Dreamlike levels in video games

[Jarvis Cocker]

Hazy Maze Cave reminds me of a dream i would have as a child. like the one’s where you go on a big adventure with friends and you feel really sad when you wake up and it’s not real. i think it’s because it’s this enclosed space where you feel quite small. the level design is also very strange and dream like, i don’t get this feeling for any other Mario 64 levels.

 

[Medulseur]

If you want a dreamlike experience check out this game called The Void.

 

[MrTroll]

Definitely the best part of the game. Navigating a 3-inch wide floating path over a chasm is way more fun than jumping through the air in slow-motion and shooting people.

 

[Jarvis Cocker]

If you want a dreamlike experience check out this game called The Void.

It takes a special kind of weird for something to be dreamlike for me and this isn’t it, i guess people’s dreams are all different.

Definitely the best part of the game. Navigating a 3-inch wide floating path over a chasm is way more fun than jumping through the air in slow-motion and shooting people.

You could actually skip this in the phone port it was so awful.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

if we're talking in the literal sense...

 

[Fascist Frederick]

Definitely the best part of the game. Navigating a 3-inch wide floating path over a chasm is way more fun than jumping through the air in slow-motion and shooting people.

And that fucking crying baby sound... made be want to reenact the beginning of the game.

 

[sasazuka]

While almost the entirety of Driver: San Francisco technically takes place in Tanner's coma dream, which is a plot device used to justify the "Shift" mechanic of jumping between drivers without invoking supernatural powers, a few of the missions are extra surreal such as "Frozen", when Tanner's chasing an ambulance while his partner and the rest of the city is frozen in place,

Spoiler: Driver: San Francisco 'Frozen' chase

or the chase where Jericho's launching other cars at your Dodge Challenger R/T.

Spoiler: Driver: San Francisco 'Jericho Chase'

The latter is like dreams I've actually had where everything on the road is coming towards me, as though I'm a giant car magnet.

Grand Theft Auto V also has a mod that's like that, where all the cars and planes are heading towards you, even if you're on foot in the middle of nowhere (or climbing Mount Chiliad).

 

[We Are The Witches]

Yume Nikki

Hylics

 

[ToroidalBoat]

That "secret" place in Mario 64 where the only thing to do is collect 8 coins in the clouds and rainbows.

Also the surface of a Moon-like world in a globular cluster in SpaceEngine.

 

[I Love Beef]

Devil May Cry 3's Boss Rematch room, the Lost Soul's Nirvana. This entire room is an inescapable MC Escher Theory of Relativity room of staircases colored and shaded only in tones of light gray, white, and dark gray without definite shadow, and all littered throughout are big enjeweled monoliths of various bosses and battles you've faced throughout the game. When you do face them, their arenas are also all drabbed out, and their music is slowed down and distorted to provide a sense of offputting dissonance meant to mentally throw you off. A true mellowed nightmare endurance test.

Devil May Cry's Mirror World. Everything in this world is backwards, the textures bleed a heat haze like ooze, and the most unsettlingly creepy music plays while you explore for the Philosopher's Stone.

I also like how older RPG dungeons have a dissonant dream like feeling to them.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

I remember the 2nd part of Castlevania Symphony of the Night, the entire castle but mirrored and starting in the top to reach the lowest levels with a bigger OST in the background.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Hello Neighbor is a bad game, but the house reminds me of all the "weird architecture" dreams that I have.

 

[Uncle Sid]

This whole fucking game, man.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Hello Neighbor is a bad game, but the house reminds me of all the "weird architecture" dreams that I have.

Do you have dreams of entire rooms made of wood paneling?

 

[ToroidalBoat]

The giant thorny vine forests in Donkey Kong Country 2 are also dream-like.

Especially with the soundtrack.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Do you have dreams of entire rooms made of wood paneling?

No. I usually dream about weird shit like caves under houses, upside down pyramid shape hotels, secret passages, that sort of thing.

 

[sasazuka]

AI Dungeon is probably the closest "game" I've played that's close to what an actual dream of mine feels like overall in terms of lack of narrative consistency.

 

[Epic Fail Man]

Majora's Mask in its entirety is a fever dream to say the least.

 

[Jarvis Cocker]

caves under houses

semi related but here in britain people buy little cottages in the middle of nowhere only to find a old nuclear bunker from the cold war under it. the bunkers themselves are much bigger than the house. I think the idea was to keep a low profile but peace groups and journalists found them anyway. I’ve been in one and it’s creepy as fuck, even without the macabre context of them.

 

[gaystoner]

Psychonauts is very 'dream like' but its based around delving into the minds of various people. haven't played the second but i definitely recommend the first for action/platformer fans.