Game Reviews: LSD Dream Emulator

LSD DREAM EMULATOR (Playstation)


Living
Strange
Dreams

This "game" has no playability, no goal, no challenge, no story, no nothing. Yet it is one of the most compelling games I have ever played. Though it is not a horror game, I have found it to be far more shocking and disturbing than any horror game I have played, or any horror film I have watched. You may watch videos of others playing the game - though I wouldn't recommend this, you should know nothing about what's going to happen - but watching another is not the same at all; you will only understand what it's truly like by playing the game for yourself.

The game simulates dreaming, or instead, severely tripping. It is based upon actual dreams recorded in a dream diary over the course of ten years. The game controls consist of merely walking/running and looking up and down. All the player does is wander around within dreams and look at things. The graphics are very simple, but also very effective, as the environments and things encountered within the dreams range from wonderfully beautiful to dreadfully terrifying. This game is all about the atmosphere, and it does it extremely well.

"WHAT THE HELL??!?" Or something similar to this, is what you will most likely say a LOT of the time, especially when you first start playing the game. And that's all I can say about that, because this phrase replaces the powerful bafflement of the thing that can only be described by, "WHAT THE ####??!?"

Sometimes the dreams are trippy videos, or written text (in Japanese), but most of the time the player will take control and be able to explore the dreams. Interacting with any object, even just walking into a wall, will cause the dream to change - sometimes relating to the object, but usually just moving to a random new location. There are several different environments to explore including your home, a village, a city, etc. as well as bizarre fantasy lands. These are connected by a series of passageways, which always take you to the right place, but the entire dream world is VAST.

The dreams are usually quite empty of others, but in many places a variety of people, animals and freaky "things" will be encountered, which may ignore you, or may suddenly attack you. There is also a dark character who will stalk you throughout your dreams, stealing your dream memories if he catches you, and also perhaps unseen things will follow you, waiting to be revealed, or maybe staying hidden - there aren't just scary noises in this game purely to freak you out; it seems that every sound you hear has something causing it.

Like all good atmosphere games, it is the sound that is really effective. There are some freaky noises, but sometimes the music alone will freak you out. There are hundreds of different music tracks, but they are apparently all different interpretations of the same single piece of music. Sometimes there will be no music, and this can be just as freaky. But in addition to the sound, and despite the simplicity of the graphics, the visuals and environments play a large part in making it such an extraordinary experience playing the game. This is stuff right out of your deepest dreams, and as I said, it can be WONDERFULLY AWESOME or it can be EXTREMELY DISTURBING. Sometimes it will seem boring, as you visit the same places again and again, but this just conditions you into expecting nothing, AS USUAL, and then you turn around and suddenly the freakiest thing you can possibly imagine is suddenly right there, which can be extremely shocking.

After it's got you once, the game conditions you into being worried about what's going to happen next, and every little thing can begin to unnerve you. In this game ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING can and DOES happen, which can be quite worrying. You'll be totally freaked out, and need to escape to a new location, then find yourself in the mouth of a tunnel with a warning bell sounding, which fills you with confusion and panic. You turn around and suddenly get hit by a train.

The more you explore the more you will find, and there is so much to find. Though you visit the same environments, they will often change, being covered in writing, sexual images, strange textures, windows becoming horribly warped, etc. Crazy faces will be everywhere. The sky and sun and moon will have various strange appearances. Sometimes there will be an eclipse, or a bizarre reverse eclipse with the moon behind the sun. Even the clouds can be extremely trippy. I just can't describe the (insert word here) of how (insert word here) this game is.

Overall this game is a bizarre, wonderful, scary EXPERIENCE. But beware, in excess it may POSSIBLY cause the same mental problems as excessive drug use.

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