Dreams Final Review
After giving my initial impressions of Media Molecule’s Dreams last week, I wanted to expand my early review and talk about why I think this game is something truly special and a unique title that I will be playing for years to come. In today’s review, I will delve into my thoughts on Art’s Dream, which is the story mode created by Media Molecule. Additionally I will discuss my experience with the creation tools within Dreams and its abundance of masterclasses, video tutorials and more that allow you to bring your imaginative creations to life.
As someone who adored the quirky charm and joy of the LittleBigPlanet series, I was glad to hear that despite the emphasis on creation, Media Molecule would still have a story mode for players within Dreams. After completing Art’s Dream, I can confirm that it retains the heartfelt charm and engaging gameplay of the LBP games. But the most striking thing about Art’s Dream is that the experience was created entirely in Dreams using the creation tools that are available to players. Media Molecule intended their story mode to showcase the variety of experiences that are possible in Dreams. Without spoiling any part of the story of Art’s Dream, I was absolutely blown away by the sheer variety of gameplay styles used throughout the game. The art style is breathtaking as it plays with the player’s sense of reality by changing perspective between gameplay and cinematics. I highly recommend that any new player jumping into Dreams starts their experience by playing through Art’s Dream. It was a short experience as I completed the story in roughly two hours. But it is a beautiful narrative that uses an incredible variety of different gameplay experiences to keep you engaged
After completing the story mode, I jumped into the suite of creation tools. Media Molecule has crafted incredibly well-paced video tutorials and masterclasses that allow you to learn about specific aspects of level creation including environment design, character animation, music creation, gameplay systems and so much more. As a musician, I decided to jump into the music creation tutorials and see what I could create. The game then took me to an in-game designed web page that resembles real recording software such as Garage Band, Pro Tools or Audacity. The tutorials then walked me through step by step how to layer pre-recorded tracks, adjust volumes and create fades. I found all of the instructions to be well-paced and approachable. Additionally you can record your own music files and add them to your Dreams creations. Personally I feel extremely intimidated at the idea of creating an entire level by myself. But the unique level system in Dreams encourages players to find their passion in the game and work together to create levels. As a musician I can already see myself getting lost in creating my own in-game music and the fact that I can work together with other players who are interested in other aspects of game design is a huge selling point for me and I’m sure others as well.
Lastly let’s talk about users created levels in Dreams. As I discussed last week I continue to be amazed and left speechless by the detail and work that is going into the user created content of Dreams. My favorite level that I saw this week was a Fallout 4 inspired experience created by PSN user: Robo_Killer_v2. The level features a small explorable open world that looks like it could have been taken straight from Fallout 4, but made entirely in Dreams. The authenticity from the gameplay, visuals and even menu UI felt distinctly Fallout and left me inspired by the endless possibilities from this platform that Media Molecule has created.
In Short, Dreams is not only a must-play for fans of previous Media Molecule games, but it is a must-play for anyone who has ever wanted to express themselves through art, music or writing. Media Molecule has crafted a platform for the next generation of game developers to be inspired by and I for one cannot wait to continue playing their passion projects within this incredibly special game. Stay tuned to LukeWarmGames next week as I review Bloodroots, developed by the independent studio Paper Cult.
