Dreamcore

by Quinn Levandoski
reviewed on PC
Playing in Liminal Space
The exact definition of a "liminal space" is a bit hard to pin down, but this strange, fascinating niche of interest is the entire concept of Dreamcore. In its purest form, liminal spaces are places of transition, whether they be doorways, streets, airport terminals, or something else. However, dive deep into an online liminal space community - like the Reddit page that boasts almost a million followers - and it quickly becomes apparent that there's more to the phenomenon than the dictionary definition.
The idea of liminal spaces has evolved to encompass a very, very specific niche of uneasiness brought upon by the strange feeling of a usually busy place devoid of presence or activity. It's the odd feeling of walking through an empty school after hours. The subtle creepiness of a shut-down hotel with no guests or staff. The strange feeling one might get deep in one's gut being in a completely empty mall or train station. There's nothing inherently horrifying about these places, but they also simply don't feel right.
The Purgatory of Everyday Places
Dreamcore takes two such locations and exaggerates them a bit, adding a healthy dose of abstractness and scale to otherwise ordinary places and asking players to, more or less, take in the vibes. On release, the game only has two locations (though more have been promised for future inclusion). They're both quite large, but an environment count of two does feel like too small of a number for a full release, and I think Dreamcore may have been better served to wait for more content to be complete before launching.
The first environment is a massive labyrinth of rooms and hallways inspired by old hotel pools. Areas are covered from floor to ceiling in off-white tiles, and each room is ornamented with trappings of water or vague coherent bits of slightly dilapidated lobbies and guest hallways. The second opens things up to a seemingly endless suburban landscape filled with same-looking houses and hills devoid of any actual life. Moreover, the entire game has a retro filter over the visuals that gives the appearance of a 1980's-era found footage film. It's very effective, and some of the rooms and spaces look quite real with the distortion.
Both of these make complete sense as liminal space-inspired areas to explore, and they generally do a great job of hitting that fine line between unnerving and actually scary. As the game's Steam page says up front, there aren't any monsters or jump scares to be found. In fact, the game really isn't a horror game at all. Spooky? For sure. But it isn't trying to make players jump out of their seats.
Disappointing Gameplay
While I'm impressed with Dreamcore's visual design, it doesn't quite come together as a fully compelling game. I sympathize with the predicament that it's in; when the goal is an aura of uneasy stillness, it's undoubtedly challenging to add in gameplay elements without ruining the vibe. As such, the gameplay and objectives in Dreamcore are pretty simple - navigate the labyrinth of rooms until the exit is found. Both do include some very, very light puzzle work, but a very large portion of the game is simply wandering around the maze until an item or door is found. For some people, that's going to be just fine - it is indeed interesting to simply exist in these space. For others, not so much - the "puzzles" are more vague hints than anything, and there's much more luck that goes into finding out where to go than skill or logic.
In fact, at first, I wasn't aware there even were puzzles. A note at the beginning of the game tells players to pay extremely close attention to every detail, yet I found myself fairly mindlessly wandering around hundreds of rooms until I came to a midpoint, then wandering around again until the end. I was sent a guide by the developers in case I got stuck, which I didn't open until after exiting, and only then did I see that some environmental clues exist. I'd only noticed one during my time, and even now, knowing what they are, I don't think the game frames them in a way that's actually helpful.
So, Dreamcore exists in an awkward spot. As an artistic interpretation of abstract liminal spaces, it succeeds without question. The environments are huge and detailed and contain some genuinely emotive design elements that pair well with the visual filters. However, as a game, it leaves a lot to be desired, and there just isn't a terribly high amount of content right now. Dreamcore is a fine title to pick up for those happy to treat it as a walking simulator and enjoy the artistry of its design, but those looking for more satisfying puzzles or specific direction will likely want to look elsewhere.
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6.5
fun score
Pros
Both environments have excellent visual design.
Cons
Too little content, puzzles and gameplay feel under-designed