The Dream is Coming... Reviews

as the tags say, short, relaxing and cute. theres not much else going on but it is great for what it presents itself to be, enjoyed it.

I was intrigued by the description as I wanted to know how in depth this indie game would go into the lives, thoughts and struggles of students. But I was left most disappointed. Pros: → The music is beautiful. → Half of the graphics were unexpectedly brilliant for an indie game; the sky, the breezy grass, the pavement and some items indoors, especially the signs and writing. → The afternoon setting sun set the tone perfectly. → Songbird ambience in the schoolyard was very relaxing. Cons: → 'Interesting stories' in the description is misleading. [spoiler] For example; at one point we pass a bicycle in the schoolyard and the 'story' is legit: "My father's bike. After he drank, he stopped using it." And that's all we get. [/spoiler] It's more like random facts being spewed out that has no meaning to the story at all (?). → The 5 people mentioned in the description are barely memorable. There is no introduction to each, or even yourself as a character. I only knew my character's name was Yoshiro because the game description says so. → The only problems these students seem to be facing is them constantly wondering [spoiler] why Izumi has chosen to date Yoshiro, how the last partner she had only lasted 2 weeks, 3 days and 13 hours, and how she doesn't like anyone so everyone is confused why she is with Yoshiro. [/spoiler] And that seems to be the only mysterious part about the 'very mysterious girl.' Oh, and we also come across a locked box [spoiler] at which Yoshiro says "Yes, Izumi's box, but it's under lock and key. How did it get here anyway? Anyway, I have no idea where to get the code..." [/spoiler] and that's where I reached a dead end. → The game seems to take inspiration from well known animes. We come across a book [spoiler] called 'Love Note' which has some rules written on it and is basically a lovey dovey copy some student has done that is a spin off Death Note. [/spoiler] But there is no further development on it, it doesn't mention the names of any of the 5 characters we are supposed to be learning about which therefore makes it irrelevant and just a cute little nod to the series. The same thing happens when you enter a classroom and find [spoiler] a wooden carved star(fish) which Fu.ko Ibuki from Clannad makes and hands out to others at her school. [/spoiler] Again, a cute nod to the series. Perhaps a more knowledgeable anime fan will be able to pick up additional nods but I'm tempted to think there is a connection between almost all the stories being based/taken from anime series. → And last but not least, there is no actual voice actor. Google translate is the voice actor. Don't get me wrong. I didn't have high expectations for this indie game. I do think this has potential and could be further developed into something, dare I say, beautiful, providing the right aspects of student life are brought to our attention: Real struggles of the problems students may face. [spoiler] Not petty opinions on how someone looks ━ which is covered quite a few times in some of the diary entries you discover. [/spoiler] I'm not even sure if I completed the whole thing as there are no real pointers as to where we should go next and whether there should be an order that we discover events/items. You literally read the first note that is on the table in front of you when you start which tells you where your backpack is, which is the only thing you need to technically complete the game. In it's current state, it's definitely not worth paying for. If you get it for free, it's worth the 30 seconds you get from the second you walk outside the building doors and into the highly lush and verdant schoolyard. Otherwise, it's a no from me.

