Dream Cycle (PC) Early Access Preview

When I heard that the creator of Lara Croft, Toby Gard, was working on a new project, I was immediately intrigued. Announced during E3, Dream Cycle aims to be an ever-expanding Action-Exploration experience based around H.P. Lovecraft’s work. Specifically, Dream Cycle takes its name from a Lovecraft tale and is inspired by it in several ways. It is a little early to really tell how good Dream Cycle will be, as it has some issues. However, after spending some time with it, I can easily see Toby’s vision.

Dream Cycle puts you in the role of Morgan Carter, an arcane apprentice who has her powers stolen by a former enemy. In the process, she finds herself at the brink of death, trapped in the Dreamlands. This former enemy is (according to the Steam Page) her “Great Great Grand Uncle” Randolph Carter, who has been biding his time in order to take over the Dreamlands and become a god.

In order for Morgan to escape the Dreamlands (and presumably survive), she must gather her strength, explore the Dreamlands, and eventually stop Randolph. The problem I have with this is that after playing for several hours, very little information is given to you about Morgan, Randolph, or the environment you’re in.

In fact, Dream Cycle in its current state has a bit of a problem with the way story content is trickled out. Each level has a different goal, which usually consists of killing enemies or finding anomalies/glowing orbs on the map. You can find them by using Morgan’s astral projection ability, which highlights points of interest and allows you to scout ahead without enemies noticing.

Each anomaly/point of interest gives you bits of story, but the nature of the game is so open that it might take you forever to figure anything out. On top of that, if you take any break at all between play sessions you might forget what bits of the story you’ve uncovered. Granted, you can use the in-game codex to re-read story sections you’ve collected, but I think it would be great if the game offered a more focused approach to storytelling.

There are also side quests and other levels that will allow you to level up and get perk points, which are used to enhance Morgan’s capabilities. I haven’t gotten too deep in the progression systems yet, but I think there are some promising elements here. There is a lot of versatility in the options available to you in how you play, though there are some paths that are currently more incentivized than others.

For example, stealth is prioritized mainly because currently, combat is a bit unbalanced. You can fight using spells that you unlock/collect for Morgan, as well as use a melee weapon or ranged weapon. Different ranged weapons make noise, like guns, while others such as bows are quieter. You can sneak up on enemies and perform a stealth attack which will either kill an enemy instantly or deal massive damage.

If you take an enemy on in melee, however, you have to prioritize dodging at the right moment, which causes a slowdown effect similar to Witch Time in Bayonetta. As you fight, the enemy will have weak points that pop up. At this stage, if you don’t hit the enemy in those weak points then your damage output is much lower. On top of that, if you go long enough without dealing damage the enemy will regenerate health.

As a result, melee combat isn’t really all that useful right now unless you’re in a stealth situation. Granted, Morgan has a lot of mobility options, including at least one spell that works similarly to the Blink skill in Dishonored. The freedom of movement and exploration in Dream Cycle is one of the shining points of the game at this stage. I just wish the levels were a little more interesting and varied or had more things to do and interact with.

At such an early stage in development, with Dream Cycle being at a state that hasn’t even had its first major update yet, I can’t really fault it for having some content issues. As the game goes through its Early Access period, it will likely rebalance things, enhance certain positive gameplay elements, and downplay other more negative ones.

One thing that I find really great is that the controls feel good. There are some things that could be better tuned, but I’ve enjoyed playing Dream Cycle even when I found things to be frustrating. After each level, you are asked to submit feedback as well, which allows the developers to tailor their future updates to user feedback. Additionally, you can choose to play in first or third person, which suits different playstyles.

I think health potions should be a bit more plentiful, and I’d appreciate it if a variety of weapons were available earlier to give people a chance to explore different playstyles. However, where the game is at so far is decent enough. There are some graphical stuttering and lag issues, and the character models don’t look the best, but the game is a work in progress.

Overall, I think this is definitely a game to watch. Dream Cycle could be the next classic, and we may end up speaking about Morgan Carter the same way we talk about Lara Croft in a few years. With a unique aesthetic, great voice acting, and intriguing gameplay mechanics, I think Dream Cycle could be a classic in the making. Currently, the levels just feel a bit too empty, and the story isn’t quite fleshed out enough.

An Early Access PC review copy of Dream Cycle was provided by Raw Fury for this preview.