Commander Keen: Keen Dreams

About

In "Commander Keen: Keen Dreams," the protagonist finds himself in a world dominated by giant, menacing vegetables. To survive, he must defeat various veggie enemies, such as broccoli beasts and asparagus warriors, before facing the fearsome King Boobus Tuber. The game is a classic platformer where consuming all your veggies is key to avoiding an untimely trip to the "salad bar in the sky."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 28 reviews

humor2 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

Keen Dreams is a colorful, fun, and addicting classic platformer that appeals to both nostalgic players and newcomers.
The Steam version includes trading cards and achievements, adding replay value and a modern touch to the experience.
The game features non-linear progression and varied level design, making it easy to pick up and play.

The game lacks basic features such as a soundtrack and gamepad support, which detracts from the overall experience.
Level design can lead to frustrating surprise deaths and guessing, making platforming frequently irritating.
Many players feel it doesn't live up to the quality of other Commander Keen games, feeling more like an unfinished prototype.

gameplay
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The gameplay of "Keen Dreams" is a departure from previous entries in the series, lacking key elements like the gun and pogo stick, which has led to some frustration among players. However, it features solid platforming mechanics, improved graphics, and varied challenges, making it a standout title despite its differences. Overall, while it may not align with expectations from earlier games, it offers a challenging and engaging experience.
- “It has some great platforming gameplay.”
- “It features improved graphics and gameplay changes over the previous entries and earned its label as the lost episode as it was not as widely known or played as much as the previous games in the series.”
- “As far as platformers go, Keen Dreams is outstanding; its mechanics are rock solid (albeit very different from the previous entries), it's very challenging, and the levels are varied along with the challenges they present.”
- “As I mentioned, you don’t have the gun or pogo because you didn’t bring the pogo to bed, and the gun ran out of ammo after killing two guards, so you don’t have the two main gameplay elements of Commander Keen.”
- “I knew coming into this that this was going to be a bit different from the other Keen games, but I didn’t know I was going to get as frustrated with its gameplay.”
- “It features improved graphics and gameplay changes over the previous entries and earned its label as the lost episode, as it was not as widely known or played as much as the previous games in the series.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game's graphics feature both retro CGA and EGA modes, which some players find headache-inducing, while others appreciate the nostalgic charm. It offers improved visuals and gameplay compared to previous entries, along with options for windowed and widescreen support. Overall, the graphics blend old-school aesthetics with modern enhancements, appealing to a range of players.
- “It features improved graphics and gameplay changes over the previous entries and earned its label as the 'lost episode' as it was not as widely known or played as much as the previous games in the series.”
- “Windowed mode, widescreen support, old school and new school graphics.”
- “There is an achievement for beating the game in lower quality color settings called CGA, and why would anyone torture themselves with the awful graphics to get that achievement?”
- “I do have to say that CGA graphics give me a headache.”
- “It has both a mode for CGA and EGA graphics and a choice between PC speaker sounds or Ad-lib sound effects.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The music aspect of the game is notably lacking, with many users highlighting the absence of a soundtrack and background music, which detracts from the overall experience. This omission, along with missing features and abilities, suggests that the game feels incomplete and underdeveloped.
- “No music, no grabbing ledges.”
- “Lacks basic features like soundtrack and gamepad support.”
- “Not much to talk about except that it’s similar to the next batch of episodes only with no music.”
- “It was never intended to be a full-on release (and to be honest, it shows, missing things such as music and some of the abilities Keen gained in Commander Keen 4).”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story is minimal and primarily serves to explain the absence of certain gameplay elements, such as the gun and pogo stick. It appears to draw some inspiration from the "Goodbye Galaxy" narrative, but overall, it lacks depth and engagement.
- “Not much to say about the story except it explains why you don’t have your gun or pogo, so let's just move on.”
- “From what little research I could find, this was made the Goodbye Galaxy story, and it shows since it has a few of the features of that game like poles and... that’s it.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The game offers high replayability through its design, mastery of levels, and the pursuit of achievements and high scores across various difficulties. Hidden secrets and a unique test level further enhance replay value, although players may initially struggle to unlock achievements due to the game's save function mechanics.
- “It's simplistic but very replayable due to its design and the challenge of mastering the levels.”
- “There is lots of replayability with achievements and high scores across different difficulties, as well as secrets hidden throughout the levels, including a secret level that requires a cheat to access, which is more like a test level.”
- “The achievements are a great addition that increase the game's replay value.”
- “The game lacks meaningful choices, making replayability feel pointless.”
- “Once you've completed the main story, there's little incentive to play again.”
- “The limited variety in gameplay mechanics really hurts the replayability factor.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by its quirky achievements system, which rewards players for avoiding excessive use of loads, adding a playful challenge. Additionally, the charming graphics contribute to the overall lighthearted and amusing atmosphere of this classic platformer.
- “The funny thing is that you get achievements only if you don't use loads.”
- “A nice old platformer with humorous graphics.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with many users reporting that it fails to start and is plagued by bugs, particularly related to its OpenGL system, resulting in slow performance and problematic movement display.
- “The game does not start and is a buggy mess. Even if you manage to get it running, the OpenGL system has issues displaying movement and runs slowly.”
- “The stability of the game is terrible; frequent crashes make it nearly unplayable.”
- “I experienced constant lag and frame drops, which severely impacted my gaming experience.”