The man who made the original Tomb Raider games reveals his latest video game called Dream Cycle, an indie mystery action-adventure.
Dream Cycle obviously isn’t what Tomb Raider fans expected to see
So this game is getting blasted by negative comments for obvious reasons. A lot of fans were excited to hear about Toby Gard’s next game. For those that don’t know, he’s the man that created Lara Croft and worked on the OG Tomb Raider way back in 1995 and Tomb Raider: Legend, Anniversary and Underworld. Well, the fans didn’t expect to see a rather rough-looking indie game that looks like it’s trying to be too many things at once. Check out the reveal trailer down below:
So you play as an arcane apprentice Morgan Carter. Her long-lost relative stole her Essence and now she’s stuck in the Dream Realms. Morgan needs to take down her great grand uncle before he becomes God. Quite a grandiouz task, that’s for sure.
Dream Cycle is designed by Toby Gard, has music by Tomb Raider composer Nathan McCree, and it has an original story that’s based on Lovecraft’s series. There’s a lot of talent and potential in this game, but what is it really?
Is it a live-service game?
The game’s official Steam description says:
Dream Cycle is not a static game, but an ever-growing platform for mystery and adventure. Through regular updates, new realms will become available, introducing new biomes, additional story chapters, weapons, enemies, skills, and powers.
Continue to develop and adapt your character as the vast expanses of the Dream Realms open up over time.
It’s a “platform” that’s going to get continuous updates. Definitely sounds like a live-service thing, but you don’t see that tag anywhere. Your character will develop over time as more content arrives with new weapons, enemies, skills, and so on. Will this content arrive for free? Or will it be sold in episodes or something akin to that?
The game’s a huge sandbox with 10,000 adventures within each map tile. Each time the player crosses the threshold, they enter a unique sandbox. Climb, teleport, or fly your way across the map and complete your objectives.
Players can use hand-to-hand combat, first-person gunplay, and potent magic to take down their enemies. You have eight spell slots available and a “highly flexible” perk system for customizing your character. This sounds a lot like a strange blend of The Elder Scrolls and Dishonored to me. A fine mix if they’re able to pull it off.
However, all of this doesn’t change the fact that Dream Cycle looks like a low-budget fan project? The game’s art style and overall graphical fidelity look really rough. I understand that it’s an indie game and the scope of their game is gigantic, but it still looks like something from 2012. I’m not sure what to think as of now, but I’m sure many are waiting for the Dream Cycle to enter Early Access on September 7th to see what this game has to offer for themselves.
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