I knew from the start that I was gonna love Picayune Dreams, but oh my GOD was I blown out of the water. For context, I recently entered the breakcore era of my life, with loud alternative art being at the forefront of my mind.

Vampire Survivors is one of my favorite games, though it's always been a game I've played on mute with a video essay on in the background. That's not a flaw, it's just a symptom of how therapeutic that game really is. Picayune Dreams is not like that, while playing I'm absorbed by its stunning visual design, its fascinating story, its heightened focus on being a bullet hell, and most of all its fucking MUSIC.

If you're a fan of the horde survival genre, and/or crackhead art in the vein of Machine Girl or Yume Nikki, I can't recommend this game enough.

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Picayune Dreams is a bullet hell rougelike created late last year by Andyland, Milkypossum, and Stepford. Initially going into this game I didn't expect too much from it story wise, believing it may simply be another flashy graphical game that leaves much to be desired, and although I don't believe the narrative of this game to be anywhere near to a masterpiece I do believe that it is fairly well done for what it is.
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The gameplay is fairly simple and fun while also introducing a nice scaling system that keeps you engaged in its mechanics and need to continue on. This scaling system is introduced in two major ways outside of the runs themselves; A flowchart of skills that are unlockable through leveling up within the runs, and a page to upgrade the items themselves through getting kills within the runs. These previously mentioned implementations are very fun and entertaining adding to the rougelite/like feel of always needing just one more run, just like a crackhead on a street corner. Adding upon the gameplay elements itself I very much enjoyed the boss fights in this game, they're nothing insane or standout but very enjoyable and didn't get stale after fighting them over and over!
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Graphically this game is fantastic, the art style is unique and captivating alongside it's very fitting atmosphere which when put together only enhance each other very well.
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I'm not the greatest at descriptions and reviews upon sound design so to keep it short and not sound like an absolute idiot I'll simply say this: The sound design never got stale or felt as if it was getting annoying and I found myself enjoying it quite a bit, writing this with its menu music open is very nice. Not only is the sound itself well done but as previously mentioned alongside its graphics and atmosphere it all adds into a very well done experience.
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Spoilers for the story in paragraph below
As mentioned near the start of this review I do not believe this story to be anything insane or mind blowing to experience, It is a simple yet effective story that fits within the overall feel of the game. A narrative of responsibility and the weight of expectations that throughout the gameplay and actualization of the responsibilities showcases the trauma and mental weight that is derived from it. Unlocking the recollections in order to piece together the story was very interesting and every time I got one I was excited to see the next chunk of the story be revealed to me, I proactively wanted to get more of it. Within these story elements I also very much enjoyed the psychological horror elements done through visual effects, especially used later within its story. Although the story is short only lasting around 3-4 hours, the reason I'm reviewing a rougelike game this early on as I've finished its story, it is simple yet effective and to this I give props.
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Spoilers over
Overall a well done experience that I may come back to for its gameplay and future updates although there is a little left to be desired especially when it comes to its story. The possibilities are endless though, and if the dev team chooses to keep expanding upon its narrative and story then I will be there to witness it.

this game is vampire survivors but epic because it has an actual style and gameplay that requires more active participation.

It has the satisfying feeling of getting stronger and killing more enemies. But here's the best part: After all that - it ends. The game doesn't go on forever, turning into a tedious monotony. It's fun, you get stronger, beat the game, and then you're done.

Love the music.

Very much my to my tastes, aesthetically. The bullet hell sections are a good twist. There was an attempt at a story... Unfortunate that they did character design so well for everyone but the final boss.

I'm glad the meta-progression is limited here, instead of endless upgrades you're eventually going to have to make upgrade builds to use instead. Overall the game seems more intended to be played and done with than other games in this genre, though I still think the core gameplay that isn't bullet hell ends up being a little meh and too reliant on standing in place while you see how well you chose upgrades.

What a cool game. The core gameplay is a surreal outer-space take on the Vampire Survivors formula, though it asks a bit more of the player than most entries in the genre. This is punctuated with straight up bullet-hell boss fights. Each boss fight is preceded by a bizarre conversation between the hero and the boss that generally establishes a bit of lore and personality. Beating a boss unlocks a Yume Nikki-style dream-horror story segment. Upping the difficulty and tying in a story with some rather compelling themes does a lot to elevate the genre.

This is further bolstered by an absolutely killer breakcore soundtrack that accentuates the stress of playing a bullet hell while maintaining the surreal feeling the rest of the game sets.

It took me a little over 5 hours to get my first victory, and I'll definitely be back for more!

For something that uses the "Vampire Survivors"-like gameplay, this BANGS. HARD. Picayune Dreams is a game where your brain is stimulated sound-wise and your hands are probably freaking out with the controls. The music is breakcore (in my opinion, goated OST) which is fast-paced and matches with the intense situations that the hordes of enemies create while you attempt to fight them off and pick up experience with the growing arsenal of weapons every run. What makes it stand out of the crowd is the occasional switch to a boss battle that changes Picayune Dreams from a bullet-heaven to a bullet-hell. While I do wish the bosses were somewhat randomized, they are in a certain order for the story. The story is expressed through small character dialogue and the GameMaker-esque segments that are earned after every boss that have heavy themes. The whole game is just addicting to play. I got the Normal Ending for this, but I will replay it to unlock everything. Please play it. It's only 4 dollars on sale, 5 dollars on Steam usually.

Un take MUY interesante en la formula Vampire Survivors, principalmente por su añadido de una historia en forma de segmentos de RPG de terror.

Pero aparte de eso, la estética weirdcore y hyperpop la hace muy bien y el gameplay es intenso de buena manera.

Consigue un balanceo muy bueno entre Bullet heaven con los niveles y Bullet hell al puro estilo touho con los jefes. tambien me gusta mucho su enfoque en tener que aprovechar lo máximo lo poco que hay.

mi mayor pega es que el progreso es un poco grindy y repetitivo. pero mola.

Survivor-type game with boss fights that are more of a shmup style. The visual style is neat along with the music and it's a nice finishable game with a clear ending. But the gameplay loop is mind-numbingly boring. For the asking price it's fine as a product though.
The game basically plays itself as the most basic of twin-stick shooters as long as you pick powerups to form a build. There is some enemy variety but most of them don't change how you play, excluding one or two that shoot or spawn bullets.

The boss fights have some fun bullet patterns but are hardly better than your average shmup boss, so that isn't something that would elevate the gameplay beyond mediocrity. You are likely to turn on auto-targeting so there is no play with the weapons. That turns the boss fights into pure dodging with basic movement.
The bomb is satisfying to use at least, absorbing bullets into a counter attack.

The attempt to be more of a 'real' game than other survivor games kind of just makes me want to play actual twin-stick shooters with better level design and more interesting gameplay mechanics. It's not like there aren't plenty of those with enemy hordes or good boss fights. But again, the aesthetic in Picayune Dreams is nice.