D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BErWAbLuqHc

This didn't make much of a splash when released on Xbox One (and later given out free!) but now it's out on PC so hopefully find more of an audience - well, as much of an audience as is reasonable for a SWERY game.

Have played a few hours now, and I'm finding it a much pacier and overall better crafted game than Deadly Premonition - and that's mostly because Access have surrendered most pretenses of actually having gameplay :pac: The game is effectively a modernised take on the point and click, with a few QTE sections thrown in. It is what it is, and although there's plenty to find in the game's small but dense spaces, it is undoubtedly simplistic. And the 'clicking' can get a bit absurd, given interactions are governed by an arbitrary stamina bar meaning you have to hoover up every ****ing food item you find. And QTEs are, well, QTEs - although they're rarely as knowingly absurd as they are here.

Yet there's significantly fewer irritants in the way of what you're here for, and that's a heady dose of SWERY craziness. It's a much more confidently directed game than DP, and less 'so bad it's good'. Sure, the voice acting is still bizarre and the animations weirdly hilarious, but this time it feels as if anything is on purpose instead of an after effect of a low budget. The game hasn't lost its character, though - it's still full of eccentric characters, surreal interludes, oddball dialogue, and a deceptively dark tone tying it all together.

From the non-speaking, scantily-clad woman who lives in your house who might actually be a cat, to the movie & sports trivia magazines scattered around the place just because, it is a SWERY game through and through - just without the ****ty combat and technical crudity holding it back as much (even if some degree of charm has been lost in the process). It's far from a perfect game, but it is a distinct, fascinating, funny and occasionally even intelligent one from one of gaming's most endearing nutjobs.

Really enjoyed this on Xbox, and I hope they get a season 2.

Any issues with it on pc Johnny regards controls ? There were a few sections that were actually pretty difficult to get 100% with on a pad as the game was originally a Kinect title with gamepad support added later in development I believe. A wise decision I think.

Still scratching my head as to whether that was a cat or a woman

Also the way food is consumed by them at the kitchen table is quite disturbing :eek:

rizzla

Loved the game on Xbox One, worth playing it with the Kinect. Remember playing it at like 3am and there was a QTE fight scene were i had to yell. That was fun!

I hope the PC release ensures a second season.