Dream Eater

Although the demo (as of this review) for Dream Eater is apparently rather outdated, it's an interesting experience I recommend. You play a small child who spends their night in a mysterious dream world, and really the game starts oozing style right from the get-go. While the art is very nice, there’s more to it besides the great style! I played for a little over 30 minutes, and despite some problems I had with the demo's main puzzle, I had a good time.

First off, I have to highlight how this game uses darkness:


It's a more gradual change between light and dark areas, rather than giving the player a small radius with fairly harsh edges. Having played many horror type games recently, I appreciated this so much. Much of the game is moody and dark, but has its bright spots and lighter moments too. This is conveyed through visuals, music, and writing. Many bits of the writing have a lyrical quality, and while the line between melodramatic and poetic is subjective, I thought it fell to the poetic side.



My biggest issue was dealing with a very simple puzzle. I encountered something used to solve the puzzle before I found the puzzle itself, and I just wasn’t able to connect the dots between them. Eventually I ended up taking a peek inside the project itself to figure it out. This isn't actually a criticism of the game itself, but I think an example of why walkthroughs are nice to have -- great for chumps like me! If it weren't for the ability to investigate the project directly, I probably would have stopped there since I was starting to get bored while going back and forth.



One of the last things you get to try out is a conversation system. I’m always interested in seeing what people do with those, and the above screenshot tells you the gist. It’s a straightforward system that got me to really consider how an NPC was feeling and what I could do to help. I’ll be interested to see how it holds up over multiple conversations, but after seeing one I thought it was neat.

It’s hard to refrain from posting a bajillion screenshots just to show off all the neat little moments or more of the lovely art. The description mentions some serious themes, and while those do show up, the overall impression I had was a more whimsical, surreal atmosphere. It didn’t scare me, but it kept my interest.

If you like adventure games with a touch of horror, this is one I recommend keeping an eye on.