Dreamkiller? The only thing it's killing is my faith in humanity.
Rarely does a game have absolutely no redeeming features. In most cases, an endearing feature shines in even the worst of situations. This cannot be said when it comes to Mindware Studio's 2009 release, Dreamkiller. A shameful mess at the best of times, it comes off as little more than a fan mod made out of a skeleton of a much more competent game.
The actual premise of Dreamkiller is the only thing that sticks out as a good idea. You're a psychologist who has the ability to delve deep into the fears and anxiety of your patients by inhabiting their dreams and thoughts. It is your job to rid their mind of their distresses by eliminating enemies that represent their nightmares. Where the game falls apart is when you actually have to, you know, play it. It is little more than one small corridor leading to another big empty room where enemies appear out of thin air. You run around the room for what seems like an eternity, killing mindless AI until there aren't anymore. A door will open which leads to another small hallway, which leads to another large empty room. Rinse and repeat. It's shocking how little they were concerned about mixing up the pace. At some point you will make it to a boss area, where patience will be pushed further where the objectives turn confusing and baffling.
The game just flat out doesn't make sense at parts. All of the dreams you go in to share most of the same types of enemies, giving the game an incredibly lazy feel to it. Why is everyone afraid of spiders? Is it because the developers didn't feel like making more models? More than likely. When you're not fighting spiders and demons, some of the other enemies are really hard to discern; they just look like a jumbled mess of bad ideas.
You're given a few weapons to use, but the only one worth noting is the shotgun. It negates every other ranged weapon and you'll find yourself using it almost exclusively. Some of your magical powers don't even seem to do damage to the enemies, and for them to even connect you need to be within their (the enemy's) melee range. This means more often than not you will take pointless damage, which is a concern considering your health bar is quite small. It's best to stick with the shotgun.
In terms of the technical aspects, the game is locked at 40 frames per second, which, for a PC developed game, is quite a frustrating thing. Not only do the guns have no force behind them, but rough visuals and bad level design make the game an all around chore to play.
You couldn't drown in a bowl of this game because of how shallow it is. Dreamkiller is an extreme exercise in patience, and I can't believe I actually played the whole thing. It’s frighteningly boring and it drags more than any game I have ever played. Dreamkiller? The only thing it's killing is my faith in humanity. How could someone release this game and charge money for it knowing how awful it is? It plays more like a college project than an actual retail game.
