After months of early access, we accompany the launch of Dreams on Playstation 4 reviewing the best creations, ready to play from day one
This February 14, Dreams will be officially released for all Playstation players. It will be accompanied by a story mode and a robust level editor, but in addition to that, it will also be accompanied by almost a year of content created by users, ready to be enjoyed from day one of launch.
The Dreams community has not been standing in all this time. There are hundreds of creations that have been published during these months and the trend does not seem to indicate that it will go down with the launch. The most dedicated Media Molecule players have already had plenty of time to exploit these tools and make their first steps with small imaginative, varied and fun games.
For the rookie Dreams player who has the pleasure of entering this world in these early stages of launch, the large amount of content can overwhelm him. But today at Meristation we will try to talk about the most significant creations that have been created these months. Content that for both novices and veterans, will allow them to enjoy the best face of Dreams. As a clarification, say that this selection is restricted, in two parts, first to the games (Dreams also allows to create characters, mechanics, shorts, music, etc.) and second, to the complete games. As much as possible, we will try to focus on finished works.
GridSlice, by c00kedturkey
This arcade game is fast, straightforward, and quite addictive. The premise is simple, we can move our cursor through a grid and several blocks will cross it marked with an arrow. If we cross them in the same direction that marks their arrow, we destroy them and earn points that are added to a resistance bar, and if we let a few pass without destroying them, our resistance bar drops dramatically and we lose.
With two modes available for play, one for levels and one for arcade, GridSlice is also a fairly complete and long-lived experience in what is the Dreams ecosystem. And its scoring system, which saves our best scores over time, encourages us to continue surpassing ourselves.
Akaoni, by tototidoppa
The Sekiro of Dreams, but also without irony. Akaoni surprises by two things. The first is how it captures the philosophy of From Software and its rapid confrontations with katana. The second is because its combat system manages to be agile, precise and satisfactory on its own merits.
Akaoni is not able to completely emulate Sekiro's experience nor is it so difficult, of course, but he manages to count on intuitive combats where skill and precision count. The title is otherwise quite linear and does not have much to offer neither visually nor playably, but just to experience these fierce confrontations is worth trying.
Shifting Islands, by SlurmMacKenzie
A colorful three-dimensional platform with a nice one that takes inspiration from the Nintendo classics. Its achuchable protagonist does not have many actions beyond moving and jumping, but his control is very careful and on a platform that asks for precision like this is something to be grateful for.
It is a platform with an approximate duration to that of the 3D Mario, which revolves around the mechanics of platforms that appear and disappear. With each jump we take, the platform appears or disappears, so we will have to calculate our jumps accurately in advance since if we use a double jump the platform will change state twice. Throughout its journey, the level becomes complicated, but never to the point of being extremely complex. Shifting Islands is a nice and very entertaining platform, and contains bonuses as attractive as personalizing our character as we go.
Art Therapy, by KeldBjones
A frustrated artist receives a message from the museum that his works will not be exhibited, so, of course, the artist will seek his revenge. Art Therapy is a short-lived comic game de-stressing. We play in the first person like that artist and we will have three minutes to destroy all the items we can from the museum behind the guards.
The game has a great work of art behind, creating a coherent and well-designed environment, and the first-person camera sells the dive well. The physics when the objects are destroyed is worked, and the AI of the guards is solid enough to create a feeling that they are there, without getting in the way or becoming frustrating, making all that vandalism much more satisfying.
Laser Bounce, by Aecert and Pixel_Gorilla
Do you know the mirror puzzles in any adventure video game? As Laser Bounce is an isometric puzzle game dedicated specifically to this type of puzzle. We have a projector, a handful of mirrors and a ball that has to reach the light.
Each level has its own peculiarities. Its design by boxes varies as well as obstacles, but the basic mechanics are maintained. It also has an excellent presentation, with aesthetically impeccable menus and interface and visually colorful and minimalist levels.
Wind-Up (Isometric Action), by Fireburn02
Wind-Up perfectly combines the isometric action that promises its title with a sensational world-building, through dark scenarios designed with a very concrete aesthetic that plays with the home, with toys that come alive to attack us.
Its action is simple but well resolved, with basic animations but accurate and satisfactory shock detection. It is a difficult title, too. Our life is scarce and although the melee enemies are easier to dispatch, those who shoot require a more specific positioning and master the mechanics of blocking. The structure is simple and not as complete as in traditional games of the genre, but still contains details such as stores where you can buy items, save points that restore life and fight against bosses.
