Various forms of media put the fate of the world in the hands of humans (or metahumans). Not often does it fall on a regular old dog to do the saving, as is the case in A Dog’s Dream.
Developed by the two-person South Korean indie studio PUMPKIM, the game stars Cloud, a household dog abducted by a humanoid alien on her 25th birthday. You’ll be dividing your time between exploring the alien spaceship as Cloud during the day, and experiencing her dreams at night in hopes of escaping your captors and saving the world from inevitable destruction.
Ranging from funny and absurd visions to terrifying nightmares, Cloud’s dreams are the biggest draw of the game, and will have you playing as different protagonists. One dream has you scrolling through social media as a superhero, deciding who to save next in a Trolley Problem-style format. Another has you taking part in a twisted show known as The Circus of Sorrow. Throughout these weird scenarios, you will be presented with decisions that are equally strange and ambiguous, with your choices determining how the story progresses.
Completing dream sequences nets you Dream Bugs and Mental Energy, with the former being a currency used to buy items and the latter a measurement of the alien’s mental health. Should the alien’s mental energy fall too low, they will get angry and “suck the Earth like a candy,” so you’ll need to care for their mind too.
Daytime in the real world is a little less surreal and has you controlling Cloud as she tries to make her escape. You explore the spaceship in a point-and-click manner and engage in fights with anomalies through turn-based combat. You’ll even be able to recruit some allies, making your escape plan easier.
With its handmade and hand-drawn aesthetic, A Dog’s Dream was inspired by anthologies like Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix and Maki Sasaki’s The Seaside Town manga series. A touching story is masked behind several strange dreams, and a hidden ending can be unlocked by uncovering clues that you find in Cloud’s dreams and in the real world.
Initially set for a July 31 release, A Dog’s Dream has been postponed to October 29. After securing enough funding for an additional three months, the developers decided to change the release date so they could add everything they originally planned into the game. To make the wait more bearable, the free demo on Steam will continue to be updated to reflect new content and improvements leading up to the October Steam Next Fest.
A Dog’s Dream is set to release on October 29 for Windows (Steam). A free demo is also available.
