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Dreaming Sarah

Dreaming Sarah’s surreal world is fun to explore, all wrapped in great pixel art and an excellent soundtrack. There’s plenty of variety and puzzles to solve. Despite its short length, it’s worth checking out if you’re after something different yet memorable in the genre.
Dreaming Sarah Game Cover
83%Game Brain Score
music, story
replayability, stability
88% User Score Based on 1,006 reviews
Critic Score 70%Based on 3 reviews

Platforms

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Dreaming Sarah Game Cover

About

Dreaming Sarah is a single player casual platformer game with horror and fantasy themes. It was developed by Asteristic Game Studio and was released on March 12, 2015. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

Dreaming Sarah is an adventure game where you explore the dream world of a young girl named Sarah, who is in a deep coma. Collect items and abilities as you solve puzzles, interact with people and objects to try to wake up.

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Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
Dreaming Sarah screenshot
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88%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,006 reviews
music205 positive mentions
stability11 negative mentions
  • Strong, dreamlike atmosphere with surreal and varied environments that effectively capture the feeling of exploring a coma-induced dream world.
  • Beautiful pixel art and animation with charming, quirky characters and imaginative level design.
  • Excellent, evocative soundtrack by Anthony Septim that enhances the mood and is included for free with the game.
  • Simple, intuitive controls and platforming gameplay with enjoyable and cleverly designed puzzles and items that enable exploration.
  • Short and sweet experience that can be completed in 2-3 hours, making it suitable for players seeking a brief but memorable narrative-driven adventure.
  • Exploration-driven gameplay with nonlinear progression that encourages curiosity and discovery, rewarding players who pay close attention to details.
  • Very short length with limited replayability; some players feel the content is insufficient for the asking price, recommending purchase primarily when on sale.
  • Lack of clear direction or guidance can lead to player confusion, aimless wandering, and frustration, especially in later stages with complex item interactions.
  • Some puzzles and progression triggers are unintuitive or cryptic, sometimes requiring external guides to solve.
  • Platforming controls and jumping physics can feel stiff or unrefined, occasionally leading to player errors and mild annoyance.
  • Bugs and technical issues reported, including occasional game freezing, control locking, and overlapping music tracks.
  • Story and narrative are very vague and heavily symbolic, which may leave some players unsatisfied or disconnected from the plot and characters.
  • music
    334 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in "Dreaming Sarah" is widely praised for its beautiful, ambient, and evocative quality that perfectly complements the game's surreal and dreamlike atmosphere. Many reviewers highlight the soundtrack as a standout feature, often describing it as calming, haunting, and emotionally resonant, with some noting its stylistic similarity to iconic composers like Akira Yamaoka. Although a few minor technical issues with music playback were mentioned, the soundtrack is generally considered a major asset that enhances immersion and is even provided for free with the game.

    • “Dreaming Sarah nails the dreamlike atmosphere with beautiful pixel art and a genuinely great soundtrack that comes free with the game.”
    • “The soundtrack, composed by Anthony Septim, is equally evocative—soft, ambient, and occasionally unsettling.”
    • “Dreaming Sarah’s surreal world is fun to explore, all wrapped in great pixel art and an excellent soundtrack.”
    • “Though music tracks started playing on top of each other halfway through, and this persisted until the end, which was a bummer.”
    • “Sound settings don't save properly either and while there is a music volume option you cannot actually turn off the music completely.”
    • “Literally in my final stretch and the game started glitching and playing two different music tracks at the same time.”
  • story
    285 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in "Dreaming Sarah" is largely abstract and delivered through fragmented imagery, environmental cues, and minimal dialogue, encouraging players to piece together meaning and interpret it personally. While some find the narrative intriguing, atmospheric, and emotionally resonant, others criticize its vagueness, simplicity, and lack of direct engagement or character depth. Overall, it offers a brief, surreal exploration of dreams and coma, appreciated more for its mood and subtle hints than for a clear or compelling plot.

