Dyad Reviews

Note: I have both the Steam and GOG versions and have put more time into the latter due to laziness. Probs add like another 4-5 hours on top of what's being shown here. Words cannot accurately portray how much this game is important to me. DYAD is basically like a mind reset for me. Any time I'm feeling anxious, stressed, depressed, annoyed...any negative emotion you can think of; I bust out this game. DYAD is a game where each level gives you a simple task to complete. You can progress through the entire game so long as you at least get one star on every level, which is a relatively simple task. It is a game where you can absorb yourself in the colours and forget about everything going on in life. The biggest highlight of all being the final level, Eye of the Duck - It's not infinite as the logo would suggest. But it's worth the journey getting there. Outside of the game itself, the music is produced by David Kanaga and is absolutely sublime. Because of how the sound design is, well, designed, the sound effects are in itself integral to the music. Because of this, the OST for the game comes in a largely arranged form, containing both the songs and some of the sound effects when appropriate. While it doesn't quite provide the kick that playing the game does, it's still a fantastic album in its own right and definitely worth checking out if you like this game. Even though I've technically completed this game, and have no interest in getting better star ratings on the levels, I can safely say I'm going to be returning back to DYAD any time I need to chill out. This game is more than just a psychedelic freakout, and that's the most important part to remember.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is [b]POLYBIUS 2.0[/b] Similar (gameplay) design: ✔ Strange music and sound: ✔ Halucination inducing visuals: ✔ High addiction level: ✔ Brainwashing: ??? Also it probably wouldn't kill you... hopefully.

This game is at least as trippy as it looks. It's one of those games where the distinction between sound effects and music is deliberately blurred, leaving the whole thing as an trip in synesthesia that has to be experienced for yourself. As an added bonus, for those into racing-style games, this game conveys a sense of speed better than most things I've played. It's dizzying how quickly you can go if you get into a groove.

A nice experience that feels more like a drug trip than anything else. There isn't really that many levels, but remix and trophy modes are fun to fuck around with. One problem it has is that there barely any options and there isn't much you can do to reduce the colours that fly at you, so long play sessions can probably cause some eye damage, seeing as I've already gotten some eye strain from Dyad. Overall, a really nice game that is sort of a... tunnel racer(?) and reminds me of Rez a little bit. Worth the discounted price by far, but the $15 is a hit or miss. Personally, I'd reccomend you buy it when on sale.

TL;DR [b]This game game can become really messy for your eyes, make sure to play in a well lit room or RIP eyes. Also I have no idea how to play with a keyboard.[/b] Besides those two little problems, Dyad is a really interesting game. It becomes pretty addictive once you really get into it because there are so much things that get added in the gameplay as you play. But I'd like a option to have the game running on "Windowed no borders". It'd be super. Let's get into things. In Dyad, you basically are a little... non identified thing with kinda tentacles (just what I think, maybe it has a name) and you must grab onto "enemies" being little light orbs. You must make pairs of enemies that are the same colors to boost your speed and get more points. That's basically the base of the game. But it's not only that. Sometimes, you just need to make pairs and finish the level. Sometimes, it's a race and you need to finish is in less time as possible. Buuut, you can also start to "graze" the enemies by grabbing them. A circle will appear around them and then you just need to pass close to them. This'll build up a "lancing" bar, then you'll be able to "lance" on the enemies. This is like a super boost and you can hit the enemies like that to go faster and make the lancing last longer (I think? I'm not sure about this) Those are the only things I tried so far. There must be some other modes and special things to do. Also the music and sounds are really great. Since I always have my game controller plugged, I still haven't figured out how to play with a keyboard. But the experience with the controller is really enjoyable and easy to play. You just need the buttons and left joystick. And fingers. And hands. And eyes. And a brain. You get it. This is the kind of game you'll want to play a level over and over again to master it and get a high score (at the time I'm writing this I hit the 9th place of a level on the global leaderboards after trying a level a few times). The fact that you can edit the way you play the levels after finishing them once ("remix") is really interesting and I really like it. You can even play a non-ending game just to, like, relax or practice without being scared of a game over or the end of the level. But I don't know what some of the things do though. If you're epileptic this is not the game you want to play at all. As you play, the colors and lights become more intense. I myself am not someone who's really sensitive to that, but at one point I had to take a break because it was too much. I couldn't even play the damn level anymore (the game reminded me of Super Hexagon. Must take breaks while playing this or you just slowly become crazy). Also I'm someone who tends to change windows a lot when I play (to take breaks and all) and when it's full screen it tends to freeze the game and sometimes make it crash. An option to have the game windowed but without borders would be really cool. I don't want to touch the launching options because I don't know if it works just like TF2. After this kinda novella I can only say "Yes, I recommend this game".

[h1][b][u]GAME TYPE:[/u][/b] Psychadelic tunnel racer [i]Not a game but an experience[/i] ;-)[/h1]Simple gameplay with no variation. You drive through this tunnel and collect glowing orbs to speed up. And thats it. There is no other action. I was really expecting more. There might be some gamers who like this minimalistic gameplay, but for me it was too boring. I do like arcade gaming - and I really WANTED TO LIKE this Racer - but this game has nothing to offer to keep me playing. Maybe I am the wrong audience for this game, but I miss some action. Not worth 14 bucks! I payed 5 bucks in a sale and I still regret it. After 10 minutes I´ve seen everything. After 30 minutes I was already bored. After 1 hour I quit playing and deleted the game. BTW, dont play this game stoned - you will get sick or a headache... [h1]What is [i][b]MISSING[/b][/i] here:[/h1] > NO enemys > NO other ships chasing you > NO bosses > NO real action > NO different weapons (missles, sideshots, smartbombs) In short: The psychadelic visuals are nice, but the gameplay is too undemanding to hook you more than 10 minutes. With more action this game could be great ... [h1][b][u]SYNOPSIS:[/u][/b] [/h1] [i]the best way to experience a Trip without taking LSD...

