Dreamview Weekly Roundup #28

Oh, hello! Do close the door behind you, it’s getting dreadfully chilly out. You’re looking for the Dreamview Weekly Roundup? Ah, wonderful - you’re in the right place. The shelves here are heaving with recommendations and writeups.

We do have something special in the stockroom, however: a curious jewel. It glitters strangely - seemingly whenever it senses uncertain thoughts, weak minds... Well, that, or it reacts to anyone who’s eaten a prawn sandwich in the last half-hour. There are a few variables in play, we’re trying to narrow them down.

What’s that? You’re actually here to grab five suggestions for interesting things to check out in Dreams this weekend? Oh. No interest in the self-doubt-prawn-stone thing? Well, alright. We were rather hoping someone might take it off our hands - it’s very unnerving to eat lunch around. Browse the paragraphs at your leisure, then. We’ll be over here at the counter should you need anything.

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Imagination VR: Dinosaurs! - PS5

by LifeAsNeil

At least three times a week, against our better judgement, we wish that dinosaurs were still a thing. Fortunately for our fragile assemblage of human flesh, LifeAsNeil has created a virtual-reality dinosaur safari that’s a wonder to behold - and perfectly safe. Put on your headset, jump into the jeep, and you’ll be automatically toured through an expansive park where fancy lizards roam free, passing by close enough to reach out and touch. Interactions are minimal, but thoughtfully implemented to aid immersion (the ability to turn on your windscreen wipers when driving through rain is one example), and setpieces - such as when you’re caught up in a stampede - are stunning. Most delightful of all is the overarching conceit: that you’re a child in your room, closing your eyes and imagining that your box of toy dinosaurs are actually alive and real. Thanks to the addition of VR, this is surely the next best thing.

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Crosstown Express#

by SZ73

SZ73’s mastery of rendering tech-noir spaces only deepens. A story location from their upcoming adventure SOLID STATE: The Sleeping City, this subterranean train station swims with the shadows of commuters, faces illuminated blue by phones and fluorescent lighting. Bright eyes peer out from within a deep tunnel - the headlights of a front carriage, searching through the mist. It’s an astonishing piece of world-building, the type of detailed concept art you might expect to see from an established game development studio - we are fascinated to see how the final game will incorporate this. One to watch.

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Yesterday [Demo]#

by MAD_qxXp

Another videogame, another trip to hell. Honestly, you can’t go for a quiet walk down a virtual road without getting dragged to the underworld - as the opening of cartoony bullet-hell romp Yesterday proves. Inky paint strokes hug the edges of marauding skulls and one-eyed demons, affording a gorgeous cel-shaded look to proceedings. With the help of a wise-cracking Necronomicon, our hero is able to slash, blast and dash his way through this tutorial level before reaching a humongous boss. There are a few things that could be tightened up - the melee attack is a little loose, and the control scheme could be altered to make moving while shooting a smoother affair. Otherwise, this snappy, stylish portrayal of one of videogames’ most iconic locales that has us itching for the full version. We might start taking more walks.

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Tiny Action Tanks!#

by Prinz_Lazer

That exclamation mark in the title is no joke. Since the earlier days of the Internet, tank games have been a source of both chaos and delight: Prinz_Lazer’s take is no different, setting you and your friendly blue robo-buddies up against a bolshy AI red team and letting you swerve around, cannons swinging, looking to maintain possession of a single precious box in a Capture The Flag-style mode. The art style is classic and clean, the explosions gratifying, and the controls responsive - this could become a perennial favourite with the ongoing addition of a few new maps and modes.

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DreamSea Islands CoMmunity Event#

by The_Tenia and FluffynSassy

What happens when you combine the island-hopping fun of Wind Waker with the spirit of the Dreams coMmunity? DreamSea Islands seeks to discover just that, a challenge that offers creators a template to design their very own isle to be added to an endless explorable archipelago. The proof of concept creation in this collection demonstrates how it will work: you’ll be given control of a small boat to putter around the ocean in a top-down view. Pulling up to an island’s dock will offer information about the island, before letting you walk ashore in third-person view to discover its secrets. It’s a brilliant idea for an interactive showcase - and if collaborators The_Tenia and FluffynSassy take a cue from cutaia’s recent Unexciting Asset Jams and add in some gameplay as an incentive to thoroughly explore, we’ll doubtless be sailing these seas for some time.

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Want an easy way to view all of these creations in one convenient collection? Check out the playable version of this week’s Dreamview Weekly Roundup right here in Dreams!