It's eh. First thing's first: It's kind of hard to treat this as a game. If I had to explain it, it's either like a walking simulator without direction or a horror game without the horror. You go around and look for things to leave the school. Doing so isn't hard, it'll just take time depending on which way you decide to walk. As little as I make it out to be, it's only $2 USD. Low price point for low quality. Honestly I'd say this is pretty good for $2. Story: It's good. Is it great? No, but it's the best thing this game has to offer. It feels very much like someone's personal tale as they look back in life. Sure, it's confusing when you read it in its scattered order; I'd be lying if I said I knew what it was actually about, but that's kind of the beauty of it. It builds as you go. 'Puzzles': In terms of getting the end, it's really simple. If you're keen, you'll find clues leading you to eventually leaving the school amidst the story. Just walk around enough and you'll eventually find the right key to the right lock to the right door, etc. In fact, once you know a certain code you can skip a good portion of the setup. That said, I can't figure out how to open the 'Secret Door' in the cafeteria. I don't even know if it's meant to be opened. I assume so, because it's the only door labelled 'secret door', but as for now I'm not masochistic enough to figure it out. Controls: Because this important (not really). At least on Mouse and Keyboard, WASD Space as usual, I think CTRL to crouch and C to prone, E is to interact, triggering some monologue bits here and there (I think) and Q is to pick things up to analyze them. Shift to sprint, for some reason Y is to lean left (but based on shadows it's more turning sideways without moving cam, don't know why that exists). Graphics: I'ma get a headache from this. Don't get me wrong, the colors are vibrant and bright, but that combined with the slightly jarring movement and rendering is a bit painful. It's a good thing this game is short because I probably can't stand playing this for more than an hour. Maybe this game was not meant to be played on high resolution and top quality... Music: Great, but kinda random. Like with everything else, I wouldn't be surprised if the music is just pulled assets placed together. It just kinda shows up while wandering about. Still, it's that and really loud environmental sounds or just really loud environmental sounds. Take your pic. Wait, no, you can't. It starts playing at random. Other quality related things: Text to speech popup text boxes that speak in English but read in 4 different languages... for some reason. Diary pages also read in both English and I think Russian for some reason. There are a few items here and there that as far as I know are unrelated to either leaving school or the love plot brewing. The crows are still too loud, there's a lot of senseless walking to the point where you'll always want to hold shift (though your eyes may hurt more from the visuals moving faster), and the menus kinda suck. Also there's no saving. You're meant to finish the whole thing in one go. Overall: Yeah it's $2. Less so when on sale. Lower your standards when playing, if this cost any more I wouldn't be recommending it. I'm guessing that its price point at not free makes it a hard sell for many people, explaining the incredibly low review count at this time.

I played very little but I hope to return to the game, good graphics, fluid gameplay and easy to learn, interesting story. A good example of a narrative adventure. I recommend it to everyone in the steam gaming community.

"The Dream is Coming..." is a vibrant walking simulator that has you explore an empty Schoolyard and its various building as you find notes, diary entries and clues to follow. The notes contain little bits of lore surrounding your character and his group of friends. Your character will also have memories revealed when he enters rooms or comes close to certain objects. A text to speech voice will read a sentence or 2 about some mundane thing he remembers about Chemistry class or the first time he met a friend. I honestly didn't mind the text to speech voice, it's actually not a bad sounding text to speech program. The main issue is the translation, it's not translated the greatest. It's hard to understand the relationship between certain characters when all you have to go on is little bits of choppy lore translated poorly. You are able to get a grasp of the overall story but the little details get lost and with a game like this, that is kind of important. A game like this is nothing but story and visuals (which isn't a bad thing) but you're really only left with the visuals as a completed piece. The bits of story you can gather tell a simple tale of a group friends and their after school club. The various memories of simple times and the struggles some face, it fits the atmosphere well. The translation issue also comes into play with the games very few little puzzles/clues. At one point, our character gives us a clue of where to go and it sounds like you need to get into a room on the 3rd floor through an open window. This isn't the case, it's actually an open window on the first floor you're suppose to go through. You mostly just walk around find notes, listen to your characters memories and find keys, so it's not really a big problem since the game encourages you to walk through every area. It still had me staring at windows on the 3rd floor for 10 minutes or so. All of this aside, the most important aspect of any good walking simulator, is the atmosphere and visuals. The game is visually very nice, the lighting is done very well other than an occasional blinding glow from objects you pick up. The school is lit very dim and warm which has a great contrast to the vibrant schoolyard with it's colors, birds flying around, blossoms falling and wavy grass patches. It's a good feeling when you emerge outdoors after exploring the school building and the main piano theme starts playing, It really highlights the somber atmosphere the game is wanting to portray. I will say the atmosphere and visuals can have an eeriness to them at times, I don't think this was intentional but quiet corners and dim rooms with some big shadowy objects in them can catch you off guard. Maybe having some different music for the different areas would helped with the strange quiet. The only music is in the front schoolyard and Gym. I think the school being quiet works but going from music to no music makes it feel like you're lacking progression, going backwards almost. Just kind of a nitpick because overall I think the atmosphere is effective at portraying a somber dream of old memories. Oh also there is a fair amount of motion blur which really detracts from the visuals but standing still it's very nice. Would I recommend this game? for $4? No, I wouldn't. As much as I enjoyed the cute story and the atmosphere, the translation issues, motion blur and glitching objects hold it back from a recommend. This game is fine as a $1 or even better a free game but this game is not worth $4. I'll look forward to the developer's next game to see how they grow because I think there is some good here.