Dreams of Another Review – Dream A Little Dream

Oneiric is a word you don’t hear often. Maybe never, actually, as I had to Google the Spanish translation to English of it. It means relative, or suggestive, to dreams. That strange period every human spends two-thirds of their lives in. Just… dreaming. Creating unusual, illogical situations while our minds store our daily lives. There is never an exact way to depict them for every person, because they are all so unique. Dreams of Another is the best effort put into a video game of what our subconscious tries to process.

The ethos of Dreams of Another is that there’s no creation without destruction, and that is ingrained from the very beginning with how you interact with a world. Every single time you spawn into a dreamy setpiece, it is all particles floating around that you need to shoot with a machine gun to turn them into more perceptible figures. In this stark contrast of a gameplay mechanic, it is rather striking that just by emptying magazines, you make the intangible tangible.

I struggle to truly describe the story in this game. Because make no mistake, there is one, but just like dreams themselves, it is so obtusely told that I wouldn’t hold it against you if you rolled credits and still felt puzzled. At the same time, a late-game revelation does confirm that this game has a lot of heart put into it, even though it’s hidden through its incorporeal sequences.

You start Dreams of Another as a hesitant soldier who is unsatisfied with his life, and simply cannot shoot a gun. Shot by an enemy after cowardly hiding in a storage unit, you go back to the beginning of the game. While a curious decision at first, it seems to imply that after every dream, you go back to regaining a conscience of sorts. Or you simply forget about them, as so often happens. The main menu portrays a man comfortably sleeping on a bed in his pajamas. Aptly enough, once you go back to the dream, you now play as said Man In Pajamas.

Exploring a distinct combination of biomes that have absolutely no relation to one another, you will explore a quaint Spanish town, a lively theme park, and the bottom of the sea (?), among other strange areas. Each of them has to be shot, as mentioned, to have a semblance of understanding of what they are. Every so often, there will be people standing there, talking about their insipid lives or reminiscing about how they used to be happier than they are now. Philosophical musings are a dime a dozen in Dreams of Another, and depending on your current mental state while playing, some will hit harder than others.

The watercolor-inspired artstyle is likely what will grab your attention. Not clearly defined or concise, it just makes the right amount of sense to know where it is that you are standing. Befriending the aforementioned Wandering Soldier, there are trinkets in each level that you can exchange for abilities or weapons, like dashing and grenades. I know it doesn’t make much sense, just roll with it. Sparkling blue bubbles called auras can be shot at in some instances to consolidate a larger abstract area in one go.

Unfortunately, there are some detractions that I wish were better implemented. For example, Dreams of Another is one of the latest games that adds a PSVR2 mode alongside the flatscreen version. While it is a welcome release for PlayStation’s fledgling VR headset, some cutscenes pull you back to look at them from a black void as they unfold. It is undoubtedly more immersive to be in this dreamscape with goggles on, but they should have gone all in and not held back on making it fully compatible with virtual reality. Similarly, the shooting becomes stale after some time. Although the game itself is not that long, it is at odds with the peaceful soundtrack.

Verdict

An art exhibit where you’re the subject, there is much to ponder about while playing this experience. Objects talk about their impermanence, characters reminisce openly about how finite life is. Even though there are somewhat clear goals, such as ringing a bell at the top of a tower, Dreams of Another is anything but what you would consider a straightforward video game. As the credits roll, a wave of sorrow might wash over you, but you will be happy that you gave yourself the chance to play this cathartic illusion.

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