Surreal dream therapy clinic sim lets you explore imagination and reality
Solo developer jiangli has announced that the dream therapy clinic sim Chest will be coming to PC (Steam). According to the Steam page, it will be playable in seven languages including English.
Chest is a Myst-like first person 3D walking sim where you play as a person who has a rare illness that has taken away their ability to dream. The player finds themselves surrounded by white-tiled walls in a treatment facility called “Chest”- where they must try to get back their ability to dream.
The facility is filled with sunlight streaming through the windows as well as the bright fluorescent ceiling lights, giving it a serene and beautiful, yet somewhat surreal atmosphere. There are also leisure facilities like a swimming pool with a water slide- with the trailer suggesting that this is a place where patients can relax. The floats and tropical trees next to the pool emphasize the artificiality of the facility and make it feel slightly eerie.
While story and gameplay details remain a mystery at the time of writing, we can confirm that the game contains a blue and a red pill as items. Taking these capsules apparently allows the player to explore a “dream” space. The treatment facility has at least two floors for players to explore. The trailer also suggests that the game will feature multiple areas- including some places that appear to be located outside the facility, such as a tunnel, a hotel, and a red and white house surrounded by mountains.
In some of the trailer footage, a timestamp is displayed on screen and a white noise-like sound can be heard. This and the game’s description on Steam suggest that the main character may be being monitored by someone. It seems the game will lead you to question what is in your imagination and what is reality- as the trailer contains some mysterious imagery- such as a boat in which a cartoon character suddenly appears, and a UFO-like floating object.
According to the game’s store page, it is being developed as a collaboration between jiangli and publisher GooodMon. Shanghai-based solo indie developer jiangli previously released a game called CaveFiction on Steam last year. It is an adventure game inspired by philosopher Plato’s cave allegory. Chest will be their second game released on the platform. Jiangli describes himself as an Ex-artist, and his previous works can be viewed on his official website. Those intrigued by his unique worldview should check it out.
Chest will be available on PC (Steam), release date TBA.
Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2024-04-24 14:40 JST)
