VIDEO GAME REVIEW: DREAM ALONE

BY JOE X YOUNG 

A fun platform game on many levels

I will begin with a confession, I haven’t been able to complete the game for two reasons, first of all is time limitation as it’s fresh out so I’ve only had access to it for a few days and I’m not a professional gamer, so am fitting this in amidst my more regular routine. Secondly, I’ve been dying on it a lot, and I do mean a lot.

Developed by WarSaw games and published by Fat Dog games Dream Alone is a 2D platformer with dark and moody graphics in classic scroller gameplay. I’m an ‘old school gamer’ from before it was known as ‘old school’ and was a regular fixture in the Amusement Arcades during the 80s and early 90s, so I’m no stranger to 2D platformers and would have loved to have played Dream Alone back then as it would have been outstanding in those days. These days not so much, especially as I began playing it with a terrible sense of déjà vu and here’s why:

Back in 2010 or thereabouts there was a game on the Xbox 360 called ‘Limbo’, and so far, although only a couple of levels in, Dream Alone echoes it in many ways. There’s the general dark storyline, the usual deadly traps to evade and nasties to avoid such as giant spiders, menacing contraptions et cetera, but the same could be said of dozens of games were it not for the striking similarity in appearance. Both are black-and-white with an almost Tim Burtonesque nightmarishness to them, both feature a boy with a large head and small body (although Dream Alone’s character is far bigger) who are on a quest. The chiaroscuro graphics and the gameplay are so similar that one could easily be mistaken for the other. I remember seeing Limbo being played, though didn’t indulge at the time, more the pity as I may have been able to give a much better account of the similarities but from what I recall of seeing my friend playing Limbo it’s essentially the same game. Given that Limbo won 90+ awards for excellence of design and gameplay I can totally see why a company would want to do something similar. I’m not accusing anyone of plagiarism here, just saying that I haven’t as yet seen enough of Dream Alone to say that it’s all that different.

Having established that it is not unique, it’s a good enough game and although only a few levels in of the 21 available I’m enjoying it and will continue to play it. A definite bonus is that when you die, which if you are like me you will do often, especially if you’re not used to keyboard controls, is that when you are revived you are pretty much at the closest point to where you died. This is fantastic, if I had to restart entire levels I wouldn’t have had time to write this review, but fortunately the game’s been kind to me. It’s actually so much gruesome and deadly fun that I’m thinking I may route out my PC Joystick which has been mothballed for years to make the gaming experience more comfortable.

There’s a story to the game in that our hero must seek out Lady Death and use her powers of Sorcery to end and reverse the effects of a mystery plague which has stricken the town, gradually putting everyone into a coma. To achieve this he has to battle through multiple locations such as a ghost town, the forest and the cemetery as well as crossing over into parallel universe versions of many of the levels in which the dangers and tasks are slightly different as are the things he can interact with. On the way he learns more about his quest and about himself, such as discovering abilities he has which are useful for the various trials he has to complete to fulfil his quest. Can he do it? YOU decide.
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Dream Alone is a new release, available as of June 28th on Steam and Nintendo Switch and via Games Republic. 

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