DYAD is an amazing psychedelic experience. The seamless blending of its mechanical, visual, and aural styles transport you through transcendental dimensions in a "2001: A Space Odyssey" style. A great game for fans of psychedelia, electronic music, and challenging games. It is best played with headphones and an analogue controller. Favourite level: Giraffes? Giraffes! From Outer Space

It may have only taken me 2 hours to beat the whole thing, but I can safely say this is probably one of my favorite games ever. It's everything it promises to be - psychadelic, mind-bending, and hallucinogenic, while also being engaging, reasonably challenging and having a solid mechanical foundation and gameplay. First of all, it does a great job of easing you into the game as it adds new mechanics. It starts out simple to let you learn and ramps up from there. There's really only ever 4 buttons to worry about, too: left and right, hook, and lance. The fact that it is so simple control-wise means it's that much easier to feel immersed in the game and not worry about what your hands are doing. That's hardly what makes it great, though. Each level feels like a unique audio-visual experience. In order to complete level goals, you have to be constantly looking ahead down the "pipe". As you perform certain actions, the visuals AND audio react accordingly. The fact that you have to be watching in a certain way and processing what is happening visually, all while everything is changing and responding to what you are doing, is what makes this such a psychadelic, engaging experience. If you're used to arcade-style games where the focus is on precise, responsive controls and clearly defined, easy-to-read game state, you might feel put off by the idea of this game at first. Everything is constantly moving and waving around and oscillating, which you would think would make it hard to keep track of what is happening. As far as I can tell, though, this is intentional and doesn't hurt your ability to start to gain mastery over the game. As the game state changes (for example, as you speed up), the way you need to visually process and respond to the game changes as well, and the visuals and audio respond to keep feeding you the information you need. The "ending" is a huge treat; an audio-visual dessert which somehow manages to top the psychadelic experience of each of the levels. Once you've played through the game, there's plenty of replayability playing through individual stages to get to the top of the leaderboards and competing with your friends or the general public, going for trophies, or even just enjoying the remix mode. However, it seems the friends leaderboard isn't functional (at least for me), so I was a little disappointed by that. Also, the leaderboards don't seem to let me scroll to the next page, so I can only ever see the top 20 or so scores in the world. Perhaps this will get fixed later. Definitely get this game unless you are concerned about the overwhelming visuals causing diziness or something like that (it wasn't a problem for me and I get motion sickness pretty easily).

INDIE GAME OF THE DECADE!!! OMG, how did this gem slip by under the radar? I can’t even believe this game was developed on the id Tech 4 (Doom 3) game engine. Oh how I envy the developers so much. This is one of those moments where I’d say, “I wish I made a game like this!” They did something incredible with the music in this game. I’ve always been seeking one where the music is completely dynamic based on the actions you take or do. By dynamic I mean you have a base rhythm but can add instruments at any interval and make it sound just like one musical masterpiece. And this game achieves this! I swear sometimes, I feel like I’m even making my own music when playing this game. And it’s the only game I know where if you crash into an enemy and slow down or whatever … it just sounds and looks so cool! Tell me how many games out there make you want to do mistakes like taking damage? LOL … none right? Wrong! Dyad … Quite a chill and psychedelic trance type of music in this game. So for those that don’t like that genre I can see that may be something like half the greatness gone. But lucky for me I love this type of genre of music. I find the gameplay progressive. I’m not comparing, but if we take a look at other indie games like, Beat Hazard or Audio Surf, the gameplay and rules just doesn’t change at all. In Dyad, it’s progressive. New enemies, objects and variations to how you move are introduced throughout what I would call the campaigns. And it's not annoying, it's very fun! I rate this game 12/10. I wish I was sitting on a couch playing this game next to sauce and just speaking my mind just like in the trailer. It’s bloody hilarious! Watch it! But seriously I can see how this game can make one do something like that. EDIT: Changed my mind about not liking the chargers after playing Just Take a Pinch level. They're awesome in combination with invincibility shields. Also corrected that the dudes in the trailer aren't the Dev's, but they're funny as heck! I would also like to elaborate on my second paragraph. This game is the inverse to games like Beat Hazard, Audio Surf, Symphony ... etc. The thing about those games is you see visuals customized or laid out to variations in your music. With Dyad, the music is has been customised to the way you play. So everytime you hook an enemy, graze, lance, pick up an invincibility shield, ride a zipline ... it activates a sound effect that seemlessly blends in with the background music. Don't get me wrong, the visuals are definately a big part of the game and is in dynamic sync with the music, but I was kind of dissapointed with The Cynical Brit's video on Dyad where he basically commentated about everything except the sound. You really have to have an ear for Dyad ... kinda like Osu! ... it's not just about visually interacting, you need to hear the rhythm. imho. Also the infinite level is genius. I was avoiding it for a bit because I thought it really was infinite. But one day I wanted to chill and just started played it expecting no ending. But surprise! It's like the equivalent to having a story-like conclusion to a game without a story ... lol.

This game is drugs. The computer is drugs. Your hands are drugs. The controls are not simple. They build in complexity rather quickly, and it always feels like you're just barely able to keep your head above water. You will be kept in a perpetual state of not-drowning-just-yet. But every once in a while, you hook a pair, lance immediately, and hook your next without thinking about it. You get flying along, jumping from one pair to the next, not thinking. Not seeing or hearing. You are [i]experiencing.[/i] And three seconds later, you're ruined. But for those three seconds, you knew what it was to be a god. And god was drugs.