The Last Dream: Developer’s Edition

Developer: Specialbit Studio | Publisher: Specialbit Studio | Release Date: 2015 | Genre: Adventure / Casual / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

The Last Dream Developer’s Edition

When Ben tragically loses his wife, Elizabeth, in a car crash he finds himself constantly dreaming about her. In his dreams Elizabeth calls to him, but one day remnants of his dream bleeds over into reality. Ben realizes that there might be more to his dreams than simply longing for his departed wife and sets out on a mission to find her. What follows is a surreal adventure where dreams and reality mix, forcing Ben to outwit the mysterious forces that is trying to prevent him from meeting up with his wife.

The Last Dream is a casual adventure game that involves plenty of pointing and clicking. Playing as Ben, players must solve 19 mini-games as well as ten fragmented object scenes to uncover the truth. Although it is a casual title some of the puzzles are real head-scratchers, but the handy hint system always ensures that players stay on the right path. On the easier settings a skip button can be used to bypass the mini-games, but solving them is obviously more satisfying. Experienced players who prefer a bigger challenge and less hand holding can always opt for one of the higher difficulty settings.

The adventure begins in an abandoned amusement park, but the dreamlike nature of the game allows for plenty of other surreal locations. In each location Ben finds himself always within reach of his wife’s ghostly apparition, but strange barriers constantly block his way. Players must then scour the environments for useful objects, while completing the mini-games and fragmented object scenes they discover along the way. Most of the mini-games are puzzles we have seen before in some form or other, but the fragmented object scenes are well done. Instead of having to hunt down a checklist of obscure and unrelated items players must find the components of specific objects. Each completed object serves a purpose on the scene and all of them contribute to uncovering some critical item needed to continue the adventure.

Players are not alone on their adventure either, but is joined early on by a fluffy feline companion. The cat can be commanded to interact with certain objects on the screen in order to complete actions that are not possible by the player. This is a nice touch and used is sparingly throughout the game, so it never becomes annoying. The cat permanently resides on a red velvet cushion to the left of the inventory and leaps off into the scene when commanded. The effect looks great and the overall animation of the cat is of a very high quality. The attention to detail is so good that the cat even dons a snorkel and diving mask for an underwater scene!

Sometimes inventory objects must be combined to solve certain puzzles, but these are always clearly marked by a “+” sign, which is a big time saver. The Last Dream typically confines players to a few locations at a time, which means there isn’t much backtracking. This also means that the game is rather short, but makes up for that with a bonus chapter that can be played after the completion of the main story. Players can also unlock extras like concept art along the way and hunt for bonus items such as toys for the cat companion and Polaroid photographs of Elizabeth. The game auto saves, so be sure to check each scene thoroughly before leaving as there is no turning back for the bonus items.

The visuals in The Last Dream are quite polished and each scene is brimming with detail. Thanks to the surreal nature of the game you are never quite sure what to expect next, which prevents the game from becoming predictable. The story is something that we have seen told many times before, but is engaging enough to motivate players to stick with it to the end. Speaking of the story, The Last Dream foregoes the usual hand-drawn or rendered cut-scenes to further the plot and instead makes use of live action cut-scenes. These scenes are restricted to the “real world” and were obviously shot on a shoestring budget, but are effective enough at conveying the story. Ben also narrates his adventure as he goes along and while the voice acting is not stellar it is decent enough for a casual game. The music is also very fitting and there is an abundance of sound effects.

The casual genre and hidden object games in particular have a fascination with tales that involve the supernatural, but The Last Dream feels like it has more in common with the point & click adventures of old. The story might not be very original, but it has a satisfying conclusion and the bonus chapter fits in well without feeling like it was tacked on as an afterthought. This Steam version of the game also comes with support for trading cards and achievements.

For a casual title with varied and creative environments as well as great puzzles and an interesting story don’t miss out on The Last Dream. The game is cheap enough to make it an impulse purchase, but players who want to test the water first can download the demo from Steam.