Dreamview Weekly Roundup #61

Rain pours relentlessly outside an extravagant window, smooth jazz tormenting us from the gramophone we inexplicably own. We recently received intel that it’s now up to five creations missing with no explanation. For over a year, we’ve been pursuing a malevolent entity, one who captures creations only to study and write words about them. There’s even rumblings they steal their faces, plastering them across their lair as something called a ‘screenshot’. Sounds a little pretentious if you ask us. Either way, we’re at a loss, struggling to find a connection between these cases. Five creations plucked by an all-powerful being, rounded up if you will, always on a Friday too. Before we can understand how you’ve intercepted our internal monologue, it dawns on us. This isn’t random, these are premeditated acts. We take a glance at our calendar in horror. These roundups…they’re weekly.

Il Était Une Fois…#

by InfiniDreams, Elfiooh and ChevalierBore

Estimated playtime: 5 mins

Dynamic French collective InfiniDreams are behind this spellbinding adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, assembled with a collaborative twist. Helmed by ChevalierBore and Elfiooh, this new animation actually forms the template of their latest Speed Create challenge, in which they ask participants to sculpt over a template in only an hour. If that alone didn’t get your palms sweating, the contributors had no inkling what anyone else was crafting, let alone that they were actually designing assets for a short film. Once all these moving parts are brought together, we’re left with one of the most exciting filmmaking manifestos this side of Dogme 95. The final result is a gorgeous series of dioramas so aesthetically cohesive and delightful, we’d think you were fibbing if you told us how it was made.

Mr. Cloud came#

by guttoday

Estimated playtime: Replayable

Ever feel like a cloud is constantly hanging over your head? Don’t mind them - they’re simply racking up a high score by assimilating your body into an all-consuming tornado. See, it’s nothing personal, just business! Mr. Cloud came is a whirlwind of delightful and deeply cursed energies; its title alone interchangeable for either a nursery rhyme or a lost Shirley Jackson short story. Bursting into a grocery store like a literal hurricane, Mr. Cloud’s job is to gather up as many items as possible, depositing them outside to ac-cumulu-ate points (cloud puns are hard, sorry). Common theft or Mother Nature? We’ll leave that quandary up to you, but safe to say that morals aside, guttoday’s suction gameplay creates absurd spectacles capable of rivalling Katamari Damacy and then some. Let’s hope Mr. Cloud doesn’t come knocking on your door.

CITI CRIMMINS ‑ BULLHAUNT: THE HEAD OF THE SNAKE#

by The_GKP_Channel

Estimated playtime: 10 mins

As animators worldwide gather for the Annecy Film Festival this week, it’s never been a better time to spotlight a ground-breaking new voice from the Dreamiverse. This debut episode of noir series CITI CRIMMINS oozes with graphic novel flair. Characters move in stop-motion staccato recalling Into the Spider-Verse, whilst the shot composition and high contrast evokes Frank Miller’s gritty comic panels. Narratively, it is a little obtuse, perhaps affected by the lack of subtitles. Yet the strength of the visual direction clues us into the nefarious situation our protagonist has become embroiled in. That’s code for kidnappings, brawls and some eye-popping muzzle flash. We’re already eagerly awaiting future episodes from rising star The_GKP_Channel, if only to learn what on earth a ‘Crimmins’ is.

EMP1RE // 4LBUM#

by CEntertain_PS

Estimated playtime: 35 mins

We always welcome creators dipping their toes into new disciplines. Flexing skillsets across uncharted territories typically leads to wild innovations: ergo, more creations for us to wax lyrical about. A follow-up project to their fantastic first-person puzzler Into Light, CEntertain_PS has crafted a concept album, converting their singular art direction into sonic thrills. Each of the eleven tracks is accompanied by a narrative snippet, filling out a tale of a fugitive on the run from a shadowy group known only as The Clan. The album’s lead single Street Fight is a one-two punch of grimy bass synths and sharp distortion, making excellent use of the new downsampler slider. Dying leans harder into its meticulously constructed world; a crescendo of piano arpeggios underpins narration from none other than KeldBjones that’s reminiscent of a Star Wars opening crawl. Claiming influences such as OVERWERK and REZZ, their dark sci-fi atmosphere and pristine production is echoed strongly throughout. Much like its creator, this album is full of surprises.

4LIVE#

by Dungo42

Estimated playtime: 30 mins

Farming games have been cosy for long enough. In this inspired entry to the latest Green Game Jam, Dungo42 transforms our quaint greenhouse into a site of terror, ridden with demonic creatures and (shivers) cryptic puzzles. Quite the vibe switch from zen simulations then. Flinging us into a near-future on the brink of catastrophic pollution, our player character is sent into the aforementioned greenhouse, seemingly abandoned after an experiment derails into disaster (familiar territory for us at Impsider Labs). Fans of Frictional’s horror titles or SCP creepypastas will be right at home: enigmatic text logs provide clues in piecing together the truth whilst a clever mechanic keeps the inevitable creature pursuits suspenseful. We dare not spoil the surprise; you’ll just have to keep your eyes peeled.

Check out the playable edition of this week's Dreamview Weekly Roundup right here in Dreams!

Which creations caught your eye in the Dreamiverse this week, and why? Tell us about your personal picks over on the official Dreams forums!(새 탭에서 열기)