I hope you’re ready for some fast-paced gameplay, lewdness and a dash of Visual Novel storytelling all rolled into one in this dream-based adventure. You’d better, grab your scythe and make sure you’re alone when you delve into the mysterious world of Dreamcutter.
As well as being the name of the game, Dreamcutter is also the name of your weapon, a mysterious scythe that seems to hold more secrets than it initially lets on. You take the mantle as leading lady Haley with your friend Lucia (who isn’t playable) as you traverse through the darkest corners of Haley’s Subconscious. There are some sweet moments to be found between the two ladies and of course, being an EastAsiaSoft game, some more… let’s say… physical moments.
At its core, the gameplay is a fast-paced action platformer with some devilish sequences that will take patience and precision to master, which I would describe as almost Celeste-like but with combat. You will be put through the paces as you stick your scythe in walls, swing, grind, float and bounce over obstacles, whilst using the Dreamcutter to lay waste to your foes in the way.
You may feel strong, to begin with, but that will quickly fade upon reaching bosses as their power is far greater than the basic foes you met currently. Do not let this get you down, because throughout the stages you can collect coins from fallen enemies and the stages themselves.
The coins aren’t just a random collectable to find either, no my fellow lewd gamers, these are usable in the home bases shop where you can spend these to upgrade your character to increase damage, player health combo length and more. However, you can also purchase level-based challenges such as time trials or find “X” amount of items, which, upon finishing these challenges, awards you rather lewd artwork made by fans/artists. These are all credited, so for the ones that are more censored, you will be able to find the full picture online.
Artistically, Dreamcutter feels a little all over the shop. The gameplay itself is all in beautiful pixel art with dark brooding colours combined with bright and striking ones. This pixel style, coupled with the animations from combat, traversal or enemies is certain to appeal to fans of retro-styled games. The Visual novel side is more what you would expect, with higher resolution character portraits and drawn backdrops, with the contrast between the two being a nice blend of both worlds. However the is one more factor here, due to other artists and fan work being interpreted into the game, there is a small disconnection between them as a whole that gives off a strange artist whiplash.
For example, Haley is mostly shown to be a slim-figured character and yet there are a few images where she is drawn quite ‘Thicc’. I don’t have an issue here at all but the inconsistency may bother some.
The sound design for this is great. When you are in the stages themselves you have all the retro vibes and sound effects when jumping, collecting items and cutting down the monsters with a fantastic and upbeat EDM/Dubstep score playing in the background. This music isn’t used in every facet as when it comes to cutscenes or the VN sides they perfectly match up the music for the correct tone they are purveying.
A word of warning; as stated this game has some lewd content and should by no means be media consumed by children. I was rather surprised when this got announced on the Switch as I’ve also played the PC version and was curious how much adult content would be brought over to the Switch store version. So let’s cut to the chase.
Boobs (yes!! I get to talk about boobs in a review). There are 100% full frontal and uncensored boobs in this version of the game which the PC version also has. It was certainly a surprise to be sure, especially on a Nintendo system, however, that’s as far as they push the visual boat on the platform. There are indeed many suggestive themes and imagery that remained but nothing more.
Now when compared to the PC version, it is a far cry, as there are far more intimate scenes that are fully on display but I won’t be telling you what they are (my editor would not be impressed if I did). Despite these visual and content changes, I didn’t feel that it affected the story or how the relationship between Haley and Lucia grew over the course of the game.
For a game that some would consider a budget title (being that it’s anywhere from £10 to £14 on various stores for PC and Switch) and a game that’s just lewd for lewd’s sake, the gameplay is extremely enjoyable and challenging. Coupled with a story that is quite sweet, dark and lewd all rolled into one, a stellar soundtrack and support from various artists for the artwork, there’s a fun time to be found here.
Whether you decide you want more of the adult content PC version or are just happy to enjoy the tamer Switch version while being able to enjoy the actual gameplay sides portably is directly down to you and your preference, but this definitely not a game to sleep on despite its themes.
Publisher:– EastAsiaSoft
Developers: Shady Corner Games, Ten Pennyfingers
Platforms: Switch, PC
Peak pengy review, and nice new website feature with the age gate