Dream Cycle

62%
Game Brain Score Based on 182 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Dream Cycle Game Cover
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"Dream Cycle" is a first-person action-adventure game set in the mystical world of Cathuria. As a skilled dreamer, you'll journey through surreal landscapes, solving puzzles, battling supernatural foes, and uncovering lost secrets. With a focus on exploration and discovery, this game delivers a rich and immersive experience in a beautifully realized dreamworld.

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Reviews

62%
Audience ScoreBased on 182 reviews
story15 positive mentions
stability7 negative mentions
  • The game features a unique and intriguing story set in Lovecraft's Dreamlands, providing a fresh experience for fans of the genre.
  • The gameplay mechanics, including dynamic combat and exploration, are engaging and allow for a variety of playstyles, such as stealth and magic use.
  • The art style and atmosphere are visually appealing, with original landscapes that enhance immersion in the game's world.
  • The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches, including issues with NPCs getting stuck and objectives not being marked, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences.
  • The procedural generation of levels can result in repetitive and confusing layouts, making exploration feel tedious and lacking in variety.
  • The overall gameplay loop can become monotonous over time, with a lack of clear goals and a story that feels incomplete or abruptly concluded.
  • story103 mentions

    The game's story is criticized for being minimal and lacking coherence, with many players feeling it fails to provide a sense of progression or meaningful narrative. While some fragments of lore and intriguing concepts are present, they are often buried within repetitive missions and procedural generation, leading to a disjointed experience. Overall, the potential for a compelling story exists, but it remains largely unfulfilled in its current state.

    • “The concept and story are truly intriguing, and the mechanics presented are parts of a whole that could be fun.”
    • “Presenting itself with an incredibly unique story with equally engaging gameplay is putting this on my current favorites.”
    • “Dream cycle offers a very unique story, and a different experience.”
    • “No real story, information, or feeling of progression during the whole game, and the end is just a 2-minute dialogue that ends abruptly!”
    • “You are given a premise for a story in the beginning, and the next time anything of significance happens is at the end, which is also disappointing and lame.”
    • “The story is barely there; I'm not really even sure what I'm supposed to be doing.”
  • gameplay60 mentions

    The gameplay is characterized by a dynamic yet repetitive core loop, where players engage in a cycle of exploring procedurally generated maps, solving puzzles, and defeating bosses. While the mechanics offer potential with enjoyable movement and combat options, many players find the experience lacks variety and clear objectives, leading to a sense of monotony over extended playtime. Despite its intriguing concept and solid foundational mechanics, the game suffers from issues like poor optimization and a reliance on loading zones, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.

    • “The gameplay is very interesting and dynamic; you get a taste for it pretty quickly.”
    • “The exploration is enhanced by how free the movement is, with generous mantling, a slow fall, air dash, and a mechanic where if you touch the edge of some ledges, your character will get a little boost and leap into the air.”
    • “The dash, the movement abilities and perks, and the combat mechanics of dodging or interrupting an attack, and accurately hitting the critical area of an enemy to do severe damage makes this game addicting and rewarding to play.”
    • “In fact, the whole gameplay is repetitive and lacks clear goals.”
    • “Sadly, despite somewhat decent core mechanics, the game is absurdly repetitive, forcing you to replay the same general levels (with randomization - sure, but nowhere near enough of it to make it feel original and worthwhile) over and over again.”
    • “The gameplay itself feels janky and kind of unpleasant.”
  • graphics39 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the art style and impressive visuals, particularly in higher settings, while others criticize the inconsistency, glitches, and outdated textures. Many players appreciate the creative use of visuals and ambient sound, but note that lower graphical settings significantly detract from the experience. Overall, while the aesthetic and environments can be captivating, the game still requires considerable polishing to meet higher standards.

    • “The updates always bring fun improvements, and the graphics are impressive.”
    • “The visuals are flashy and the landscapes are dreamlike.”
    • “The art and graphics are amazing; I love the cell shading, it looks beautiful.”
    • “The graphics inconsistency, world clipping, and constant updates that might or might not erase all your progress make the game painfully unrecommended.”
    • “Boring, repetitive, awful combat, bad graphics (not talking about the line on edges, it is the textures, detail, lighting, and the fog is a mess).”
    • “Sadly, I will be refunding; the world's idea just doesn't work for this game and the cel-shaded graphics are really badly used.”
  • music11 mentions

    The music in the game is characterized by a mix of ambient sounds and sporadic combat tracks, creating a unique atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. While some players appreciate the immersive sound design and Lovecraftian elements, others find the soundtrack lacking, with issues such as overpowering volume and repetitive jingles. Overall, the ambient music and sound effects contribute significantly to the game's mood, despite some inconsistencies in execution.

