Moody action RPG Dreamscaper has just been confirmed for release on August 14th, as a Steam Early Access title, along with a new trailer to show how the game is shaping up. Dreamscaper is carrying on in the rich tradition of media like Midnight Patrol, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Inception, by centering around characters consciously entering a dream world, where anything can happen. The dream world depicted in Dreamscaper has a painterly look to it, and it’s filled with all sorts of hostile otherworldly creatures.
The developer, Afterburn Studios, says:
“Dreamscaper is an ethereal experience that pulls you into a never-ending cycle of dreaming and waking as protagonist Cassidy battles fiendish nightmares in hack ‘n slash gameplay to uncover the mystery surrounding her life. Drawn into Cassidy’s tortured subconscious, where every slumber is a different surreal nightmare with a new ordeal to overcome, you must navigate this ever-changing world and confront unique events and challenges every night. In the dreamscape, anything goes, which gives you a multitude of attack options against Cassidy’s ghastly mental demons, from finger guns and yo-yo’s to rending the earth beneath you or even controlling time itself.”
During the waking daytime phase, you’ll be building relationships with other characters in the game, advancing the story, and upgrading your abilities. During the sleeping nighttime phase, you’ll be battling with the various nightmare beasts that are haunting your dreams, and exploring further into the dreamscape.
This early access release is intended to help generate more detailed feedback to help them tweak the story and gameplay, ahead of the full release next year.
If early access in August isn’t early enough for you, there is also a free prologue chapter already available on Steam, conveniently titled “Dreamscaper Prologue”. They say this contains four to six hours of content and shows you the early stages of both the story and the combat mechanics.
Or if you’re looking for more creative smaller scale games, why not check out our guide to the best indie games.