Game Review: Dreamless

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox Series

I've reviewed a lot of Exit 8-likes recently, and they've made me long for a true horror game to sink my teeth into. Thankfully Dreamless came along just in time to fulfill that desire! Dreamless isn't quite survival horror, but does deliver the scares you'd expect from a horror-themed game. It released on PC last year, and is coming soon to the Nintendo Switch and XBox Series of consoles. We're going to be taking a look at it on the Nintendo Switch, and see if this one is worth your time. There really isn't a need for further intro, so let's dive right in!

Dreamless has quite an interesting premise that is somewhat hard to fully grasp in-game. The town in which the game takes place in has something of a death curse placed upon it that resurfaces every 25 years. Each generation goes through a so-called "Death Week" where teenagers mysteriously go missing, never to be seen again. No one really knows what causes these disappearances, but some think that a serial killer, or maybe several serial killers, are behind them. It's now Death Week again, and our protagonist John is looking to create a video that will win him an online contest. His friend Will suggests that they visit the abandoned house of a long-deceased lady who the town once assumed was a witch. John quickly agrees, and makes his way to the house. Though it was Will's idea, he's nowhere to be found. Surely this isn't a bad sign, right? After filming some content for his upcoming video, he soon learns the secrets of what actually went on in that house, and begins to uncover the secrets behind Death Week itself. I think I'll stop explaining the plot there, since I really don't want to get too far into spoiler territory.

Most of what I just revealed about the game is told to you in-game, but in a very piecemeal way. The game's eShop description actually does a better job of filling in some of the background details, but the game itself does a decent job of making sure the plot stays on track. Plot-driven or not, Dreamless is actually a relatively short game with little character interaction. Despite this, it manages to tell a surprisingly deep story in a runtime that doesn't leave much room for embellishment. It is told in a way that leaves a lot of details up for interpretation, but I feel that is the mark of a good horror movie. I say "movie", as that's what this game mostly feels like. Not only does Dreamless feel like an interactive movie where you go through the actions of John for yourself, I think it could easily be adapted for the screen. I guess I'm getting a bit ahead of myself there, so let's get back to the review.

Even though part of me wants to call Dreamless a walking simulator, I think it fits better into the adventure game genre. There is no real way to "die", and you don't ever have to worry about taking any offensive or defensive actions. What it lacks in action, it makes up for elsewhere. The game features light inventory management, with some puzzle solving thrown in for good measure. Most of the puzzles involve simply interacting with everything available to you, but you'll often be given a task of finding a certain set of items, or figuring out a way to get into or out of an area. These may sound like simple fetch quests, and admittedly they are, but they are well-integrated into the plot and don't feel like busy work. There are even a couple minigames too, but these can be a bit more hit and miss. Playing tic-tac-toe with a ghost is surprisingly fun, but the ball maze game is absolute torture using the Switch's controls. I'm not sure if it fares better on other platforms, but I very nearly gave up after the third time losing that one. Thankfully there really isn't any way to get lost in the game, so you can at least rest assured that you'll be able to complete the game in due time if you keep at it. While some specific actions are needed for some puzzles, many of them simply occur when clicking on a certain area, or simply walking to a pre-determined point. Though this takes some control away from the player, it does mean that the game moves at a relatively brisk pace.

I compared Dreamless to a movie earlier due to its pacing and overall length, and I think that's worth examining a bit closer before we move on. The game is separated into five chapters, two of them being a Prologue and an Epilogue. The other three main chapters are the core of the game, and they operate sort of like standard gaming levels. There's no way to save in the middle of them as far as I can tell, but each of them can be completed in under 30 minutes. The first of the three main chapters take place in the house, with the third taking place in a school setting. The latter location change makes sense plot-wise, but was an odd shift nonetheless. While the three main chapters do give the game something of a "beginning, middle, end" type structure, I couldn't help but feel that the school setting was very huge underutilized. Not only was it huge and full of areas you can't ever get into, but it feels like the shortest of the three main chapters. Considering that most of the house's locations are split between the two chapters that feature it, I have to wonder if there was an extra school chapter that was left on the cutting room floor. I'm not faulting the developer for doing this, but it did mean that the last section of the game seemed to rush towards the ending. This is probably my only big complaint with the game, and I'm willing to admit it may be a matter of personal opinion. I also didn't mention it earlier, but Dreamless apparently was mostly created by a single person. That alone is worthy of praise, and I really can't find it in me to complain too much given the circumstances of this game's creation.

