Next up, A Dream Of Silence
Plot Deconstruction: The game probably does it better than I could, but you are a friend of an elf who is going through a terrible slumber. Can you help this friend find their way out of the chambers of their mind?
Positives: This game is beautifully stylized. I like the inspiration it pulls from Baldur’s Gate. Although I have never played it, it was easy to jump in with the knowledge that the short summary provided. Talking to Astarion and watching his slow descent into madness all while trying to keep him sane as an incorporeal ghost was an interesting dynamic. It was incredibly immersive and the character-writing was on par with professionals. Overall, I enjoyed seeing this world through this fangame’s lens and overall it was a very positive experience.
My Questions/Notes:
Here are some random thoughts that arose during my playthrough
- HOW DO I HELP YOU ASTARION WHEN YOU WON’T OPEN THE DOOR???
Criticisms: The game was great and has incredible potential, however I believe that Balanced mode was more of a hard mode than it was “normal” difficulty. (At least before I understood the goal) After my first run, I realized that one of the easiest ways to keep Astarion alive was through talking to him and touching him, however I thought that the game needed him to open the main door so I focused on touching him and prodding him towards it after I removed the plank. Because I wasn’t sure what the narrative was actually waiting for/building up to, I would bombard him after maxing out my Touch stats to open the door to which he would get close before refusing to move any further. And spending that time trying to figure out how to convince him left me running out of time as he eventually loses all his health and dies. Finally, I gave up and tried the Explorer mode instead and I realized, after getting it done on my first try, that the goal was to wait for a certain day so that a scripted event could happen. Now I realized that before I wasted my energy points trying to get him to open the unlocked door when I should have focused on keeping him alive. I tried Balanced mode again and got through on the first try now that I knew the objective. Making that goal clear from the get-go would have saved me a lot of time, (unless there was an easier way to go I missed that didn’t involve maxing out Touch and Speech) I would recommend having a clearer set goal so that first time players aren’t thrown in completely blind as to what they should be trying to do.
Overall Impression: I loved playing this and slowly getting Astarion to open up. He was very well-written and I’m excited to see Act 2 and 3 in the future. This game has incredible potential and I hope that the author takes it farther.