Dreamcore Preview: I’ve Definitely Seen That Pool Before
The concept of liminal spaces goes pretty far back in time, but using liminal spaces for horror games grew in popularity much more recently with games like The Backrooms Dreamcore from Developer Montraluz is my very first foray into this unique horror genre. I expected to be a little freaked out, to encounter maybe a couple of jump scares or, at the very least, some unsettling moments, but all you’ll really find in Dreamcore is empty pools and empty houses.
The current version of Dreamcore includes two levels: Dreampools and Eternal Suburbia. The full version of the game will include more levels that players will be able to grab at no additional cost. The VHS aesthetic was what drew me into Dreamcore right away. You play each level from a first person perspective, but through the eyes of an old camera. You’ll feel a hint of nostalgia when you utilize the camera’s zoom mechanic which you can use at any time as you wander around each level.
Dreampools takes place in a slightly darkened area with a seemingly infinite number of pools in varying shapes and sizes. You never know what the next room will look like. Some rooms are small and others are gigantic. You’ll wander around until you begin to feel like a small mouse in an endless maze looking for cheese. The cheese in this case is a flashlight. At the very beginning of the level you’ll find a room that is much too dark to go inside and that’s how you’ll know that your ultimate goal is to find a light source so that you can progress. You’ll wander through room after room after room until, hopefully, you’re able to grab the flashlight and move on. The ultimate goal is, of course, to escape from the endless maze of pools.
What was the most interesting to me about this level was that I wasn’t really unsettled by anything. I thought that something described as a “psychological horror” would eventually be scary. I thought that maybe there would be a huge build up for a terrifying moment at the end, but it was really just pools. Unless there were big things that I happened to missed which is entirely possible. I only played through each level one time, but in my 40 minute playthrough of Dreampools I wasn’t unsettled at all. And it isn’t that I didn’t find the level entertaining, I actually had a fun time wandering around the pools and it felt good to collect the flashlight and eventually get to the end, it just doesn’t feel like Dreamcore really delivers on what it promises.
The game’s second level, Eternal Suburbia, is very similar. You wake up in a large neighborhood filled with nearly identical looking houses, spaced apart by fences that you’re unable to jump over or move through. Unlike Dreampools, Eternal Suburbia doesn’t make your goal obvious, so I spent a short amount of time just wandering around before realizing what my goal ultimately was. Once you reach the halfway point, you’ll have a bit more direction. This level did manage to make me panic once when it turned from day to night and the radios, that during the day play jaunty upbeat music, turned off completely, but ultimately nothing, like Dreampools, nothing much happens. The houses are all very similar and it can get disorienting traveling through them. You may end up accidentally back tracking and not even realizing so it definitely was a bit more difficult than the first.
The appeal of liminal space video games, I assume, is the anticipation of something that may or may not happen. That’s the part that’s supposed to freak you out the most, the fact that’s you’re alone in a space that is mostly quiet and empty where anything could happen. The thing is, Dreamcore is described as a horror game, so eventually you’d imagine that something would show up in the corner of your eye or there would be sinister music just to elevate the gameplay a little bit more. If Dreamcore were described just as a puzzle walking simulator, it would make a lot more sense, but putting that horror tag on there just made it confusing. It is genuinely challenging, and it does seem like there’s a bit of a story unfolding with each level, but a single eyeball on one wall doesn’t really make it a horror game.
Dreamcore looks incredible and it really feels like you’re walking around with a video camera from the 80’s or 90s. I enjoyed playing both levels and solving their puzzles, but I was mostly disappointed that I didn’t experience any sort of scares or horror. I really like what the Dreamcore team is going for with this one, and I’ll definitely be picking up future episodes to see more from them, but I think they could add a few more subtle scares to make it more accurately a “horror” as it’s described. Otherwise, it’s just an interesting puzzle game with cool mazes to walk around in.
Dreamcore’s first two levels are available right now on Steam with future levels coming soon.
Preview by Becca Smith