Dreamview Weekly Roundup #51

Can you hear the anticipation brewing in the air? Even Cuthbert has stopped dancing in the lobby to take a listen. Finally, the wait is over. Another Weekly Roundup has arrived on your screens! Oh, hold on. Silly us, there’s also that tiny matter of the 3rd Annual Impy Awards streaming on Sunday. Golden statues shining and stage lights dazzling, it’s an event that promises to be almost as exciting as reading about five standout creations in the Dreamiverse.

Whilst there’s plenty of time this weekend to celebrate our incredible nominees, we’re dedicating this edition to some honorable mentions equally deserving of Dreamer love. In that spirit, we’ve put together an in-game collection of these hidden gems and picked five entries yet to have an Impsider feature – but do check out the full selection for a perfect pre-show party treat. Happy Impys!

Redemption#

by JoeRyanTN

If Redemption’s monochromatic dungeons aren’t the first thing to catch your eye, that’ll only be because their affections have already been claimed by its striking protagonist. Infected by a strange affliction, our hero sports an arachnidian eyepatch and a parasitic limb capable of morphing into weapons and projectiles. Redemption’s fantasy is dark in manners stretching beyond its tone; JoeRyanTN’s adventure is captivated by shadows. Healing drains light out of special totems whilst inky beasts skulk around gothic arenas like the tendrils clawing across your character’s head. The worldbuilding is sparse but effective – clues for bosses are etched into abandoned stone tablets, exposition is communicated through illustrations and our hero never utters a word. However, these morsels of knowledge are enticing enough to fuel that compulsion driving us to persist against its excellent boss fights. Adventures wouldn’t be this exciting with all the answers, surely?

Verse#

by Tricobalt

For music video maestro Tricobalt, a sound is worth a thousand words. Look no further than their spectacular compendium Verse – a portfolio of animations comprising their ambitious shared universe. From the seed of a community track, recognisable melodies are remixed into blueprints for grandiose space operas or heartfelt machine soliloquies; it’s a process of reinterpretation that is quintessentially Dreams. We could wax lyrical about any one of these videos – suffice to say, they’re all essential viewing – but Verse’s presentation deserves special mention for how eloquently it celebrates Tricobalt’s achievements. Songs are arranged chronologically into distinct narrative albums resembling story arcs in a long-running serialised drama. Character models and loglines for each video expand its scale further, leaving us pining one day for a physical Verse boxset we can proudly display on our shelves.

Circular Reasoning#

by Nicco555 and Computer_Cat

Both your mind and virtual body will be going round in circles after setting foot in this ingenious first-person puzzler. Development duo Nicco555 and Computer_Cat (nominated in the Contribution Beyond Dreams category!) are clearly inspired by indie darlings The Witness and The Talos Principle, adeptly translating not just aesthetics but their ability to surprise with infectiously clever design. Circular Reasoning’s setting is a microcosmic puzzle playground whose depth lies in its dimensions, both in space and eventually time. Mazes sketched into walls or towering pillars buried underground quietly hint at unspoken ancient mysteries. Reaching the solutions remains satisfying, yet it is the initial act of discovering the puzzles themselves that leaves the strongest impression. Prepare to have craniums scratched and jaws dropped.

Time#

by markjkirkham

Awards season tradition mandates that at least one submission must turn every audience member into a sobbing wreck. Not one to tear a temporal hole through the awards timeline, let us point towards markjkirkham’s poignant short Time as a landmark for Dreamiverse tearjerkers. After uncovering a time machine in his attic, our protagonist is dismayed to find that – like a disposable camera or a belaboured pun – it is single-use. We won’t disclose his use for the device but with a runtime of only 2 minutes and 18 seconds, it sent us spiraling into tears faster than serving up an onion stew.

Jungle Bill 2#

by NibblersBox

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? You got it on the second guess. Well done, you clever clogs. Returning for some biplane and bipedal action (that’s fancy code for ‘platforming’), Jungle Bill’s sequel is a triumphant sophomore adventure from creator NibblersBox. Confidently kicking off proceedings with an inventive level set inside Jungle Bill 2’s own logo, the environments only escalate the deeper into the greenery you traverse. Peppered with delightful easter eggs – stay on the lookout for a colossal Impy monument – these worlds are meticulously crafted and fully explorable in VR. The jungle dwarfs Bill at every step: collapsed trees, towering statues and ferocious beasts all contribute to Bill controlling more like an action figure in a toybox than a human in the wilderness. Childlike imagination courses through this adventure and with more levels still to come, we can’t wait to journey further than ever before.

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