Game: Dreaming Diorama
Genre: Puzzle
System: Steam (for Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Junk Sphere Games
Controller Support: Full
Price: UK £TBC | US $TBC | EU €TBC
Release Date: October 17th, 2023
Review code provided with many thanks to Keymailer.
Dreaming Diorama is a puzzle game where players build dioramas from pieces that have been turned and twisted out of place. It’s a unique kind of puzzle game, and not at all what I was expecting from the name.
The Colorful Story of Dreaming Diorama
Dreaming Diorama is a colorful puzzle game. To play, you need to interact with a 3D image that has been split into tons of different pieces. Each piece has been rotated, and you have to rotate them back into place to make a picture. Here’s an example of what one of the half-finished puzzles looks like:
The object sits in a 3D space, and you have to rotate around the image to find all the parts that are not in the correct orientation. You build up the puzzle piece by piece and must find the image as you go along. It’s not a complex puzzle game, but it can be relaxing.
The Pros of Dreaming Diorama
It’s an interesting idea. I’ve never played a puzzle game quite like this before. It’s sort of a mix between a 3D puzzle and a Diorama game. It’s colorful, playful, and unique. The first level is a very simple puzzle to get your feet wet. Then, it’s off to the races with progressively more challenging puzzles with larger amounts of items in them.
It takes a little getting used to, but once you figure out what to do, it’s pretty easy to put this little guy together:
The Cons of Dreaming Diorama
Overall, I like Dreaming Diorama, but it does have some oddities that make playing it less fun than it could be. Here’s a list of places where I think the game could be improved:
- The movement around the puzzles is a little bit awkward. There is something weird about using the keyboard and mouse together when the mouse would suffice; clicking and dragging with the left-click, right-click, and mouse wheel (similar to the movement layout of Baldur’s Gate 3) would be highly preferable. There is, thankfully, a speedup function, but it doesn’t quite feel right.
- I do not like the music, and you must hear it a lot. It’s repetitive. The overall sound design of Dreaming Diorama isn’t great.
- The puzzles already have a lot going on in them, so when the puzzles also have a busy background, I find it less relaxing and more frustrating. It’s a little overwhelming to open up the next puzzle and see this mess:
Conclusion
Overall, Dreaming Diorama is fine. The puzzles are interesting and could be relaxing if the business doesn’t bother you like it did me. I like the concept, and I think it runs very smoothly on my PC. Overall, it’s an okay game that just needs a little love.
Final Verdict: I Like it.
