Dreamscaper combines the successful recipe of Hades with the search for friendship and an ingenious basic idea. Sounds exciting and plays like it.
In Dreamscaper, Cassidy has nightmares. Every night she is plagued by the same bad dream. She is trapped in an unreal world made up of fragments of her past. Her parents’ house with the rusty swing, the shabby burger joint where people used to meet in the car park at night, or her old school next to the town hall.
She knows this area inside out, but in her dreams the city changes every night. What’s more, it is deserted. Only shadowy ghosts can be seen from a distance, which vanish into thin air as soon as Cassidy approaches them. Instead, the city is inhabited by cruel creatures that attack the young woman. As I said: a real nightmare.
Fortunately, Cassidy is able to defend herself. She has learned the technique of lucid dreaming to better deal with the nightly torment. So-called “lucid dreaming” enables her to take active action in her dreams and fight the dark creatures.
Cassidy uses a baseball bat, katana or even a yo-yo to deal out a good beating to the fearsome creatures. Which weapons she has at her disposal in the night is purely random. Sometimes familiar swords from video games appear or she simply forms her thumb and forefinger into a pistol to shoot. A shield is used to block and parry. With the right timing, attacking enemies are thus briefly paralysed and projectiles fly back to the attacker.
Since Cassidy is aware that she is dreaming, she can freely teleport back and forth through the ever-changing districts until she finds the exit. This is always guarded by a large and dangerous boss creature.
Not every area on the way to the exit is hostile. Again and again, Cassidy encounters bonus and puzzle rooms that entice her with weapon upgrades and other rewards. Collected “sand” from defeated enemies serves as currency to buy new and better shields, abilities and improvements in the randomly appearing shops.
If Cassidy defeats the initial guardian, she dives one level deeper into her memories. A total of six dream levels must be mastered before the nightmare can finally be ended.
