In Nightmare from Maximum Games and Magic Fish Studio is a puzzle adventure in which a boy must face his fears and nightmares. Check our In Nightmare review!
In Nightmare from Maximum Games and Magic Fish Studio is a puzzle adventure in which a boy must face his fears and nightmares. After ending up heartbroken due to his family’s troubles, he ends up escaping into a very dark reality where his memories end up mixed with a dark entity that haunts his dreams. A broken home ends up breaking the kid himself, and the harshness of his situation ends up creating the monsters and puzzles he must face to find the last sliver of hope he so much desires.
The good news is that the boy will be joined by Bitki, his dream spirit, who will aid him on this journey. By making good use of Bitki’s ability and being careful in each area you visit, you can sneak past enemies, find special paths to take, and solve the puzzles you’ll find on your journey. The boy must purify the monsters and fight against his demons so that he can embrace his fears and have a chance at uncovering the truth. Help him with this, and he will have a chance to wake up from this nightmare.
Once you get started, you’ll move your character with the left analog stick, controlling Bitki with the right one. To jump, press the X button. If you need to speed things up, you can sprint by pressing the R1 button, which can prove to be useful when you’re being chased. The Circle button can be used to interact as needed. This can allow you to grab items, open doors, activate switches, or grab onto objects to push or pull them around. You’ll gain access to a dream orb, which can be thrown with the Triangle button to stun enemies. Sometimes you’ll need to crouch to hide so that a monster can’t spot you, which you can do with the L1 button. If you press in on the right analog stick, you can use Bitki’s sonar ability to spot monsters.
You will sometimes spot a glowing soul elk in an area. Be sure to run towards it so that you can grab it with the Circle button. If you find three soul elk, you’ll be able to increase your character’s stamina so that it can run for longer periods of time before having to catch its breath. By finding three Eyas Feathers – or three Eyes of Spirit or Heart of Spirit – as you journey through each of the game’s chapters, you’ll be able to upgrade Bitki’s abilities. Collect the power of the Dream Light Springs you find, and you’ll improve the effectiveness of the Dream Orb.
Trophy-wise, In Nightmare has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy waiting for you. The list includes 22 Bronze trophies, 6 Silver trophies, and 5 Gold trophies. There are seven trophies tied to progressing through the game’s story, use Bitki’s sonar ability 100 times, hide in a closet when a monster is less than two meters away, use an Exorcism Lamp to repel the Dark Nightmare when she’s less than one meter away, use a dream orb to stun three enemies at the same time, find all collectibles in each of the game’s chapters, as well as completing several miscellaneous objectives, such as completing chapter five without being detected a single time, or finding a hidden path behind the mirror in the game’s first chapter, to name some examples.
In Nightmare offers a horror puzzle experience presented from an isometric perspective. It doesn’t set out to reinvent the wheel, but it does offer a pleasant hide and seek horror experience with several puzzles to solve, fun gameplay mechanics such as using Bitki’s power to find false walls, ghosts, or hidden footprints, wrapped in a journey that will take you through the traumas of the main character due to mom and dad and the whole split. In Nightmare is out on PlayStation 5 at a $19.99 price.
Disclaimer
This In Nightmare review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Maximum Games.
