The Dream Machine is an odd game to play in 2021. So many of its ideas have been expanded upon since its inception almost a decade ago, in other games including favorites like Psychonauts 2, To the Moon, and AI: The Somnium Files, to name a few. But while the general premise seems to tread familiar ground, Victor Neff and the tragic stories of the house terrorized by a sentient dream machine capture a unique energy when combined with the unsettling art style and animation.

First and foremost, this game is a psychological thriller mixed with a point-and-click adventure game. While much of the game is running around and collecting items to use on other items found in the world, the actual act of playing the game is always built on tension and fear, questioning the player on if they are making the right decision. Many of the characters you meet on the journeys through the dreamscape are tortured, grieving, and solemn, and Victor only serves as another source of pain for many of these people to achieve his own goal of ending his family's suffering. This cyclical nature of sadness permeates much of the narrative elements of the Dream Machine, making it a much more serious effort than many in its genre. That said, many of the puzzles and solutions were fun to figure out and there were not many combinations of answers that I would deem unfair or jumping the shark with its logic, even in regards to events happening within a dream, which is an achievement.

Speaking of achievements, the game's presentation is a marvel. The crude character models and DIY environments are full of detail and care, and there are so many more locations and objects than I expected for a game on this scale. Some of the set pieces are brilliant, and it serves the game well to constantly have something new to look at, while having instantly recognizable locations to return to by the same token. The music also deserves a special shoutout, only aiding to the dread captured by every moment of the machine's fleeting existence.

The game's chapter-based structure makes it easier to digest. Playing in sections felt natural, and most of the chapters fell between an hour or so in length, making it a great game to pick up and play. The fifth chapter is the longest by a stretch, but it is easily tackled at once or in pieces due to generous autosaves and multiple available save slots. However, the game runs poorly in general. Even on my moderate PC rig, the game struggles to stay consistent in framerate and the game's text and animations slow significantly after a longer play session. It seems like the engine has not been optimized for modern hardware, which is a shame because some of the game's areas suffer needlessly as a result.

Technical issues aside, The Dream Machine is a disturbing, but ultimately pensive lens into the world of dreams, fatherhood, and redemption and while it may not be for even some niche audiences, it's worth giving the first few chapters a fair shake to see where it lands for you.

It's been a long time since I've played a game this crushingly bleak and abjectly horrifying. Even longer since an experience where that bleakness is contrasted with just enough hope and ambiguity made traversing the world not feel pointless, despite how many times you may question yourself during the journey. Soma is about existential trauma and horror, about what it means to exist and how easy it is to other those who don't conform, about how we can conceive of continuing on when all seems lost. It explores these ideas with a philosophical confidence that I wish more games had the conviction to explore. A masterpiece.