Surrealism is extremely difficult to pull off effectively, especially in the video game medium. The whole idea is to take the mundane and change one or more elements in order to create some sort of juxtaposition that is unexpected. Dreams of Another, a new game from Q-Games, embraces the idea of surrealism and, for the most part, succeeds in its attempt to tell a story about art and those who make it. It is a fascinating video game, even if the actual gameplay can leave a lot to be desired. Even so, those who can tolerate Dreams of Another’s monotonous gameplay and experimental storytelling will be rewarded with a truly unique gaming experience.
A Dream You Dream Together
The overarching story of Dreams of Another is a difficult nut to crack. You begin the game as The Wandering Soldier, a soldier in an undisclosed war who cannot bring himself to pull the trigger of his weapon. After a rather intense scenario where he is approached by an enemy soldier, we cut to the game’s main protagonist, The Man In Pajamas, climbing a staircase into the clouds. As The Man In Pajamas, you must use a machine gun and other weapons of war to create the world around him and explore a dreamlike world.
From here, we experience a wide variety of vignettes with bizarre characters with seemingly no connection. These stories range from a clown named Mr. Cricket, who owns an amusement park full of broken attractions and has a weird obsession with discarded wedding rings from divorces, to a family of moles that are seemingly doomed to leave their home one after another on a quest to ring a bell so a little boy can play his favorite piano. In between these vignettes, we learn about The Wandering Soldier and The Man In Pajamas through flashbacks, where we view important moments in their lives.
These stories are surprisingly effective, especially the flashbacks, and there were more than a couple of times where I found myself becoming emotional. One particular story about The Wandering Soldier finding a cat while playing after school with a friend had me in tears by the end (don’t worry, the cat doesn’t die). Some will probably be frustrated with how these stories are told, however. Dreams of Another uses a non-linear structure where you will be bouncing back and forth between these stories seemingly at random.
Not only that, but you will also be experiencing some of the key plot points out of order. This requires you to not only keep track of multiple storylines but also to try to figure out where you are in each of the storylines when you enter them. This can be extremely taxing, but if you do push through and try to fully immerse yourself in the game, you will be rewarded with some of the most poignant stories I’ve seen told through the medium.
Creation Through Destruction
As I previously mentioned, the main gameplay loop of Dreams of Another revolves around The Man In Pajamas literally shooting at objects to create and make paths so you can explore each environment. As you create each environment, you’ll reveal objects and people to interact with. Random objects can be approached, and you will hear a sometimes amusing (sometimes sad) line of dialogue. For example, at one point I walked up to a vending machine that was upset about people banging on it without thinking of how it felt about being assaulted. When creating a cluster of the world, you also have the chance to uncover a random object the game calls “odds and ends”. These objects can be traded to The Wandering Soldier in certain locations in order for him to refill ammo of your grenades or rocket launcher, or it will allow The Man In Pajamas to dash for longer or faster.
This loop of shooting the environment over and over again to uncover objects or NPCs to talk to can become tedious fast. You will explore the same locations multiple times throughout the game, and even if you’ve already shot your way through these areas, you’ll have to do so again every time you revisit them. While I like the ideas behind this mechanic, there was just not enough variety in my armaments and not enough locations to keep this fun or interesting past the first couple of hours. I was able to fight through because of how invested I was in the story and themes of the game, but I can easily see a large majority of players losing interest and dropping Dreams of Another due to this repetitive and tedious gameplay loop.
However, I loved talking to every NPC and learning a bit about each of these weird residents that reside in this dream world. The various odds and ends you collect can be humorous with how specific they are in their descriptions. When you hand them over to The Wandering Soldier, he’ll occasionally comment on them in an introspective way that didn’t come across as pretentious. That’s the biggest surprise to me with my time with Dreams of Another. In the hands of a lot of developers or writers, exploring these topics and having all these introspective conversations and interactions could come across as heavy-handed, hokey, or overly self-indulgent. It’s a difficult line to straddle, but Q-Games does so expertly, managing to develop a compelling story.
What Dreams May Come
Dreams of Another is one of the most interesting games I’ve played this year. It manages to explore some heavy themes in ways that are relatable and touching, but it unnecessarily made me play through some of the most boring gameplay to get to it. If the game had been tightened up a bit and an hour or two shorter, I think the negatives wouldn’t have grated on me as much, and I would be seriously considering it as one of my favorite games of the year. Even still, I won’t be forgetting my time with Dreams of Another anytime soon.
Q-Games continues to expand its catalogue with some of the most inventive and experimental games in the modern gaming era. Even if it doesn’t always hit the mark, I wish more studios were willing to take risks like Q-Games.
Disclaimer: Q-Games provided a PC (Steam) copy of Dreams of Another for review purposes.
