Dreamland

Spoilers ahoy. I recommend you play this game before you read this review.

Dreamland is a choice based game about, well, dreams. I think. I tried to play through three times.

The first thing that leaps out is that the grammar is not quite there. There are multiple typos, tense issues and grammatical problems. This game really needed a strong proofing to get it into deliverable state. I wonder whether it is an overly-direct translation or maybe English isn’t the author’s first language. That being said, it’s still readable – and the prose is, at least, imaginative.

Three short games – the game you enter depends on the last thing you do before you sleep – Read, Eat, or Play a computer game. I do enjoy this as a mechanic. As an entry mechanism into the game – it’s strong. I’m already wondering what impact each choice will have and whether they will join up.

Anyway. First play through and I decide to read a book – I am then asked whether I’m dreaming to remember or forget. I’m curious now as to the impact these choices will have.

I am then taken, in my dream to a library. At which point I get stuck. I am required to choose a book and give it to the librarian. But no matter what book I choose, the librarian discards it every time and I think I’ve tried ALL the books now. Is it me? Is it the game? I’m not sure.

On refresh, I choose to play a computer game. At this point, the plot kicks off with a brief foray into a Shakespeare play (As You Like It? I think, but I may be wrong) and then into a town. But then I’m back to the Library and I’m stuck again. I’m still not sure whether it’s me or there genuinely is an issue with the mechanics of the game.

If I find out from other reviews how to progress in this game, I may revisit it, but for now it feels like a promising concept that’s marred by poor grammar and general brokenness. 3/10