City Simulator, by zanders3
If reading your title you imagine something of the SimCity type, we can clarify that then City Simulator is exactly what you expect it to be. With a zenith view and moving around the world with a cursor across a grid, this game gives us a handful of options to build our city from scratch.
Roads, residential areas, factories … We start with a small tutorial that presents the mechanics but we will soon be able to freely design the city we want. From block to block, we take out our urbanist side and we place the elements in our opinion in order to create our perfect city. As usual in this type of games, the objective is to continue growing while we measure our resources and take care of the needs of the population.
The Cone Wars, by ED-209b
The Cone Wars plays with the internal mythology of Dreams characters to present an addictive modern third-person shooter action game. One in which our leprechaun (the cursor we control at all times) is introduced into a wick worthy of Pacific Rim.
The experience is quite linear, but it is compensated by very well designed mechanics (especially propel ourselves with the rockets is very satisfactory) and a development that introduces small variations along its route so as not to become repetitive, such as platform platforms or stores in which we can buy power ups to improve our wick
Witchy Woods, by Awesome_David
One of the funniest and most silly Dreams creations. Witchy Woods puts us at the helm of a fun character who has to face a situation as extraordinary as ridiculous: Recover his car parked on the other side of the dark Witchy Woods, enchanted by witches.
The playable simplicity of the title, the stupidity of its premise and the great balance between terror and humor make it one of the essentials of Dreams. In addition, its short duration makes you probably want to play it once in a while.
EggBot, by BobTox
Simple in the playable but incredibly ambitious in its world-building. Eggbot presents an exploration adventure starring a charismatic egg-collecting robot. Through a standard third-party exploration gameplay, we travel a lonely world of science fiction in search of eggs.
The interesting thing about this experience is the stunning world design that it presents, Eggbot have echoes of adventure titles like Bioshock, with industrial art-deco architecture combined with natural elements, with a colorful and often wild flora. The game world offers several areas available and well differentiated from each other, and there is a great work of animation in the few cinematic ones that are, integrating even more in the world.
Cow Runner, by surrounded_
If LittleBigPlanet taught us something, it is that many times the simplest creations are the most effective. Cow Runner is simple and effective, an autorunner that is played with a single button starring the cow that brings the title to life.
As autorunner that is, the cow runs forward at all times and we press a single button to move to the left. The mechanics are simple, from a zenith perspective, it is a question of going through an intricate race circuit taking as many turns as possible before dying electrocuted. The more laps we give, we will be rewarded with stars that allow us to obtain useful power ups.
German stuck in your Controller, by Kluthausen2000
One of the most rocambolesque and experimental creations of Dreams, which takes the form of a particular rejugable decision-making game and mixes several unusual mechanics in the game.
The less you end up saying this curious experience, the better, but as the title suggests, the game makes use of the Dualshock 4 speaker to take us to listen to a German guy who for some reason got stuck there. The decisions we make alter the outcome of the story, and believe us when we tell you that it is one that is worth experiencing first hand.
Taken By The Rust – part 1, by BADROBO82
One of the most captivating experiences of Dreams so far. An atmospheric first-person title in which we do little more than walk and activate switches, but as the best walking simulators in the market, the way in which this is presented is what convinces.
The setting is excellent, the environments have monumental cyclopean constructions that will make us feel small. And in the distance, spectacular natural landscapes mixed with stone monuments. The soundtrack finishes hitting the spot, an evocative instrumental music that emits a very particular mystical aura.
The Ornithologist's Private Collection, by mattizzle1
There is a lot of terror in Dreams and very well done, but this little adventure is perhaps the most polished game of all. A well-designed first-person horror title with an atmosphere that can be breathed, which takes place within a kind of museum of horrors.
In addition to survival horror taps (keys that open objects or closed doors, puzzles …) the game is presented with a good taste for detail and recreating in the artistic direction. It is a short experience, just ten minutes if you know what you have to do, but through collectibles you are invited to return.
And this is just a small sample …
Wanting to keep only a small representative sample, the truth is that the creations that have been made in Dreams so far are so different and varied that we could write paragraphs and paragraphs about it. In just a few months and since its early access, users of the Dreams community have developed truly incredible projects, many of which are still under development, and that promise new unusual experiences on the platform created by Media Molecule.
The potential of Dreams seems to reach its limits only in the imagination, but we must not forget that here more than in any other title of the company also comes into play the skill, time and effort that users who spend here want to put To be developers. Time will tell, but for now, it seems that there is plenty of it.
