You wake up one day and notice that a strange condition is putting all townspeople in a coma like state. Little by little all of the townspeople are afflicted by that, even your family. You are worried. However, amidst your despair there is a glimmer of hope. You hear rumors of a powerful witch called Lady Death who can cure the afflicted townspeople and your family. You are but a child. Even so, you harden your heart and head towards the forest where Lady Death is, unknowing of the dangers ahead.
Dream Alone is a game that is inspired by indie Hits Limbo and Super Meat Boy, using a similar aesthetic as Limbo, with some cool effects like old movie. Also, another thing that caught my attention was the blink effect. It appears like if someone is just silently watching your every movement, and the character design and enemies remind me off Tim Burton movies (Corpse Bride to be more specific). I really liked the tone and setting of the game. In the beginning, the narrator sets up the pace for a bone chilling adventure. Playing it with headphones immerses you even more in the story. In the first levels, the rain and thunder complement so well that at times I was so involved in what was happening that with every step my heart was beating faster and felt a chill on my spine.
However, Dream Alone suffers on its game play department. While the monochrome display sets the mood for what it’s going on, the old movie effect and blinking aforementioned hinders game play. This is one of my main concerns here with Dream Alone because while it’s true that you have limited visibility, since you are in a dark forest, there must be at least some kind of visual clue to see where traps and hazards are located. But unfortunately, there isn’t, and this is noticeable on the first level, which is a challenge in and of itself. Right after receiving the warning that there are traps and dangers, boom you’re dead. Just like that. Just in the first level I died around 50 times. It’s no exaggeration on my part. It’s the truth. If it wanted to emulate SMB (Super Meat Boy) on the challenge department, they nailed it a little to much if I may say.
I’m okay with dying a lot in a game, but if I’m going to die, it has to be because I made a mistake or miss a calculation in a jump or puzzle, not because of how the level is designed. For example there are traps that instant kill you if you step on them, but can you see them? Nope, they have an oval shaped form just like rocks on the background, so you never know if you are going to step on a trap or rock. It becomes even more frustrating when the shutter effect happens. Combine that with enemies that kill you on touch and fall on top of you suddenly with no time of reaction and the struggle is real. Now the character movement speed is a set one, and whenever he jumps it is like floating on air. Also, you can’t control movement after your jump which can lead to some quick deaths also.
Dream Alone introduces some interesting mechanics like the alternate dimension in which you can alternate between dimensions depending on a red “Magic” gauge that determines the time you can spend being in that dimension (kind of like Guacamelee dimension shift ability). You will use it in some puzzles. For example, in order to cross a pit full of spikes, you need to shift to push a rock to use as a platform to cross to the other side. There is also another power in which you can create a clone of yourself that you can use to press switches, push levers–the usual. They are good mechanics, but they are used only for the puzzles that are dependent on magic potions that you find right before you need to use them. I would have liked that they affected the game play instead of being used for puzzles only.
Another issue that mentioned before is that the game is dark. It is so dark that in order to play a little more comfortably, the brightness settings on max is the way to go. A good thing though is that there is no life system, and checkpoints are abundant throughout the game. However, sometimes deaths feel unfair (like a rock trap that I died three times because I couldn’t get the timing right).
Bottom Line: Dream Alone is a game that produces mixed feelings for me. For one part, it has a great artistic style, a bone chilling atmosphere created by using different shades of black. But on the other hand, it suffers due to bad decisions made due to the same style that made the games that it was inspired by. However, not all is lost. We live in the era of patches and updates. Maybe there is one that can fix some of the more nagging issues. At this time, thought, I can only recommend this game if you don’t mind to die lot and can endure the frustration. If not this game is not for you.