Game: DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
System: Switch (also available for Steam (Windows), Xbox, and PlayStation)
Developer|Publisher: PlaySys
Age Rating: US T | EU 12+
Price: UK £26.99 | US $29.99 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: December 7th, 2023
Review code provided with many thanks to PlaySys.
DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure is an old-school pixel graphics game. It’s an adventure that takes you through a colorful world of childhood, adventure, and friendship.
Off on A Weird Foot
When I originally looked into DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure, I was excited to see a very cute, cartoony-looking game with what looked like simple, 3D art. The developer’s page has some cute screenshots of people running through environments that look like this:
And when I turned on DREAMERS, it looked like this on my Switch:
At first, I thought I must have downloaded the wrong game. But no, the graphics just look completely different on the Switch. That’s not entirely unheard of; the processing power of a Nintendo Switch is just not what it is for most PCs, the PlayStation 4 or 5, and any of the Xboxes. However, I was shocked to see how different it looks. I have this thing with games being ported to the Switch not looking or playing great, but I decided to try to give it a fair shake despite the issues I had.
The second thing I noticed was that DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure cannot be played in TV mode. The game won’t work if you have your Switch docked, so you must play in handheld mode. While I love that my Switch can do both, I prefer to play on my TV when I’m hanging out at home, so I was disappointed that it didn’t give me the option.
But, let’s take a look at the gameplay itself.
The Gameplay and Story of DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure
I didn’t get very far into DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure, even though it totally seems like my type of game. Holding the Switch for long periods hurts my hands, and there were so many long loading screens. However, the gameplay itself was stellar. You start the game as a young kid who lives on an island that’s pretty separate from the rest of the world. One day, you get a surprise invite from your grandmother, whom you have never met, to visit for her birthday. The problem is she didn’t include an address.
So you need to go on an adventure to the mainland to ask around after her. This becomes a much bigger quest that brings you to all sorts of places to confront all sorts of puzzles. Most of the quests are fetch quests, but they are fun, and there is a good hint system in place. DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure takes place from two different perspectives, and I saw that you can also play it two-player with one person taking control of each character.
I Would Play This On PS5
The technical gameplay on the Switch isn’t great. Not only are you stuck in handheld mode, but there seem to be a million loading screens. I have spent a good portion of the first half of the year playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and I know what the Switch can do. TotK is proof that big, shiny games can run perfectly well on this little machine, but only if it is tailored to the Switch.
Switch ports often don’t work out well; for example, I feel that My Time at Portia, Bear and Breakfast, or The Outer Worlds look much better on other consoles than on Switch.
Switch ports don’t work out unless the developers are willing to completely remake a game with the hardware limitations in mind from the beginning. I have a feeling that DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure might just be super fun on the PlayStation 5 or on PC.
Conclusion
DREAMERS: A Nostalgic Adventure seems like a super fun game with a lot of heart, a cute and cozy story, and many puzzles. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play much of this title because of the issues I was having. I would suggest that if you want to play the game, you choose one of the other consoles.
Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure.
