Sweet Dreams...
Dreamkiller is a dark fantasy-themed First-Person Shooter developed by Mindware Studios and published by Aspyr in 2009 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.
The gameplay format is more or less inspired by Painkiller, but set entirely in Dream Land, featuring surreal, eerie atmospheres that compliments the game's psychological themes. That, besides kicking ass with assorted firearms.
As a child, Alice was plagued by recurring nightmares where she's constantly hunted by demons, until she eventually decides to fight back and overcome her fears, which somehow unlocks her latent psychic powers she had in her. Destroying the demons in her dreams and keeping them sealed within the darkest corners of her mind, Alice's life would change forever when she decide her ability is both a gift and a curse.
Growing up, Alice works as a psychologist with powerful mental abilities that allows her to enter the minds of patients and battle their inner demons, where she can purge their phobias for them. But late into her investigation, Alice's childhood fears started re-manifesting, and she will have to confront a dark, repressed memory she assumed was long gone...
Players assume the role of Alice, navigating through multiple levels consisting of surreal and twisted dreamscapes filled with nightmarish creatures. Alongside traditional first-person shooter mechanics, Dreamkiller also features unique dream-themed elements, such as the ability to enter and explore the minds of different characters each with their own distinct level design and enemies, as well as granting Alice special psychic powers like telekinesis and mind control besides the assorted variety of firearms seen in FPS games.
After all these years, there's only one thing that makes me happy... sleep without dreams.
- Alice Allusion: This horror-themed game has a protagonist named Alice, who spends the entire game travelling between nightmares to battle the forces of evil. Let that sink in for a second.
- Arm Cannon: If a humanoid-based enemy has a ranged attack, chances are it's an organic cannon / gatling gun mounted on it's arm.
- Antagonist Title: Yeah, all those gigantic monsters and creatures serving as bosses Alice battles at the end of each stage? They're the titular "Dreamkillers", demons residing in the dream world who wants to consume the minds of anyone who drifted into their realm. Alice in contrast is the "Dream Savior", and she confronts the lead Dreamkiller, the Dream Devourer, at the end.
- Bedlam House: The nightmare stage in "Paradise Asylum", where all it's inmates are deformed into monstrosities and attacks Alice without provocation.
- Body Horror: Most of the humanoid enemies, where their bodies are either a deformed mess of limbs, their arms fused into their midsections, grafted with assorted machinery, or tentacles emerging from various orifices, you name it.
- Boss Rush: The last stage sees Alice fighting all the previous King Mook bosses, as well as enemies from past nightmares which weren't even hers, to reach the Dream Devourer.
- Camera Abuse: Whenever Alice gets hurt, the screen gets splattered with plenty of red. It does make sense since the whole game is in first-person.
- Cyber Cyclops:
- The boss of "Skyscraper" is a humanoid robot with a single red eye it use to fire Eye Beams on Alice. It's body is based on the stage's recurring enemies, but none of the mook have his abilities.
- The final level where Alice enters her own mind have smaller one-eyed robots as enemies.
- Deliberately Monochrome: When Alice enters Berserk mode, the screen goes greyscale, while onscreen enemies glows red. Enemies killed while Berserk mode is active turns grey like the background.
- Disintegrator Ray: Another weapon Alice could use, which fires a straight, high-temperature, orang eenergy bolt. Mooks killed by this weapon tends to get Reduced to Dust.
- Dream Land: Every single level is set in a patient's nightmare, where Alice uses her powers to purge whatever existing phobia for her clients.
- Dream Walker: Alice is a heroic example, entering the dreams of people to eliminate their nightmares. The Dream Devourer on the other hand is a hostile one.
- Dying Curse: Upon being killed, thee Dream Devourer's last words were to taunt Alice that there are more Dreamkillers out there, ready to take his place, and they will return to haunt Alice the next time she sleeps. Alice's answer?Dream Devourer: You will never be free! Never!
Alice: Huh, you know something? You've got a really big mouth. Good night, Devourer, and pleasant drams.
Dream Devourer: [dies] - Everything Trying to Kill You: Alice won't be getting any allies when gameplay is on, since each level is literally a nightmare that wants her dead.
