Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow paints a magical world worth exploring

If you consider yourself a big fan of the particular genre of games that Little Nightmares and Limbo reside in, Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is going to be a game that you should take a closer look at. It’s an action-adventure set in a beautiful but dark world with platforming and puzzles to solve.

Follow a young boy named Griffin as he journeys through a new and exciting world with only his teddy-bear Birly for company. The world outside their home is unfamiliar and daunting with many dangers to overcome and areas to explore. Daydream is absolutely gorgeous, with outstanding lighting that gives incredible energy to each scene that you are in. Each new area of the game has a completely different feeling from the last and leaves you excited (and sometimes afraid!) to journey on into the leg of your adventure. 

The interaction between Griffin and Birly is a huge part of the game’s story. In my experience, any time Birly was absent, either because he was across the room for a different part of a puzzle, or because he was missing entirely, I found myself growing nervous. This is because he doesn’t just serve a narrative purpose but also a gameplay one. Birly can be used for puzzles that require more than one set of hands, and without him, it feels like half of your kit is missing. This does a great job of putting you in Griffin’s shoes and knowing how he must feel whenever his best friend is gone for one reason or another.

Birly’s AI controls as it needs to for the most part. You are able to direct him to use certain objects in each level, and while he is often very slow to get to it, he usually figures it out eventually. When he couldn’t figure out what I was asking, picking him up and bringing him closer to the object of interest usually did the job.  

Controlling Griffin can also be a little hit-and-miss. He feels very heavy and sometimes wouldn’t grab onto ledges where I thought he would. I also had a lot of issues with depth perception, because the game is that sort of faux 2D where you can walk backwards and forwards within the 2D plane, and it didn’t do a great job of telegraphing how far into the background or foreground I was. This was really only an issue during platforming, but most of the game’s energy is used on puzzles, so it was never too off-putting. 

Where the game really shines is the environment and visuals. The world is dark and mysterious, combined with visions of the past and fears of an uncertain future, but for each grimdark area infested with spiders and traps, there is another fascinating vista of floating castles, fairytale forests and endless green grass bathed in the sun. There is a lot to discover in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow, and if you are interested in this sort of game, it’s going to be right up your alley.

If you want more information on Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow, check out the game’s webpage right here. The game is currently available to wishlist on Steam and will release soon on June 14th!