False Awakening Episode 1

Welcome to False Awakening episode 1, the introductive chapter to a surreal adventure. Being this the first episode, it's a bit difficult to judge, but I will try, anyway keep in mind that this is a short and linear visual novel, and obviously many things won't be explained and resolved.
But is this interesting?

Well let's start with the game: in the beginning there is no premise at all, we are suddenly sent to a very confused world without any explanation. The only visible and understandable things are the basic instructions that will teach the (easy and probably already familiar) commands of the games that are just move, run, interact, skip dialogues and save at the save points. I noticed that the save points shatters after being used, but as I said before this is a linear, simple visual novel, with no risk of death or being stuck (not even by bugs, I had no problems at all).

So the game is basically a walking simulator with many linear dialogues, it's not always clear where you are supposed to go, but look around for a door or something to interact to trigger the next scene, so it's pretty easy. The most interesting part are probably the dReamlike scenarios, because this is a game all about dreams.


OH YEAH!!! FIRE A HADOUKEN! NOW!!

Our protagonist is initially unindentifiable (really, it won't even possible to see it clearly) but later it will be explained that his name is Salik and he's a young man. There is no mention of his background and past, even if some visions and mentions can maybe give some hints, anyway I am pretty sure this is something that will be developed in the two next episodes.
Salik is at a certain point able to becomes lucid in his dream: he does not wake up but he can visit different dreams bending reality and being more or less a god in these fantastic realms. Towards the ending there is also a part that gives a lesson axplaining all about lucid dreaming and false awakening, and this may be the most informative (and maybe boring) part of the game.
A lot is left unexpained and will probably be developed in the future installments.

What I liked about the concept is the original idea and story, mapping, lights and effects are really great even if there is not much to do being the game pretty linear and simple. The sprites are rtp in most cases but I also saw some sprites from different sources that not always match perfectly with the rest, anyway the game is all set inside some dreams so realism is not an issue! Music is also pretty good.


HERO OR VILLAIN? WHO KNOWS... WE'LL SEE IN THE NEXT EPISODES!


Final Verdict
It took me about twenty minutes to finish this little game and if the purpouse was to make me curious to try the sequels and see what will happen next, this is a success. As I said before it's difficult to give a rating since this can be the humble beginning of a great story or a brilliant idea that won't be developed well (I have also some examples for both from what concerns the tv series, that is a valid comparison considering that this is more like a sort of interactive story than a real game).
I admit that I am making some assumptions about what will be the future of the series, from what I noticed this is surely the shortest episode that provides a brief introduction, but I guess it's pretty good to give a taste of the dev's work so the players will decide if it's worth to go on and play the sequels.
For me, it is.
Anyway I cannot say a lot, besides the fact that I liked the story and dialogues, the fourth wall breaking and so on.

Let's say that now you have my attention, Salik!