Dreamscaper is really a rogue-lite action RPG published by Freedom Games and developed by Afterburner Studios. Dreamscaper is a surreal experience played out in a waking and dreaming cycle. During the day, make new friends, get to know them better, and learn from them. Then, during the night, fight through your dreams and take on your very nightmares.
Players are introduced to Cassidy, a woman who recently moved to a brand new town, Redhaven. Unfortunately, the move has pushed her into a deep depression that may only be fought by fighting her nightmares and making friends in her new town. Throughout the day, players will be able to socialize by speaking with the various denizens and giving them gifts. But beyond having feel-good conversations, this mechanic also unlocks permanent upgrades that players may use throughout the night phase.
At night is where the rogue-lite elements become apparent. When Cassidy sleeps, she dreams. Her dreams take her to her old town, in which you trudge up fond memories and encounter living nightmares. You'll have multiple powers available, including close-range and long-range weapons, a shield, two abilities, along with a dodge. As you find new items, all of your equipment can be switched out and upgraded. Although this variety keeps the game interesting, Cassidy may also manipulate elements, control time itself, and warp space, permitting some really enjoyable gameplay and gratifying combos.
Each level is randomly generated, and also the map begins to unfold room by room while you explore. Design of every level, the items you can find, and the enemies you encounter are different each time. This is when the replayability from the game is encountered. Every evening differs and offers new challenges, especially since you're ejected from the dream world on death and must start anew. Due to this, Dreamscaper enables endless fun. Every run differs, and the levels just get more and much more challenging while you descend deeper into Cassidy's dreams.
The end of each level is locked behind a boss, because both versions represents the very things keeping Cassidy in her own depression-negativity, fear, isolation, loss, and a whole lot. While permadeath means you’ll need to begin in the initial level, once you defeat a level’s boss, you can skip it the next time you encounter it. But while you do lose out on some rewards carrying this out, health items are few and far between, so skipping it may be well worth the possible health you may lose.
After ejection from Cassidy’s dreams, beyond making friends throughout the day, players can sketch up new suggestions for weapons or shields, create gifts, unlock new rooms that may show up randomly on each dream playthrough, plus much more. These rooms include puzzles that may reward rare items, a room that grants you full health, and a challenge room that rewards greatly should you defeat its enemies.
While the night ends in permadeath, your day builds Cassidy up to be able to take on her nightmares more efficiently. Players get the chance to construct Cassidy and play exactly the way they want. Even though the night is filled with action, there are many puzzles to maintain your brain working. Find keys, use bombs to open up paths and destroy objects, and backtrack to spread out up paths you weren’t in a position to before.
The graphics are beautiful. While the people themselves, including Cassidy, aren’t very detailed, the backgrounds and levels are wonderfully crafted to engender Cassidy’s story. The brand new town brings warmth using its bright, green park and its cozy shops. Meanwhile, Cassidy’s dreams in many cases are dark, with empty streets and foreboding.
It’s worth noting the Nintendo Switch version comes with two modes: a Performance and Quality mode. The Performance mode allows the game to run at 60 FPS with reduced image quality, while the Quality mode runs at 30 FPS with better graphics. For the most part, I rarely felt the necessity to make use of the Performance mode. But even if Used to do, the reduction in graphics quality wasn’t a hindrance.
It's obvious each level is supposed to resemble Cassidy's past. Additionally, you are able to communicate with occasional memories where Cassidy will recall fond emotions. I just wish there was much more of it and maybe some voice acting, and so i don't have to read subtitles that are a little small when using the Switch as a handheld. It might make the present more poignant if we felt more for Cassidy’s past.
But this can be a tiny criticism for a game with a lot of heart, and that tackles a topic which i don't think I would have ever expected from a rouge-lite: mental health. Cassidy is depressed, and also the various bosses you encounter represent all of the negative emotions she harbors. The value of fighting your nightmares is apparent but what’s even more significant is how Cassidy makes connections. Players help Cassidy make friends and, consequently, make her new city feel like home. But her new friends also help her in kind, granting her permanent upgrades to fight off her nightmares more proficiently. And the stronger the text, the stronger Cassidy is.
Dreamscaper is a fun rouge-lite that offers hours upon hours of fun and novel gameplay. As the combat is entertaining and offers a variety that’ll never get boring, the way the game focuses on mental health is well-done and robust because of it.
Dreamscaper can be obtained now on Nintendo Switch and PC.
