One of the most strange games I've ever played. Aesthetically there is no other game like The Dream Machine, the stop motion characters and hand-crafted environments are a loving monument to the medium.

The story covers themes in abstract ways, particularly tackling Victor's fears of fatherhood. While some of it works, other times it fails to engage me at all.

I think that the ending feels counter to everything the game was leading up to. Throughout the entire game the Dream Machine is shown to be evil and destructive, so why Victor thinks sacrificing himself is a good idea is beyond me.

There's some incredibly memorable characters. I particularly like the Knight who forgets he is dead. And Legion is fascinating - a amalgam of voices who wish to echo self doubt back at Victor whilst ocassionally helping.

I'm not the biggest fan of point-and-click games despite playing them every now and then. This game's puzzles and backtracking gets incredibly egregious particularly in Chapter 5. I had to look up a guide multiple times.

That being said, Chapter 4 is the absolute best chapter in terms of marrying the story and the gameplay. Rearranging pictures to traverse Edie's house and learn about her past is great.

My thoughts on this game are incredibly mixed, but the fact I remember so much of it after 2 years from my playthrough is a testament that there's something incredibly special here.

Keep your eyes on Cockroach Inc. I have a feeling that they could make some absolutely incredible games in the future when they improve from this game's faults.