Dali Games, a developer in Wroclaw, Poland has recently thrown their hat into the ring of point and click adventure games with Lucid Dream. True to its name, the game is filled to the brim with creativity and vivid imagination taking the player through several artistic and ethereal worlds. Available in five different languages, Lucid Dream is now available for purchase on Steam for the PC community and adventure fans. 

Lucid Dream begins in quite the dark and eerie fashion. Lucy, a young girl initially confined to her wheelchair, ventures out into the world of dreams to save her sick mother, who spends considerably less time with Lucy than before. She meets a cast of interesting and enigmatic characters like the Angle Metatron, Blind Manticore, Oneiromancer, Watchmaker of Light and the Dreamweaver. There are lots of surprises and plot twists as Lucy explores the different worlds such as the Land of Souls, Hills of Grief, Lunar Roofs, Deserts of Time and more.

Much of an old school point and click adventure game can live or die by the overall pacing and puzzle-solving interactions. Thankfully, the option to select the difficulty level is present at the start, giving you as much to as little hints as necessary. The eraser, limited in the number of uses, offers visual cues and diagrams to guide you in the right direction if you are stumped. The game does a good job in easing you into the flow of the game early on but the difficulty with puzzles spikes up considerably as you progress through the latter half of the game. It isn’t always clear what items you need and the logic required to solve some of the harder puzzles is debatable and rather subjective.

With a total of 11 chapters each featuring unique hand drawn locations, Lucid Dream is a hidden gem among point and click adventure games on Steam. There certainly are frustrating moments when you’re in a pinch and have no idea what to do next but you rarely get stuck in one place for long before the game guides you to the next chapter. Speaking of the puzzles or characters in any detail would undoubtly ruin the surprise as this game is meant to be enjoyed from beginning to end. The price may be a bit steep but the experience is well worth the price of admission.

PROS (+): Hand Drawn Visuals, Cast of Characters, Immersive Soundtrack

CONS (-): Difficulty of Puzzles, Short Game

 SCORE – 8.0/10

This review is based on a digital copy of Lucid Dream on Steam provided by the publisher.