Shape of Dreams Review – Bite-Sized Battles Done Right

Shape of Dreams Review
Thanks to the genre being ubiquitous, I play a lot of roguelikes. They’ve definitely been a go-to genre for developers over the past several years. One of the biggest frustrations of roguelikes comes via the early game, when your character is as powerful as overcooked spaghetti and every run ends with an abrupt defeat. However, it seems like some recent roguelikes seem to be built for fun even at the start. Case in point: Shape of Dreams.

A World Built for Travelers
Shape of Dreams is one of those action games that has enough narrative to kickstart the gameplay, but not enough to get in the way. You play as one of eight Travelers, and your assignment is to travel through The Rapids to take down the final boss, the First Dreamer. Sure, there’s more, and it’s coherent enough that the whos and whys are covered.

Dreams are a great premise because they often don’t make logical sense and juxtapose disparate elements. In the Shape of Dreams, this dictates the level design and art style. Although a little gauzy and at times lacking definition, the painterly graphics are insanely colorful. The action takes place in a series of small areas across eight visually distinct biomes. The Rapids are geologically diverse and always interesting to look at. Speaking of visual engagement, the game’s combat and spell effects are kinetic and impressive, adding a lot to every battle.

Where the Action Is
The heart of Shape of Dreams is combat, and it’s mostly a great time. Each character can equip up to four memories, which are essentially special attacks, spells, or weapon buffs. Additionally, the memories are strengthened by up to three augments. There are over 100 memories, so each run and build is almost guaranteed to be unique. In between runs, the character can move through a constellation-like skill tree, which is unfortunately rather arcane and far more complicated than it needs to be.

Each run consists of moving through a number of interconnected small areas until all have been visited, ending with a boss fight. However, players can only move to an adjacent link on the map. There are a couple of reasons for this. First and foremost, there is a persistent enemy called a Hunter who pursues the player across the map. Sometimes returning to an area means that the Hunter has changed it, and it must be cleared. Often, Hunters can be avoided by carefully plotting through the grid of areas. When they can’t, it almost always means the end of a run, especially in single-player mode.

As in most roguelikes, each area becomes increasingly challenging, with more enemies and stronger foes. Areas with swarms of enemies and elites with area-of-effect attacks are especially difficult, as the game’s dodge is limited. All of the characters’ memory special attacks are on a cooldown timer, which makes every battle very dynamic and engaging. I appreciated that, except for the bosses, most fights are bite-sized battles and not protracted slogs.

Some Rough Edges
Shape of Dreams has a core loop that is quite addictive and a lot of fun. But there are some mechanical elements that can be frustrating. None of them are deal-breaking. First, moving around the constellation of linked areas is very janky with the controller, and text boxes obscure a lot of the map. The game will not let the player leave an area until all items have been either picked up or recycled. Finally, simply negotiating and highlighting the character’s selection of memories and their buffs is very finicky with a controller as well. Overall, the game’s UI, menus, and systems outside of combat need a little refinement. There are other little frustrations, too, like having to buy healing at a shrine before a boss, or the fact that only two character types are unlocked at the start.

Shape of Dreams was built for co-op and the types of synergies and strategies that make combat against swarms of enemies so much fun. The later levels in a run, the Hunter fights, and the bosses can feel poorly balanced for solo players. That said, there’s still enjoyment to be had even for single players.

Jumping In, Staying In
Shape of Dreams does many things very well. It counters the roguelike problem of early game frustration by giving players lots of powerful and impressive tools right from the start. The flow of combat and the variety of builds have a lot of depth. The bite-sized battles are perfectly paced, though probably more satisfying for a group than a solo player. Shape of Dreams definitely has that compulsive, “just one more run” element at its core, and it’s a great scaffold for more content down the line.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***

The Good

Addictive combat
Lots of cool abilities
Tons of build variety
Compact levels

79

The Bad

Single player balance needs attention
Some UI frustration with controller
Story is pretty barebones