- Flying Face: The Dream Devourer's final form is a gigantic, building-sized floating head.
- Freeze Ray: Alice can obtain a Liquid Nitrogen-powered gun that allows her to perform a Kill It with Ice on enemies.
- Gatling Good: One of the earlier, better pickups Alice can use is a minigun, very useful for mowing down hordes of mooks.
- Giant Spider: The first level, being set in nightmares of a client with Arachnophobia, predictably features huge spiders as enemies. There are even Spider People later on as enemies.
- Hidden Villain: The Dream Devourer who controls all the Dreamkillers doesn't appear until the final stages when Alice re-confront sher suppressed childhood phobias.
- I'm Not Afraid of You: In the prologue, Alice (as a child) decides to fight back against the monsters in her nightmares, and she wins. It then she realize she has special powers to help others with, changing her life forever.
- King Mook: Almost all of the bosses are giant versions of the main normal enemy type encountered, save for some of the end-stage bosses, like the Dream Devourer himself.
- Lightning Gun: Alice obtains a rather powerful one in later levels that allows her to electrocute enemies. Hold on the firing button an mooks even displays X-Ray Sparks.
- Macrozone: Part of "Toy Theatre" sees Alice shrunken to doll-sized. It's not too obvious at first, but then Alice looks up when passing one of the walls and realize the "curtains" are used receipts.
- Playing with Fire:
- Alice can use her telekinetic powers to incinerate mooks, if the player doesn't feel like maiming or flinging.
- The two Fire Elemental Dual Boss, expectedly. One of them uses normal orange fire, while the other uses purple flames.
- Psychic Powers: In the dream realm, Alice can use her mental powers to crush, maim or incinerate enemies if unarmed. Unfortunately she can only focus her energies on one opponent at a time - her psychic powers are best used for facing small amount of enemies, while groups of mooks can best be shot to bits.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: One of the bosses is a giant beehive. The game throws a giant tree monster into the area as a decoy and keeps the hive hidden behind it.
- Shared Dream: Alice can enter her client's dreams and share their nightmares.
- Show Within a Show: One nightmare leads Alice into an abandoned theatre somewhere in the distant future containing several fictional movies, most which are based on real, existing ones, complete with Parody Names - Hovno (an Alien parody where the iconic Alien Egg poster is replaced by a glowing green toilet), The Mammy, The Monitor from the Black Lagoon (the creature's head is replaced by a computer screen for good measure), a Jaws spoof with a giant nrubber ducky instead of the shark), Ping Pong (a gigantic paddle attacking New York)... and Saw 29.
- Toy Time: "Puppet Theatre" is set in the nightmares of a client with Pedophobia. Said stage resembles an oversized kid's playroom, filled with hostile Living Toys including sentient, gigantic Creepy Doll enemies who intends to rip Alice to shreds and tin soldiers whose weapons fire real ammunition.
- When Trees Attack: One of Alice's patients has crippling Dendrophobia. His nightmare manifests as a dark forest filled with hostile living trees as Plant Mooks in various sizes, and Alice needs to burn all of them down.
- Wolfpack Boss: The aforementioned "Puppet Theater" has a group of Tin Soldiers as its boss.
- Wolverine Claws: "Miller and Son", a level set in the mind of a patient with Ponophobia, has those Hockey Mask and Chainsaw-type enemies, but instead of chainsaws they wear gigantic clawed gauntlets instead.
- You Do Not Want To Know: The final cutscene have Alice regaining consciousness and waking up after she Alice destroys the Dream Devourer. One of the medics attending to her tries helping her out.Medic: She's awake!... You've given us a fright, Miss. We thought you'd never come around. Are you alright?
Alice: I have some strange dreams, but I'm fine now.
Medic: What were you dreaming about?
Alice: [remembers the last stage, and the horrifying Dream Devourer] You don't really want to know, trust me... - Your Mind Makes It Real: If Alice dies in the dream world, she dies in the real one as well.
- 'So... you think this is the end of it, do you?
Remember when you go back to sleep,
I'll be waiting... on the other side...''
