The first iteration of a two-part point and click saga, Bad Dream: Coma by Desert Fox Studio, is a short, nightmarish adventure with a minimalist aesthetic. Released in March 2017, the title that has already made many happy on the Steam platform and then on Switch, will be released on Xbox machines this year. The opportunity for us to come back to this little video game singularity to highlight its strengths and weaknesses.
A still image from the first person’s point of view, two feet sticking out of a bedspread, simple “sweet dreams”, and here we are without further preamble in the dead end of Bad Dream: Coma. In this beautifully sketched world with sepia tones, the unfortunate few who are prisoners cannot find a way to wake up. It is impossible to escape to your death as the reaper is likely to have taken a vacation. Our anonymous hero – whose name we will never know – will then face a series of victims who will be dismembered by hideous imaginary creatures and condemned in an eternal common torment. The goal, as you may have guessed, will be to return to the world of the living in one piece.. A trip where we will have to explore a hospital, forest, cemetery or even a witch’s hut. Places full of any of his little puzzles or requests from crazy characters.
Eternal nightmare
In Bad Dream: Coma you will come across a huge bloodthirsty raven, a teddy bear with a human body, a doctor with only his head and a whole host of other more or less dismembered atrocities. Many of these meetings take place in the hospital, one of the first places visited, which serves as a refuge for eternal sufferers. If the encounters you make during the game are always very entertaining and can provide some explanation for your random state, then unfortunately they are not very talkative. You’ll never really know where that strange masked guide came from, calling you on the edge of town, or why a bloodthirsty butcher has fun slaughtering everyone he meets. If the title doesn’t shine for the depth of its story and the writing of its characters, we’ll learn to be content with its deliciously macabre situations. Note, however, that the narrative will take on more breadth in the latter part of the game as the origin of this world is revealed.
This is how the game manages to compensate for certain deficiencies with its strengths. So when global art seduces with its unique aesthetic, its soundtrack is missing; Too random sound effects and repetitive music spoil the immersion that has already not benefited from a flawless narrative. But the atmosphere, locked and buried at will, is far from unpleasant; and note that since the title is in the point and click genre and does not include the fear of jumping, the cowards should be able to get to the end of their search without worry. Finally, one more notable point, you know that if the game is not doubled it will still enjoy a remarkable French translation.
Of the absurd and the macabre
Mechanical side, the experience is satisfactory. With this particularly accessible point’n click, all you have to do is click on specific objects to pick them up and add them to your inventory. No combinations between multiple elements are required here to form new ones. More often, the challenge will be finding small things hidden in monochrome sets, such as: B. a hidden object game. Sometimes retracing your steps reveals new elements, even new characters. Don’t look boringly back and forth there, this need to revisit the same places is more of a staging benefit. An empty toilet can hold a charming corpse in the next moment.
And then the game will help you not to waste your time: let’s say you take a key out of your pocket to try it on a lock. Well, the object will be crossed out before you even try to introduce it game. These facilities provided to the player are welcome, as the presented puzzles sometimes exceed all rationality. Remember that we are in a dream after all. Hence, you need the slime of a snail to fix the wheel of a car, a patient’s fingers to replace your wheel (formerly slaughtered by a wild animal), or the eye of a fish. Red to replace that of a patient. Other puzzles, more “classic”, will be at the same time, such as the usual blocked doors, the lost items of certain comrades or the recipes of the poison to prepare. Overall, it turns out that the difficulty is relatively balanced.
Bad Dream: Coma offers eight chapters with a total life of around four hours and a beat that never ends. However, if the adventure seems short to you, be aware that it can be appreciated multiple times. The narrative offers a handful of different endings, good or bad. ;; The latter depends on subtle details that you will likely miss out on at first. For example, let’s state that it is sensible not to uselessly beat the crows that pollute the environment. A tip that we should have given each other since the game was launched. Small notable feature: the Status tab entitles you to an overview of your misdeeds and the possible conclusions that are available to you. In our case, it stays bad from start to finish.
The notes
+Good arguments
- A pleasant minimalist aesthetic
- A deliciously morbid universe
- Macabre and well-proportioned puzzles
- A very good rhythm
- Multiple extensions available
– –Negative points
- A narrative that we would like to make more thorough
- Sometimes underused characters
- An often irritating soundtrack
With its universe that is as macabre as it is forbidden, Bad Dream: Coma will entertain terrible point’n-click lovers for a few hours. We will maintain a sketched aesthetic that does not leave indifferent, pathological situations that we never tire of, atypical characters and puzzles that are generally pleasant to navigate. Shame the game didn’t push its storytelling any further, which would have created a memorable experience if it had been more consistent.
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May 16, 2021 at 7:15 p.m.
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