In many forms of entertainment, the destiny of the world rests on the shoulders of humans or extraordinary beings. Rarely does the responsibility fall to an ordinary dog, which is precisely the premise of A Dog’s Dream.
Created by the small South Korean indie team PUMPKIM, this game follows Cloud, a house pet who gets abducted by an alien in humanoid form on her 25th birthday. Players will alternate between exploring an alien spacecraft as Cloud during daytime and navigating her dreams at night, all in an effort to break free from her captors and avert global catastrophe.
Cloud’s dreams range from comical and bizarre to genuinely frightening, serving as the game’s main draw. These sequences let you step into the shoes of various characters. In one dream, you scroll through social media as a superhero, choosing who to rescue next in a scenario reminiscent of the Trolley Problem. In another, you participate in a disturbing spectacle called The Circus of Sorrow. Throughout these surreal encounters, you’ll face unusual and morally ambiguous choices that shape the narrative.
Successfully completing dream sequences rewards you with Dream Bugs and Mental Energy. The former acts as in-game currency for purchasing items, while the latter tracks the alien’s mental state. If the alien’s Mental Energy drops too low, they’ll become enraged and threaten to “suck the Earth like a candy,” so you must also tend to their psychological well-being.
The daytime portions of the game are less dreamlike, featuring Cloud’s attempts to escape her confinement. You’ll navigate the spaceship using a point-and-click interface and engage in turn-based combat against anomalies. You can also gather allies to assist in your escape.
With its handcrafted, hand-drawn visual style, A Dog’s Dream draws inspiration from works like Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix and Maki Sasaki’s The Seaside Town manga series. Beneath its strange dream sequences lies a heartfelt story, and a secret ending can be unlocked by collecting clues scattered throughout Cloud’s dreams and the real world.
Originally slated for a July 31 launch, A Dog’s Dream has been rescheduled to October 29. After securing additional funding for three more months, the developers opted to delay the release to include all planned content. To keep players engaged, the free Steam demo will continue receiving updates with new features and improvements ahead of the October Steam Next Fest.
A Dog’s Dream is scheduled to launch on October 29 for Windows (Steam). A free demo is available for download.