Awkward Dimensions Redux

An extremely raw and deeply personal game that has some notes from the beginners guide

2.7 / 5.7 This is a hard one to write a thought to. I did enjoy it overall, but I don't really recommend it. It's at it's core an art project, a very soul bearing glimpse behind thoughts and feelings of the developer. Some of those thoughts are conveyed naturally through the depictions provided but then others I had absolutely no real context or such behind until reading the little developer commentary notes. I am in a belief and mindset that if you feel compelled and/or strongly to make something you should for artistic reason. You can find a lot about feeling, emotion or discover/improve skill through doing things even if it's been something that's been done many times by others. The difference then is what you do with it after, keeping it to look at later as a reminder, selling it or just publishing to others to see/experience. It feels like this falls more in the latter and that's overall fine but in doing so there has to be a kind of realisation of what that welcomes also. This is somewhat acknowledged as there's a dev commentary on how the internet can be harsh and uncaring toward art projects, which I somewhat agree with. I just find it then extremely pretentious t…

This is the type of game that just doesn't make sense, but at the same time does make sense. Weirdly enough, you find yourself connecting and relating to it.

So I really like the idea of this game. Others' dreams have fascinated me as much as my own. However the cheeky "Wear headphones" intro being voiced in a low and nearly inaudible tone despite my volume setting already had me expecting the loud sounds that were coming. Thankfully it didn't blow my speakers but it caused my receiver output to distort. The gameplay seems interesting but the controls are unbelievably clunky for something that's billed as the 'redux', presumably of a prior version of the game. The player moves in a very laggy way reminiscent of a tile-based RPG maker game, resulting in movement both starting and stopping out of time with the player's input. Jumping is much the same, with a laggy delay. Loading between 'dreams' is also a bit jarring but that's forgivable; a transitional fade would be appreciated however. Soundtrack seems promising enough but, again, distorts due to bad mixing. Initial play of the game resulted in immediately crashing my entire system into a full reboot; playing on a lower resolution in a window is recommended on Steamdeck. I see a lot of comparisons to 'Beginner's Guide' but from what I played (not a lot) it felt more like Yume Nikki …

I felt confused at first because I didn't know what I was getting myself into. But as I progressed through the game, I discovered a very intimate interactive work of art by an artist who opens up and talks about his inner struggles in a very vulnerable and touching way. It's certainly not for everyone! But personally, it's an experience that left a strong impression on me, and that I also somewhat resonated with.

I love it!!!! <3