Cutting into your sleep schedule.
Dreamcutter sees you taking on the role of Haley, a girl who gets trapped within her own mind, equipped with a scythe aptly named the Dreamcutter. And once Haley discovers that her best friend Lucia is somehow trapped alongside her, she'll have to form a pact with this sentient scythe in order to escape. Dreamcutter is an overly simple action platformer that certainly has its issues, but a surprisingly well-written story and some of its art result in a very adult and largely enjoyable experience.
Before I dive too much into the mind of Haley, and the trials she'll face, Dreamcutter is a very adult experience. The story, its characters, and the variety of artwork are very adult in nature, so do keep that in mind as this game earns its M for Mature rating quite easily.
Recently, Haley has had a series of nightmares that has resulted in a lot of lost sleep, so much so that after conversing with her best friend Lucia, while at school, Haley falls asleep in class, waking up in one of her extremely vivid nightmares. This begins her descent into what trials she will face if she has any chance of leaving the dreamworld behind.
It's not long into her time here where she will be equipped with Dreamcutter, a scythe that appears to lend her aid, a scythe that she seemingly already knows its name, for reasons she cannot answer. Dreamcutter grants her the power to dispatch monsters and creatures alike, albeit being rather strict with the young girl, ensuring she has the mental and physical strength to face what is approaching.
The relationship between them is the core of the title. While her feelings towards Lucia do play into a few of the game’s story moments, it is her dialogue between Dreamcutter and herself where the story really gets interesting. Normally, games like this have throw away conversations, dialogue that feels as if it was google translated from another language, or something that feels written by a middle schooler. However, every line feels worded and phrased rather well, providing fairly adult ways of tackling a talk between two people. There is a boss that has a ton of throwaway and meaningless dialogue midway through, but it's the only case where this happens. Overall, I enjoyed Haley's narrative journey, an aspect of the game I didn't see coming.
Dreamcutter’s gameplay then follows your typical side-scrolling platformer with basic combat fundamentals, even if a crucial aspect of traversal is never explained, something that I discovered by accident. Apart from a few stages that auto-scroll, you are directing the movement of the stage as you move through it. You'll jump on platforms that disappear when touched, rails that you'll grind, and the aforementioned unexplained platforming element, using your scythe to cling to walls to then bounce away from.
You'll also have constantly reappearing bubbles that you'll bounce off of to an object that your scythe can spin you around from, allowing you to leap into the air and use your blade to then act as a helicopter, letting you glide down to the next nearby platform. The two first systems work fine when they do, but their collision detection is all over the place. You'll think you've made it just to fall through them at almost every attempt. It was so inconsistent that I always assumed I wasn't going to make it, causing me to overcorrect and often fall. Lastly, you can throw your scythe into a wall to then use it to propel yourself upward, retracting it as you move forward.
Combat itself works well but doesn't offer up much variety until you start purchasing upgrades and even then you are not seeing a wealth of combat options open up. You can slice away at foes, throw your scythe to cut them down, but until you start to upgrade your damage, the throwing motion is only good for a few minor threats, especially the flying types.
As you kill enemies, you'll gain a speed boost. While this can work in your favour, some environments rarely allow that sort of speed to be beneficial to having to navigate smaller platforms, bubbles, or the spinning objects you'll need to be particularly careful about. While the speed boost does give the game a kinetic pacing, the majority of the game suffers from incredible slow down on the Switch, especially after killing the first enemy in any location. This slow down was constant, and in one instance, it lasted the entire level. A series of levels later on have wind that holds you back and combining that with this slow down can make some areas nearly unplayable.
Throughout the game's five worlds, your enemy variety does little to improve, and due to the short length of the game, you'll see a lot of the same types until the last leg of the journey. This is where you'll be introduced to a single new enemy, a green bulky boy that can throw projectiles. Each of the normal stages end with the same encounter, against a purple orb called a Nightmare that floods the screen with enemies. To win this fight you only have to move left and right and swing your scythe. That's it, there is no strategy here and you'll win every time.
The bosses themselves are more or less fine, albeit one fight that isn't quite clear on how to tackle it, until I start to play around with throwing the scythe during a certain condition. The stand out for bosses; however, was The Doubt, a fight that actually had a good design to it. I'll add that I simply didn't find the final battle to be that great, but it at least had some design to it, unlike the very first encounter that just has them walking up and slashing at you. And having to revise that fight later just doubles down on how boring it was.
In between stages, you'll return to the Sanctuary, a safe haven where you can access the five stages, a shop to improve your gear and purchase challenges with the coins you earn in battle and exploration, to a gallery where the game's story moments are archived. The gallery also plays host to several custom pieces of art created for the game by a variety of credited creators. I didn't find all the art to be impressive, but several images were extremely well done.
Dreamcutter often does a lot right. Combat, while simple, can still be rather enjoyable, as is the story and the dialogue that propels that narrative forward. The artwork that is part of that story is solid, even if the main character in those pictures rarely emulates the sprite version you'll be controlling. There is a huge discrepancy between how the game depicts her form between mediums. Regardless, Dreamcutter was an enjoyable few hours with enough going for it that kept me grinding away challenges to earn the last few pieces of artwork and see Haley's story wrap up.
Developer - Shady Corner Games, Ten Pennyfingers. Publisher - Eastasiasoft. Released - February 2nd, 2024. Available On - Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated - (M) Strong Language, Nudity, Sexual Content, Violence, Blood.
Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch OLED / Portable. Review Access - A review code for the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.