    • “The story is never explicitly told, instead unfolding through fragmented imagery, vague dialogue, and the emotional weight of its environments.”
    • “This deliberate ambiguity is what defines the game—it isn’t about clear objectives or linear storytelling but about immersion in the fragile, often disorienting logic of dreams.”
    • “This narrative ambiguity invites introspection and resists reductionist interpretation, elevating the game from mere storytelling to an exercise in psychological exploration.”
    • “The story is impossible to grasp and the actual content is difficult to understand, leaving you confused multiple times.”
    • “"Story" is really bad - it consists of random phrases and heavily veiled symbolism, likely referencing some real-life event related to one of the developers.”
    • “The concept is very promising, as it could easily lend itself to surreal and psychological storytelling, and the game does well at capturing a dreamlike atmosphere, but unfortunately it ends up going nowhere.”
  • graphics
    166 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Dreaming Sarah features a simple yet charming pixel art style that effectively conveys a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere reminiscent of Yume Nikki. While the graphics are not highly detailed or advanced, many players find them evocative, colorful, and fitting to the game’s themes, although some report occasional graphical bugs and basic visuals. Overall, the visuals work well with the haunting and poetic tone, enhancing immersion despite their simplicity.

    • “The pixel art visuals are simple yet hauntingly beautiful, conjuring environments that seem to exist halfway between the familiar and the impossible.”
    • “The pixel art style, deceptively simple at first glance, is deeply expressive, using color theory and design motifs to render an ever-shifting psychological environment.”
    • “The handcrafted art style brings the dream world to life, with vibrant colors and imaginative landscapes.”
    • “Awful pixel graphics made worse by surrealist filters.”
    • “The visuals are mediocre at best.”
    • “This is a boring game with unresponsive controls and bland graphics.”
  • gameplay
    164 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Dreaming Sarah offers simple, exploration-driven gameplay with platforming and light puzzle-solving mechanics reminiscent of games like Yume Nikki. While praised for its atmospheric and immersive experience, the gameplay is often described as limited in depth, repetitive, and short, with many mechanics used minimally or only once. Overall, the gameplay complements the game's mood and story subtly but may not satisfy players seeking complex or action-heavy mechanics.

    • “Mechanically, Dreaming Sarah blends platforming with exploration and light puzzle-solving.”
    • “From a mechanical standpoint, Dreaming Sarah forgoes traditional combat in favor of puzzle-solving, exploration, and subtle item-based progression, echoing the structure of classic adventure games while introducing modern design restraint.”
    • “There’s a gentle rhythm to the gameplay—wandering, observing, collecting, and revisiting old areas with new tools in hand.”
    • “90% of the mechanics are used once - and some don’t even have a gameplay impact.”
    • “The gameplay has nothing interesting to offer, and the story is non-existent.”
    • “The combination of metroidvania gameplay and dream-like inconsistency of environment leads to a very frustrating experience of feeling very lost very quickly.”
  • atmosphere
    125 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Dreaming Sarah is widely praised for its rich, surreal, and dreamlike atmosphere, brought to life by beautiful pixel art and an exceptional, immersive soundtrack. Despite its short length and simple gameplay, the game captivates players with a calming yet eerily haunting ambiance that evokes deep emotional and interpretive experiences, often likened to titles like Yume Nikki. The atmosphere is considered the game's strongest asset, making it a memorable exploration platformer that excels in subtle storytelling through mood and art direction.

    • “Dreaming Sarah is a short but charming surreal platformer that nails the dreamlike atmosphere with beautiful pixel art and a genuinely great soundtrack that comes free with the game.”
    • “Dreaming Sarah succeeds not by dazzling with complexity, but by reminding players how subtle art direction, atmosphere, and music can conjure entire worlds out of silence and suggestion.”
    • “It’s a small game with big atmosphere, and it embraces its limitations to create something hauntingly memorable.”
    • “The concept is very promising, as it could easily lend itself to surreal and psychological storytelling, and the game does well at capturing a dreamlike atmosphere, but unfortunately it ends up going nowhere.”
    • “Just a tad more narration could have possibly given the atmosphere and progression some purpose, but in the end, it's a rather empty experience.”
    • “The overall atmosphere is pretty thick and dreary.”
  • emotional
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game delivers a deeply emotional experience through its atmospheric storytelling, using fragmented imagery, symbolic encounters, and a haunting soundtrack to evoke feelings of melancholy, introspection, and surreal dreamlike states. While some players find the narrative subtle and evocative, others feel a lack of clear character development limits emotional connection, yet the overall journey remains touching and impactful.

    • “The story is never explicitly told, instead unfolding through fragmented imagery, vague dialogue, and the emotional weight of its environments.”
    • “It layers the game with a sense of melancholy and introspection, perfectly capturing the hazy emotional texture of dreams.”
    • “Rather than relying on explicit exposition, the game communicates its emotional weight through symbolic encounters and surreal environments that reflect Sarah’s internal struggle.”
  • replayability
    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers limited replayability, with only a few hours of playtime and slight variations through multiple endings or missed achievements. While it lacks extensive replay value and is largely linear, it remains a worthwhile and atmospheric experience, especially when purchased on sale. Fans of exploration games may appreciate its uniqueness despite its short and repetitive nature.