Moving on to presentation, I found the visual style of Dreamless to be quite appealing. It manages to do a lot with very little, and I was a fan despite things not looking like a full-on AAA experience. I know that sounds rather vague, but let me explain. It probably won't surprise anyone that a good chunk of the game looks like it was created with pre-made assets. I'm sure there was plenty of original creations here, but one expects at least some asset-flipping in indie games like this. With that in mind, Dreamless still manages to create several unique settings. John's room looks lived in, the layout of the house and school actually makes sense, and the spookier elements all land perfectly thanks to placement and models used. This is a great-looking game for the most part, and there are very few times when things felt off. Saying there's a spooky atmosphere in a horror-themed game isn't exactly anything mind-blowing, but you really have to play the game to know what I mean. Both the house and the school change as you progress throughout the stages, and it's been a while since a game like this had jump scares that actually worked on me. There's something of an unpredictable element that carries throughout the journey, and it made the game feel much grander in scope than it was. I didn't think I'd be praising the graphics as much as I am when I started this review, but here we are.

Another part of Dreamless that surprised me was the music. There isn't a whole lot of it in-game, and I'm willing to bet some of it might've come from a royalty-free library, but each track helps set the mood of the game. Be they atmospheric, spooky, or even old-timey tunes coming out of record player, each piece of music fits the scene they're in perfectly. I don't want to make it sound like this is the sort of soundtrack you run out and buy on its own, but it is one that feels like it could fit right into a full-on horror movie. Unfortunately that praise doesn't extend to the voice acting. Even though some of the voice acting is well-done, half of it is on the level of PSOne Resident Evil. I'm not sure if the bad acting and wacky line delivery was intentional, but there was a lot of both scattered throughout. Not only that, but the voice acting was often made more hilarious by the dialogue itself. I'm not sure if this game was created by someone who didn't have a full grasp of English, but the dialogue felt like it was put through machine translation and then barely edited for clarity. This once again led to some hilarious moments, but they sometimes ruined the mood of the game. Thankfully the music often saved things, since the immersion-breaking nature of the voice acting was something of a let-down.

Playing through Dreamless is like watching a fun low-budget horror movie on a chill weekend night. It has all of the horror tropes and vibes you've come to expect, and doesn't overstay its welcome. Also, since the plot is told to you in a strange way, and even has a big twist at the end, it warrants a second or third playthrough. In short, it's a neat little horror title that I'm sure I'll revisit one day. Having said that, there's no denying that some people won't find it to be nearly as replayable as I do. Nothing changes or unlocks once you clear the game, and all of the puzzle solutions stay the same. I guess that lost point means that you can sequence break the game a bit if you want, but I'm not sure if that's really a positive worth mentioning. This wouldn't be too bad if the game was priced low enough to match its rather thin content, but I don't think that's the case here. $14.99 might not exactly be what most people consider expensive, but it feels a bit too high for the amount of actual game one gets here. I'd be far more comfortable recommending this one if it were under ten dollars, but that may be just me.

My slight issues with the game's overall longevity and pricing aside, I still have to give Dreamless a full recommendation. It's by no means a perfect game, but it's a solid horror experience. There's a surprising amount of depth to the plot, and the game moves along quickly enough so you won't ever really notice any of the issues I mentioned above. It's my hope that the developer releases some sort of follow-up to this game in the coming year or so, as I'd really like to see what else they have up their sleeve. Pick this one up on whatever platform you can, and thank me later. See you in the next one!

Check Out Dreamless on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/dreamless-switch/

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Story: A-
Gameplay: B
Graphics: A-
Music/Sound: A-
Value: B

Overall: A-

Pros:
+ A great mix of horror themes and adventure game style gameplay.
+ Though the plot is a bit messy at times, it's really good and surprisingly deep.
+ The graphics look good for what they are, and the music is spot on too.
+ Captures horror tropes and aesthetics perfectly. This feels more like an interactive horror movie than a game, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Cons:
- Is a bit on the short side, and there isn't a whole lot of reason to replay it beyond wanting to experience the story again.
- The voice acting is pretty bad at times, though it sometimes manages to be so bad that it becomes good again. (If you know what I mean.)
- The current $14.99 price tag feels a bit high considering how much content you get.

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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Time for sleep!

#Dreamless