Overcome the Nightmare

Nightmares are something I think we all can relate to, right? I don’t think there is a person alive who as a child especially didn’t think a shadow was a monster, or the way moonlight enhanced the appearance of a bundle of clothes and made them appear to be something sinister. What about some nightmares that are truths, things like growing up in a broken home, and the overall trauma that can inflict on a kid. That’s exactly the subject matter that is tackled in the new horror game from Magic Fish Studio; In Nightmare. This is going to be a fairly vague review, and that’s because I really want people to go into this game with as little as possible. For me, not knowing anything made this so much better, it most certainly evoked some emotions from me that I haven’t had playing a video game in quite some time.

In Nightmare players will take control of a young boy named Bill. And Bill awakens to find himself in a nightmare of his own creation. As players make their way through the dream scape exploring the environments is important as this is a puzzle game at its core and there will be plenty of them for players to solve. What is slowly revealed is that Bill is a patient at the Arkhaton Psychiatric Hospital and has been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder; he has been subjected to various drugs for treatment with limited success and is now unconscious in the real world. As players make their way through the environment there will be notes lying around from the treating physician explaining how Bill is doing. But there is also a lot of pick ups that are notes, and other letters that help to really paint the picture of what Bill was going through at home. One journal entry from Bill has him talking about ensuring to not anger his mother, and his plan to get her some candy for Mother’s Day because when she’s happy, dad’s happy. The entire game is filled with things like this that will tug on your heartstrings. In order to really fill in the gaps I can’t encourage players enough to explore the environments because a lot of these tidbits are off the beaten path but worth it.

MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: PlayStation
Price I’d Pay: $19.99

That being said In Nightmare is a linear game, there isn’t an open or free roam world here. The game is divided up into six chapters that will explore Bill’s traumas and ultimately get to the truth at what has caused all this for him. But he won’t have to navigate this dreadful dream scape alone, early in the adventure players and Bill is introduced to his spirit guardian, Bakiti who presents as a glowing yellow butterfly but will be Bill’s best weapon to escape. Through the adventure Bakiti will act as a flashlight in order to help Bill and players see their way. She is controllable with the right thumbstick and can move away from Bill in a limited radius. It is possible to extend that radius by burning some of her light which can be restored by drinking a dream elixir which can be found when exploring.

But that’s not all she can do, Bakiti with the press of LT can turn blue which will allow Bill to see hidden footprints as well as hidden passages forward. And she even triples as a sonar detector so that players can see where the monsters are when navigating an area. Which that last bit sounds great on paper but it never really helped me in game. While the sonar effect plays and pings the monsters, because there is no real map I could never tell if it meant they were on the other side of a wall or three rooms down. I found it better in most instances to send Bakiti out as she’s invisible to everyone but Bill and I was able to see exactly where the creature was. All of Bakiti’s abilities can be upgraded as well as Bill’s. Things like stamina become important because Bill will spend a fair amount of time running from his fears; but anytime players see a ghostly baby deer if you successfully catch it Bill can add another point to his stamina.

Those players who might be looking forward to beating up some ghostly bullies might as well look elsewhere as this game isn’t about combat. While Bill will find an item called dream orbs that can stun the matriarchal monster as well as others there won’t be running and gunning here. In Nightmare is a stealth puzzle game, which is alright because the stealth as well as the narrative and puzzles here are strong enough to stand without proper combat. My biggest issue with In Nightmare comes by way of the controls and the way jumping is handled. There are parts where players will need to jump across ledges and the jump button becomes its own worst enemy as it didn’t matter if I waited to press it right as I reached the edge or pressed it insanely early, I still fell to my death more times than I would have liked. Sometimes it would make me stop in place and jump straight up in the air, needless to say every time I had to jump, I dreaded it more than being caught by the monsters.

At least the environments and levels were pretty to look at as I fell to my death with missed jumps. While not looking to set the world on fire graphically like a Horizon Forbidden West; In Nightmare is still quite the looker. Special shoutout to the team who worked on lighting and shadows. Since so much of this game is based in darkness it’s nice to see the various light sources and objects react realistically to cast shadows. It completely adds to the creepy vibe of the game and I’m not ashamed to say that I screamed out loud more than once at what I thought was something but was just a cleverly placed tree casting a shadow to look like a claw or something else.

Indies seem to be on a winning streak with me as I’ve played some really good ones here lately and In Nightmare is no different. While at first glance I thought this was going to be a horror game in the same way that Grabbed by the Ghoulies is; that is to say very silly and a bit over the top. But I was pleasantly surprised at In Nightmare, as I said horror is not usually my thing but the subject matter here and the way it’s handled is quite masterful. I mean the whole game is extremely relatable as Bill discovers the thing that some of us have already; and that thing is that more often than not we create our own monsters via our subconscious. The situations or people we monster-fy were never as bad as we thought they were. And hopefully I haven’t said too much, because this game is a wonderful experience, despite the wonky jump button and iffy sonar system I enjoyed my time in this nightmare very much. And while there isn’t much replay value outside of trying to 100% everything; at a value price In Nightmare is more than worth it just on the story alone.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.