The Dream Collector (2025)

This game is the most tedious, repetitive boring game I have ever played. Also, played through 5 times! to get perfect for the master poet achievement. Finally completed all of these puzzles just to not get the achievement. I hate to give up on 100% a game, but I have wasted enough time on this game.

I pulled the chain and dreams arrived, In fragments, scattered, half-alive— Each word a piece of someone's night, That I must gather, place just right. The Great Lord sips his cosmic tea, While Charles devours what used to be. The world compresses, zips away, As minds drift off and memories fray. I dragged and sorted, made them whole, Each reassembled sleeping soul. The mundane meets the strange sublime, In this quiet office out of time. Sometimes the chain would grant reprieve— A scroll: "You've earned a break," I'd read. The little TV flickers on, Another episode, the story drawn In voices soft, a tale unfolds Between the dreams that I've been told. A puzzle wrapped in gentle dread, Where poetry and dreams are wed. The Void Incorporated knows its art— Each specimen: a work of art.

This review is neutral for me. I think the game is beautiful, calming, and the wordplay is charming at minimum. However, after the 23rd puzzle it becomes a little too tedious and monotonous. Especially considering there are 63 total puzzles to solve. Sure there is variation in the puzzles with the wordplay, but overall it's just too tedious for what it is. There is a radio to change music and a candle to play with, but they do little to ease the repetitiveness of the game. I do not recommend if you're bored easily or ADHD. I do recommend if you can stomach all 63 puzzles of endless monotony.

This was a cozy low energy game for a rainy day! I really enjoyed piecing together the "dreams". I only wish you could rotate them as you were building, because some pieces didn't make sense, and I had to wing it. I love the style and ambiguity, and I felt like I could experience this game at my own pace to truly admire the design/artwork/writing.

Put pieces of an object together and solve and short poem/riddle/couple of sentences. A very simple yet fun little 3D model simulator. There is also a spoken word story that is delivered throughout solving the little puzzles. Feels like someone 3D modeled a bunch of cute little objects and decided to share them with a game, a novel idea really.

Pros: - Simple puzzles - Cozy - Good, comforting, relaxing music - Whimsical feel Cons: - No additional difficulties