Developer: Cockroach Inc.
Publisher: The Sleeping Machine
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
The Dream Machine – Review
Between dream and reality lies a world that speaks to the imagination of many. While it may seem like a sort of Eldorado to some, it can be quite dangerous to others too. Dreams might not be real, but what if your dreams actually become part of your reality? In The Dream Machine, you will have to deal with that question, and try to fix things truly start to go down south.
Story
Victor Neff and his wife Alicia just moved to a new apartment, on the first floor of an old building, but nonetheless with a nice view and relatively well taken care of. Boxes are still scattered all over the place, and the furniture still has to arrive. While they are having breakfast, they are waiting for the caretaker to bring them the spare key to their apartment, but so far, he hasn’t come around yet. Victor didn’t sleep well the first night in their new home, as he had a strange dream about being stranded on a deserted island, an island that looks quite similar to the one on the painting in their bedroom. He’s not completely at ease about it, but there is no time to think about it now, as Alicia gets slightly worried that Mr. Morton, the caretaker, won’t come around anymore. Victor calls him, and the man soon turns up with the key. Victor finds him to be quite a friendly man, but Alicia doesn’t really trust him. Be as it may, they’ve got their key now, and thus Victor goes out and explores the building a bit. When he goes to visit Mr. Morton in his office, he finds out quite an extraordinary thing, and from there on out, the story mixes dreams with reality, into something that is simply too surreal to believe. It seems Alicia wasn’t so wrong in not trusting Mr. Morton, and Victor’s dream might indeed have meant more than he could initially have thought.
As the game is very story driven, we’ll try not to give away too much of the storyline. Nonetheless, we can say that it shifts constantly between dream and reality, to the point where dreams almost become a new reality. This makes the story very interesting. anything can happen, and Victor will have to find a way to deal with Mr. Morton’s immense secret.
Graphics
The game is made out of clay and cardboard, making it look very unique. Don’t expect smooth, cute looking characters as in Shaun the Sheep, instead you’ll find roughly sculpted characters, where it’s very obvious that they were made out of clay. While we love the idea that all characters are made out of clay, they don’t look particularly pleasing to the eye. It doesn’t bother too much though, as the story isn’t a happy, jolly animation, but rather a serious, surreal adventure.
The backdrops are made out of both cardboard and clay. While this may sound very simplistic, it actually looks quite good, and certainly adds to the whole atmosphere of the game.
Sound
Sound is mainly used as a means to create the right atmosphere, rather than it taking the lead every now and then. The tunes differ depending on the situation and the tension in the story, and as they are never too noticeable anyway, they never bore either. Other than that, there are the occasional noises, but there is no voice acting whatsoever. Sometimes, the lack of voice acting feels a bit strange, as there are lots of conversations during the story. They are all just written down, and you’ll hear not a single sound come from the characters, which sometimes feels a bit unnatural. The atmosphere remains intact during your whole playthrough though, and thus the overall experience still sounds very mysterious and surprising.
Gameplay
The Dream Machine is a point and click adventure game that seems to have a special love for the surreal. As far as the actual gameplay goes, there is not that much to say, as you’ll only need your mouse to proceed in the story. Your mouse and your brains, that is, as things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem. You’ll have to solve puzzles and riddles, some which may be quite easy, but others take quite some time to figure out, we found. That’s what keeps the game interesting of course, so absolutely no complaints there. We can’t go into too much detail about the puzzles and riddles, as gameplay and story truly go hand in hand in this game, and it would be silly for us to give away too much already. Nonetheless, feel free to believe us when we say that these puzzles, and the overall gameplay, were just really well thought out and proved to be a challenge more than once.
You can buy the different chapters in the story individually, which also means that you don’t have to finish chapter one, in order to be able to play chapter four, for example. Nonetheless, as the game is so story driven, it’s probably best to follow the correct order, to not miss out on any of the good stuff. If you buy all chapters, you’ll also be happy to know that there are quite a few hours of gameplay in there.
Conclusion
While the gameplay itself in The Dream Machine is quite straightforward, it’s the combination with the storyline that truly makes this game worth your while. The game is very story driven, and as there are so many surreal elements in it, you never know what to expect next. Apart from that, also the graphics are truly unique in this game. Made out of clay and cardboard, the game doesn’t look as smooth as you might have expected, but in the whole context, that actually doesn’t bother at all. If we can have one point of criticism, it would be that there is no voice acting whatsoever, but even there, the game does well without it too. In short, this game is definitely worth every penny, and will guarantee you many hours of fun to come.
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