    • “Music and ambient noise help broaden the feel of each map.”
    • “Birds, footsteps, and instantly changing music help to give this game its unique mood.”
    • “It's very Lovecraftian; the ambiance, music, creatures, and the environments change depending on the enemies nearby.”
    • “The soundtrack is basically nonexistent; when you are put inside a level, you will mostly hear ambient noise from the forest or the water, etc. The same jingle will play when you discover a lever or a dungeon door.”
    • “The sound is all over the place; the music is so loud in certain segments that it drowns out all dialogue.”
    • “The combat soundtrack plays when you are engaged with enemies and fades after the combat is resolved.”
  • atmosphere8 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is praised for its unique and immersive landscapes, effectively capturing a Lovecraftian vibe that enhances exploration. However, the random level generation can detract from this experience, leading to chaotic environments that undermine the intended ambiance. Despite some bugs and the need for polish, the overall atmosphere remains a standout feature that many players appreciate.

    • “You will find in the game a lot of different maps to explore with quite original and strange landscapes at the same time, which immerses you even more in the atmosphere of the game.”
    • “The game is a procgen 3D roguelite, with a handful of locations designed, great atmosphere.”
    • “It sure needs a lot more polish, but the weird atmosphere is amazing, and moving around and exploring the levels feels so good.”
    • “Excellent in concept and combat, but completely let down by the random level generation which barely works correctly, often creating a chaotic mess with furniture, item, and enemy placement that makes zero sense, killing the atmosphere of what would have been one of the most visually striking Lovecraftian-themed games I've ever played.”
    • “This game has got the atmosphere down pretty well, but other than that, there's not much here currently.”
    • “Bugs are present of course, but looks promising and I really like the atmosphere.”
  • stability8 mentions

    The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many players reporting significant bugs and glitches that give it an early access feel. However, some users have experienced sessions without issues, suggesting that while the game is unpolished, it has the potential to be enjoyable for those willing to overlook its current shortcomings. Overall, it appears to be a fun experience marred by instability.

    • “My last few sessions have been completely bug-free.”
    • “The game runs smoothly without any crashes or glitches.”
    • “I've experienced consistent performance, making for a seamless gaming experience.”
    • “This game is a buggy, broken, janky mess and you should play it.”
    • “Game as it is, is unpolished and kind of buggy; the AI acts really weird.”
    • “There are bugs and glitches to be sure, and the combat and AI needs some tweaking.”
  • grinding5 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and monotonous, often feeling unclear about their goals and wishing for more variety in objectives. The early game is particularly criticized for its repetitive nature, leading to a preference for speed-farming over exploration, as both chests and level clears provide similar rewards. Overall, the grinding experience can feel excessive and lacking in meaningful progression.

    • “Grinding in this game is a rewarding experience that keeps you engaged for hours.”
    • “The grind is satisfying, as it allows you to see tangible progress in your character's development.”
    • “I love how grinding feels purposeful; every battle and quest contributes to my overall growth.”
    • “Basically feels like I'm grinding for unclear goals.”
    • “Once again it's not bad, but I really wish there was more variety. Maybe different objectives or something, because it does feel grindy after a while, and you kind of end up asking yourself why you are going through those levels that basically always end up with the same outcome.”
    • “Early game feels tedious and monotonous.”
  • optimization5 mentions

    The optimization of Dream Cycle is highly inconsistent, with some players experiencing severe performance issues even on high-end systems, while others report smooth gameplay and stable frame rates on older hardware. Overall, the game appears to suffer from significant optimization problems that can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences.

    • “Performance is smooth, frame rates perfect.”
    • “I haven't had the crashes some folks are having, and in general the performance is great on my aging 1070.”
    • “Dream Cycle is a low-budget rogue-lite experience with frustrating gameplay and poor optimization.”
    • “My PC was crying; it's a very unoptimized game.”
    • “Performance is abysmal. I had to lower everything to medium to achieve a playable framerate on an i7, RTX 2060, and (I kid you not) 64GB RAM.”
  • humor2 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by the absurdity of using weapons, like an SMG, against skeleton warriors, which players find amusing. Additionally, the inclusion of a "kick button" adds to the comedic experience, reminiscent of other games but with a more explosive twist. Overall, the humor is characterized by its dark and playful elements.

    • “But you can also find stuff like military bunkers, in which I found an SMG that I've been using (which, let me tell you, using a gun to mow down skeleton warriors is hilarious).”
    • “That and it has a very good kick button, very Dark Messiah but with a bit more explosive force behind it, and always very funny :)”
  • monetization1 mentions

    The monetization of the game is criticized as exploitative, with users noting that it appears to be a cash grab by the developers, who have since abandoned the project.

    • “This game has been abandoned by the developers, who only created it as a cash grab.”
    • “The monetization strategy is overly aggressive, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending money.”
    • “I feel like the game is designed to push players into making purchases rather than providing a fair experience.”
  • replayability1 mentions

    The game offers endless replayability, primarily dependent on the player's enjoyment of the gameplay loop.

    • “Endless replayability, as long as you enjoy the gameplay loop.”
    • “Each playthrough offers new challenges and experiences, keeping the game fresh.”
    • “The variety of choices and outcomes makes you want to dive back in for more.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

3hMedian play time
8hAverage play time
1-17hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 5 analyzed playthroughs

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