Darkest Dreams

Name: Darkest Dreams

Developer: SPM

Story: Aspects of Silent Hill, A Haunting in Connecticut, the Amityville Horror, and an ending right out of the Twilight Zone. This game follows the story of Frey Smith, an everyday Joe who moves into a house that haunts his sleep. One night, he decides to investigate the screams that keep him awake every night, and finds himself in a harrowing tale of horror.

Writing: Very well done. The developer doesn't make the mistake of dropping mysterious tidbits throughout the game that lead to nothing. You are simply in a haunted house, there's no explanation, and you're just trying to make it through the night alive. As you unlock the mysteries of the house, survive giant spiders and horrific demons, you find yourself in a dream cavern. After a series of trials you find yourself before the god Morpheus, who unfolds a tale that seems loosely based on the The Grand Grimoire and the Great Clavicle of Solomon or the Grimoire Verum. Again, we're not treated to an overload of information; we're simply told what we need to know to make sense of the story, and although, at this point, the dialog does get a bit wordy, that can be forgiven since we've gone through 45 minutes of an hour long game with nary an explanation for why we're being put through this torment, so when you reach this point, it's pretty high time for some exposition. I won't spoil the ending for you. It's a classic trope, but one that isn't used often and in this type of game, can be quite chilling.

Gameplay: Definitely a high point in this game. It's not very challenging, except for one point in which you have to traverse an invisible maze; that scene is almost impossibly hard, made insane by the fact that you don't have a dash button. In fact, the lack of a dash button seems counter-intuitive in a haunted house game. Think of all the Halloween haunted houses you toured as a kid; at any time can you imagine not breaking into a panicked run? Moving along, the lack of challenge really isn't the draw here; it's the execution of the events. Spectres jump out at unexpected moments, grim reapers promise a horrible demise while a harrowing laugh fills your ears. Sinister messages appear all over the walls written in blood and dead bodies appear in gory piles while your back is turned. Ghosts run through you to quickly for you to react, and giant spiders stalk you in the halls. Timing is everything and the atmosphere is a requirement. This game startles, pries, and sickens the scares out of you, jolting you unexpectedly. It's a formula that should get old, but the game only lasts an hour, promising that the scares at every turn don't get a chance to turn stale.

Graphics: A mixture of basic RTP with some other graphics. The hero, Frey is made in the VX Ace character generator. Corpses are altered RTP. Monsters appear to be ripped from somewhere, or possibly original. I've never seen those spiders before, but they were a particularly frightening addition to the game. Mapping is done nicely, but in the unused bedroom, there's an odd mapping choice. I didn't think to take a screenshot, but in the corner, there's a cabinet that looks like it's made from the top of a chest and the top of a wardrobe. It looks rather odd, considering that it's next to two other cabinets, shares their depth, but looks like it has the depth of two. The developer may want to take a look at that. Anyway, I'm not complaining about it; just pointing it out.

Music: The music is from incomputech.com and is very well used. Some of it is a bit loud and melodramatic, overplaying the atmosphere of the game, but most of it fits very nicely, and for some of it, the developer seems to have timed some of the dramatic musical queues for game events (or that could just have been me having gotten my player in the right place at the right time).

Glitches: I found one by accident. At a certain point, you enter the office, and find the floor covered in blood. A quick search shows that there really isn't anything to do there. You exit and there's a giant spider blocking your path. What did I do? I ran back in the office. The game faded out and didn't come back. Reading the game page, I realized nobody else had this problem, but I simply couldn't figure out what I had done wrong or if this was even part of the game. Finally, I gave up and looked at the game data, and discovered that contact with the spider returns me to the bedroom. The developer is looking into it; maybe change it so that a triggered event sends you to the bedroom after you leave the office instead of depending on the spider to do it, or maybe lock the door so you can't go back into the office.

Conclusion: I'm very picky about my horror games. I have a few I like but they're generally not my cup of tea, and lately I've been finding them. This game does very well, and kept my attention through to the end. It's a fun play that gets your heart racing. The story is simple and ties up the plot very nicely. I would highly recommend.