    • “There are multiple endings based on the items and actions you find, adding a slight layer of replay value, though the core experience remains largely linear in spirit.”
    • “However the game has some replay value and different possible endings, so what it lacks in mechanics it makes up for in grind material.”
    • “I feel I am uniquely qualified to say Dreaming Sarah is a lot more playable than most Yume Nikki-inspired games, which offer the same style of content only more obtusely.”
    • “At full price, it's a tough sell for something you can finish in 2-3 hours with limited replayability, but on sale, it's an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys atmospheric exploration games.”
    • “You'll only spend a few hours at most and there is zero replayability unless you missed an achievement and really want to get those for some reason.”
    • “Since there's almost no replay value, except for a few secrets to be found.”
  • stability
    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game exhibits frequent bugs and glitches, including controller input issues, graphical hiccups, and occasional freezing that requires restarts. While these bugs can disrupt gameplay, they generally do not cause crashes or render the game unplayable. Overall, stability is a notable concern, though some issues may be more understandable given its alpha status.

    • “It is ok, but it is also sadly quite buggy (I had to restart the game twice in one hour because I simply could not move anymore).”
    • “First off, trying to use an Xbox or Steam controller and get everything mapped correctly was unusually difficult for some reason. It took almost 20 minutes or more since the game kept behaving with weird mutual exclusivity on input devices which interfered with the process of setting things up (felt very buggy, never had such a problem before).”
    • “Going to get the thing that might change out of the way: the game is horribly buggy.”
  • humor
    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is noted for its quirky, sometimes dark and eerie tone, blending childlike charm with disturbing elements. Characters and NPC dialogue provide occasional funny moments, balancing a strange and unsettling atmosphere. Overall, the humor is subtle but adds to the game's unique and intriguing experience.

    • “The NPCs have fairly humorous dialogue, the environment is a hazard rather than enemy AIs (and taking damage is much more forgiving), and everything there is to see in the dream world can be summed up in under two hours.”
    • “The characters aren't too important, but they're still funny sometimes.”
    • “Nice atmosphere, funny moments.”
  • grinding
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is characterized by repetitive backtracking and slow exploration, making the puzzle-solving experience feel tedious and occasionally confusing. While the core gameplay aligns with puzzle platformer expectations, the lack of guidance and need for extensive item searching can become frustrating for some players. However, shortcuts and teleportation items somewhat alleviate the monotony.

    • “I quickly found it tedious and annoying.”
    • “The puzzles themselves are generally simple to solve, but are throttled by tedious back-tracking and slow-paced exploration.”
    • “There are shortcuts revealed throughout, as well as an item that can teleport you back to the start, but even with that, traversing the small map areas becomes tedious.”
  • optimization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game demonstrates strong optimization, featuring smooth performance, polished controls, and a clean interface. Controller support is also well-executed, with intuitive and effective key mapping.

    • “Technically, the game runs smoothly, with polished controls and a clean interface.”
    • “Controller support is well-optimized, with well-thought-out key mapping.”
  • character development
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users find the character development minimal, noting the silent female protagonist and lack of dialogue. The surreal, dreamlike setting partly explains this, but the absence of deeper story or character growth is seen as a drawback.

    • “Given that the game is a dream sequence that could be forgiven; if there were more to the game itself then the lack of story or character development wouldn't be an issue.”
    • “Other than the obvious being that they are both exploration games taking place in a dream world, both have surreal music, at times disturbing art choices in character design, and a female protagonist with no dialogue.”
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70%Critics’ scoreBased on 3 critic reviews
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3h Median play time
3h Average play time
2h Main story
2h Completionist
2-3h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 11 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Dreaming Sarah is a casual platformer game with horror and fantasy themes.

Dreaming Sarah is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and others.

The main story can be completed in around 2 hours, while the entire game is estimated to take about 2 hours to finish. On average players spend around 3 hours playing Dreaming Sarah.

Dreaming Sarah was released on March 12, 2015.

Dreaming Sarah was developed by Asteristic Game Studio.

Dreaming Sarah has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its music but disliked it for its replayability.

Dreaming Sarah is a single player game.

Similar games include Anodyne, AER Memories of Old, Seasons after Fall, Kairo, RiME and others.