It can be played randomly, but takes a lot of skill to master.
+ Priced very affordably at just $4.99.

Cons:
- The first few hours of the game are extremely rough. Several tutorials are thrown at you in a minute or so, and everything seems different than what fans of the genre would expect.
- While the graphics and designs are great, they are limited in number. The soundtrack also seems to be made up of only a few tracks on constant repeat.
- There are some really annoying parts of the game that just make it feel broken. (Most of these have to do with permanent character growth.)
- Even though the game advertises that it can be played with just one hand, it's really not for the casual player. There are still parts of the game that confuse me, and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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