Long, long ago, the real world and dream world were one and the same. But because of the dark thoughts in people's minds, the Nightmare was born and threatened to end the world. A brave sage appeared and, by using the Holy Instruments and the Dream Stone, sealed the Nightmare away into the holy land. Peace was restored but the world is now separated into the real world and dream world. Years later, people forgot what has happened, and only recalled the events as a legend. Many have also heard about the Dream Stone sealed within the Temple of Dreams. Enter our hero, Rumble, a Ruinseeker (a high ranked treasure hunter) who wish to find the Dream Stone. At the same time, in the Dreamworld, a Baku (a weird looking animal that lives in the Dreamworld) who Rumble later names Tumble accidentally drops the box which holds 7 keys to the seal of the Temple. The keys went and hid in different people's dreams. To retrieve them, one must enter the dream and seek out the keys. Tumble can enter the dreams but there are many monsters within dreams and puzzles that he may need help with. Rumble realize he must get the keys in order to find the Dream Stone. Seeing that the two can help meet each other's goals, Rumble and Tumble decides to work together. In Dual Hearts, Rumble and Tumble will travel around Sonno Island, meeting the people there and seek out those whose dreams holds one of the seven keys. Each dream is different as each person is different, which means that the enemies and puzzles Rumble will encounter will be different in each dream he visits. Within the dreamworld, everything is filled with gold and gems - even the boss is a giant money bag. Within the dreams, Rumble will be able to use the Holy Instruments (in the form of a spear and sword) to fight enemies there. Rumble can use both weapons at the same time enabling him to do a variety of combo attacks. Tumble will help Rumble by carrying him on his back, enabling him to reach higher planes. He can also perform different attacks like the Breath Attack. In order to advance, there are a variety of puzzles for our heroes to solve. For example, in one puzzle, you will be presented with movable blocks, several switches and a closed door. You must figure out which switch will open the door and move the block on the switch. If you run into any problems, you can always talk to Tumble or the Dream Sheep for hints and help.
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Not a single soul on any planet in any solar system in any universe in any timeline playtested this game, particularly on Hard Mode. The final boss is almost certainly impossible on this difficulty and, according to gamefaqs anyway, you can't even 100% the game due to DPS checks that are impossible to make in this setting. I did beat it, to be clear, but it required a game shark at the very final phase of the final boss.
At least the art director clearly had fun with this game. No one else ever will.
I've heard a few times that the best games are the 7/10s, the messy projects that demand your patience but have the ideas and heart and ambition to reward it. Dual Hearts is this game through and through.
What you will put up with: Mildly janky controls, not enough sound, the occasional block pushing puzzle and a few boss fights that range from tedious to infuriating.
What you will receive:
A beautiful sleepy island town full of hangoutitude that you will come to love and appreciate along with its adorable and charming low-poly-anime townsfolk.
A series of levels that range from spyro to psychonauts in their approach to interpreting dreams, not all of which hit, but none of which outstay their welcome.
A whole ass grand JRPG narrative contained within the confines of a sleepy little town, Persona style.
An absolutely fantastic soundtrack.
So much optional content, so many secrets, all rewarding you for caring about being in this space and exploring everything it has to offer.
And MOST OF ALL,
Your cute round little pig moomin failson best friend who I will die for 100 times over.
I struggle to articulate just how much I love this game and how happy it made me feel to just exist in its spaces. So many little hand-crafted spots and moments, deeply unnecessary, placed in there with love.
It'd mean the world to me if this review made one other person find and love this game, the same way that a random offhand forum comment did for me <3
The ideas this game has are outstanding and one of a kind, I love the character banter, artstyle, the world, etc.
But the worlds themselves feels like they weren’t taking any risks and afraid to commit to an idea and start sprinting with it. So now left with levels that are trying to do something cool, but paced so poorly and lack of to explore some are, I’d just want to finish point A to point B so I can get more story. Felt like they were trying to go through Banjo Kazooie or Mario 64, but anime.