Dreams of Another (PS5) Review

Dreams of Another, released by the Pixel Junk creator, deserves respect for trying to do something different – instead of a gun destroying things, it creates… at least this is how the game is marketed but isn’t exactly true. Sadly, the nonsensical narrative, repetitive gameplay, and awful audio qualities make this the leading contender for most disappointing game of 2025.

Via a machine gun, the concept of creating rather than destroying sounds interesting on paper but this mechanic fails to produce anything engaging, meaningful, or exciting. In fact, it only gets in the way and slows gameplay to a crawl.

The player is thrown into a hazy, abstract world filled with lens flare circles, some dude in pajamas, and a depressed soldier. Narratively, the presentation is impossible to follow as numerous plot points play at the same time. Nothing makes sense and makes this dream feel more like a nightmare caught in limbo.

For some reason, this kid in pjs is given an assault rifle with infinite ammo. Shooting at anything, the tiny circles, will reveal an object whether it be a tree, a building, an NPC, or a confusing collectable. However, there is no bonus or reward for shooting at objects, so the player just needs to shoot for the sake of having a pointless action to do. The worst part, the player can see that there is a building or a road 10 feet in front of you. Shooting it just makes it clearer. So you are not shooting to create; you are shooting to clear away the blurry mess to reveal a slightly less blurry mess.

This shooting problem is only compounded with the annoying reloads every 100 bullets so there is no satisfying payoff. It is funny because at the time I am playing this, I am also playing the newly released Power Washing Simulator 2. In that game, you get money for cleaning to upgrade your equipment, the chime of reaching 100%, can track your progress, and can play with online partners to unlock more duties. Here, there is none of that despite basically doing the same thing. You just shoot into the marred depth-of-field and sometimes the circles can annoyingly regenerate, forcing a frustrating retreading of these boring steps.

There are some “boss battles” on occasion but they are also not fun. Since there is no way to die and it is obvious you need to shoot the only glowing spot, these lame action segments just get in the way. The pj kid also moves slower than a slug, removing any chance at excitement.

As repetitive as the gameplay is, the worst part comes from the audio department. The monotone voice acting is horrendous, as if the actors recorded their lines after being awake for 48 straight hours and about to pass out, and the soundtrack is just random noises on a short loop.

Attempting to bring some replay value to the experience, the stupid collectables also don’t make sense and only raise eyebrows. Sometimes, by shooting away the circles, it might reveal an item to collect. Then these items can be taken to the soldier for examination, but he only takes a couple at time when the player might have a dozen to scan. Perhaps the oddest part is the level structure.  Instead of playing level one and moving onto level two, the player clears an area, then gets booted back to the main menu. Only this time when you hit start, it just begins in a new stage – the player doesn’t get to choose or can’t replay previous spots. For comparison, imagine collecting a star or sliding down a flagpole in any Mario game… then get auto-booted back to the main menu. Then when you hit start again, you are just given a new stage to play. That is exactly what happens here. Literally nothing makes sense in this game.

Dreams of Another should be recognized for trying something different but different in this case isn’t better. The higher price point is never justified and doesn’t help this confusing snoozefest.

By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com

X/Twitter: @ZackGaz

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