Dreams of Another is a new adventure published by Q-Games and developed by Baiyon, art director of PixelJunk Eden. It will be available on Steam and PlayStation 5 from 10 October 2025.
Dreams of Another is a philosophical third-person shooter set in a dreamlike dimension. The entire game revolves around the central theme of ‘No Creation Without Destruction‘. Unlike other TPS games, in Dreams of Another, we will not shoot to destroy or kill, but to create and deepen the plot.
The game centres on the stories of The Wandering Soldier and The Man in Pajamas, whose fates will gradually converge as the game progresses. The plot not only focuses on the two protagonists, but also allows us to learn about the perspectives and feelings of the other characters and objects in the game. That’s right! Objects! As we explore, we can discover the desires, emotions and struggles of trees or street lamps, for example.
An unconventional TPS
Although Dreams of Others appears to be a traditional TPS, it overturns the concept of shooting to destroy. Instead, our shots serve to achieve the opposite effect, allowing us to reshape the world around us. Playing as the Man in Pajamas, we traverse an abstract, dreamlike dimension where the only way to make our surroundings concrete is to shoot.
Initially, we will use a machine gun similar to an MP5, but later, through interactions with the Wandering Soldier, we will also be able to arm ourselves with weapons that have a much wider area of effect, such as grenades and rocket launchers.
In order to make the objects and people in this abstract world concrete, we must shoot everything around us, initially a hazy and indistinct blur. Thanks to the extra weapons, we can eliminate abstraction much more quickly.
As well as shooting to make the setting concrete, we are often asked to quell restless auras by shooting them. These restless auras bring abstraction and confusion to the world. Quelling them allows us to continue the story.
Hard to explain
The core mechanics of Dreams of Another are one of the things that make it unique. However, the real problem is that it doesn’t offer much in terms of gameplay. While the mechanics are original, having to shoot continuously to move and interact with the environment is not satisfying at all. Unfortunately, this contributes to the slow progression of the game.
Furthermore, in some sections, such as the memories, the character’s movement is unusually slow. Added to this, there are interludes between some sections that take us back to areas we have already explored.
When we encounter non-player characters (NPCs), they often repeat the same dialogue, which lengthens the playing time without offering enough added value.
The trading mechanics with the soldier are also unnecessarily limiting and complicated. In each area, we can give him a maximum of two or three items, and we have to start a dialogue with the same lines of text for each item. Providing items to the soldier allows us to acquire ammunition or new weapons. However, to obtain these items, we have to spend all our time shooting to reveal the setting. Finally, as well as choosing what to give the soldier, we can let him choose what to take, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Dreams of Another is created using point cloud graphics, a technique that enables developer to create visually appealing yet functional environments for gameplay.
While the graphics are a positive feature, the plot, around which an introspective title such as Dreams of Another should revolve, left us rather perplexed. The plot progresses too slowly and is interrupted by sections that serve little purpose, with the game returning to the main menu after each chapter.
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