Reviews for Dream Eater

[AloneInTheHalo]

Premise: forgive me if I’ve done some errors, but English is not my first tongue and moreover I wrote a lot (sorry about that xD).

I noticed a consistent variance in other reviews's scores, very high or very low. I think that the gripes about run back and forth to take the pills are avoidable, it's not so time consuming and it has a meaning (maybe the pills taking scene duration should be reduced a bit, that’s fair), even people that complain about lights not working... I don't want to spoiler so much, but there's a meaning too, that was clear to me as I've been an oneironaut time ago, not to mention that a normal people wouldn't leave a picture of the graves of his family near the kitchen xD

On the other hand it's true that some glitches are real annoying, especially when the run command stops working suddenly and the shadow kill you. About the shadow, the problem is not the loop, that can be broken with some tricks and a bit of patience, what is really annoying is when it stops to follow you in a direction and appear at the spawning point in the direction you were running, because, if this situation happens, there cannot be a way to avoid it if you were too close at the spawning point.

Speaking of the loop, I suggest this solution, that works quite always for me: go at the door separating the 2 corridors, and while on the right side of the door wait until the shadow is really near to you, then use the interaction button and go to the other side; as soon as you are on the left wing you have to run quickly to the left and enter the door in the room with the switch (the shadow will be following you coming from right to left, so you’ve to reach the door before it); as soon as you enter you have to get out the room (unless you’ve not pressed the switch, because in this case you should first press the switch and then exit) and this time the shadow will appear on your right side so you have to run to the left, reaching the cabinet; as soon as you enter you’ve to get out the cabinet and, hopefully, the shadow’ll be disappeared (not for long), so you’ve to run to the right until reaching the door separating the 2 corridors; after you enter the right wing you must not run anymore, but sneak, until you reach the door of the room with the other switch and enter. Sure there’re other solution better than this one, but if you’ve not idea give it a try.

About the bug of the cabinet on the wooden house, I've discovered that it happens when you use the interaction button while not much close at the cabinet, but it never happened to me when using the interaction button while being at the center of it.

Moreover last stages can be more laggy than the first ones, but I noticed that pressing the interaction button while running reduces the lag, if this can be useful for other players.
Also I noticed that cleaning browser’s chace, cookies, etc., and restarting it, can eventually reduces the lag too.

For those who want to collect all notes, you’ve to know they’re 18. There’s a tricky one near the exit door of the wooden house.

For the author:
I don’t know if there’s a purpose for this, but I've found that in the last dream there're no limitation on both left and right sides of the map, so that you can walk for hours in a direction, needing as much time to take your character back on the screen.

I saw a scoreboard a week ago, but now it’s disappeared… why? It wasn’t a bad idea.

About jumpscares, that one with the mother... good job, I've had quite an infarct first time happened, with that piercing piano’s note.

When clicking on “credits”, the credit music (that I’ve particularly appreciated) overlaps with the one of the title screen. It’s quite funny but can give a headache. xD

On a bookshelf near the door separating the 2 corridors on the wooden house, there’s an action figure different from other that, someway, reminds me of Goku… am I right? xD

Conclusions: the game isn’t perfect, but it’s not impossible to complete (I took all medals after 2 days of tries). It’s highly suggested for people that appreciate pixel art, horror theme and especially dreamlike stuff (like me), that’s why, in my opinion, there’s a lot of variance between reviews’s scores. To other audiences I suggest to give it a try after disabling the permadeath by clicking on "extras" at the title screen. In general I suggest to set controls in the “options” menu, so to choose the keys’s configuration you find more suitable for you (for example, I prefer “Z” to run and “S” to move to left).

I hope I’ve not forgot anything important. Have fun. ;)

Cagmaster responds:

Thank you a lot for your review! You fully understood the game and I am so happy that you did and played it all.
Regarding bugs, didn't know the no-limitation dream lol that is odd, but it could happen.
I removed the scoreboard due to lag, and it's obvious, the scoreboard is being saved everytime and it wastes a lot of resources. (And some users could bug it too, idk how)
Goku hahaha, I tried to make some variation in the design, but didn't notice that

Thanks for playing!

[Plasmarift]

The story is very interesting and the game does definitely place tension and fear on the shoulders of the player, but other than that, the game feels more annoying and a tiny bit empty than scary and this is why:
- The shadow chasing you in the treehouse is indeed scary, but only because it can suddenly appear in front of you when it is chasing you in some instances. Other than that, it becomes more of an obstacle as when you first enter one of the two main rooms, you are essentially backed into a corner and I've been stuck in loops of running from the door to get to the rooms with the clocks, only to be chased back to the original and having to start all over again. I'm still not sure how I managed to get out of these loops other than going into the opposite room and messing around in the hopes that it would stop the loop, such as letting the shadow chase me to the door. (if sneaking and walking is required in any way, I don't see how because it didn't work to stop the shadow from finding me so I don't know why sneaking was included in the game). This shadow mechanic alone makes me not want to play this game again, ever. There needs to be a way to hide from the shadow or protect yourself from it that doesn't involve having to backtrack multiple times until the randomizer for the shadow appearing cuts you a break.
- Repetition. It can certainly had something to a game, especially when the game is horror themed, like helping to drive in a point or making a person feel helpless, but with the problems I described above, the realization that I would not only have to do this again, but have to travel to one of the clock rooms an additional time. Even then, there is no need for everything to be exactly the same. You could have added new visuals in the treehouse section, perhaps had the shelves become dusty and unkept, have more blood splatter after every visit. Repetition alone will drive away player, but when other things are added, it can be impactful and well done.
- The number of inter-actable items is limited. It would have been nice for there to be more to the game than just walking and running around, such as examining the pictures and items in the house, exploring optional doors, solving some small puzzles or experiencing these weird events (these were dreams we were playing through yet they were very much grounded in reality). You could have had spiked pits that came out of nowhere that would force the player to time their progression.
- Lag starts to become a huge issue later on in the game. You say to use Chrome if we are experiencing issues with lag in the treehouse. I was originally using Chrome and the game basically became unplayable onceI reached the treehouse. After that, I switched to Safari yet still had trouble with lag (what is this highscore or scoreboard thing you are referring to in the description).
- I'd highly suggest putting the "probable photosensitive epilepsy" first in everything. I don't get epilepsy, but these flashing lights bothered my eyes.

Still, this is all very promising and I still found the narrative to be interesting enough to push me through the annoyance (though just barely). I wish you luck in your future in game development!

Cagmaster responds:

Excellent and complete review. Thanks a lot!

[Carolfield]

A good game but way too laggy...couldn't finish it. Any solution?

Cagmaster responds:

Hello, I am concerned about the lag mainly in the treehouse, for some reason in Chrome it works well, at least for me. Also you could try changing the game's quality in the menu (for example, Medium) and then the game automatically changes it to Low in the laggy parts.

[Vagenturecbos]

meh. I have anxiety issues, and I shouldn't really play chase games, nor do I like them. I just want the atmosphere and the exploration and note collecting. plus I'm left-handed and running is awkward. but I like the art! ;)

[simone19971]

the game is really well made but i dont like so much