RoguedexPart 2 (May 2024) · #10 of 13 in that tierWatch the moment (1:14:43)
Dreamscaper
- Developed by
- Afterburner Studios
- Published by
- indie.io, Maple Whispering Limited
$24.99
By night, delve deep into your subconscious and discover powerful artifacts to conquer your nightmares. By day, explore the city of Redhaven and build relationships to unlock the power of your dreams. DREAM. DIE. WAKE. REPEAT.
Consensus
C70.3/100
Steam players87.8% positiveVery Positive3,185 reviews
Metacritic ↗80/100Users: 6.8/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈95.6K copies · ≈$1.4M gross
What creators say
Ranked Jun 2023 · #10 of 14 in that tierWatch the moment (0:47:25)
Ranked Apr 2025 · #1 of 6 in that tierWatch the moment (1:12:09)
What players say
A Hades-style isometric action roguelite from Afterburner Studios in which you play Cassidy, alternating between building relationships in the waking city of Redhaven and fighting nightmares in procedurally generated dream dungeons, with a story centred on anxiety, isolation, grief and loss.
Dreamscaper is well liked by both critics and players, with a Metacritic critic score in the low 80s (80 listed on Steam for PC, 82 on the Switch Metacritic page, 12 reviews, 92% positive) and a Steam rating of Very Positive (about 88% of roughly 3,200 reviews). The praise clusters around the acrobatic dodge-heavy combat, the build variety, the painterly dream visuals, the soundtrack, and an emotionally sincere mental-health story. The recurring reservations are the daytime overworld (dialogue, crafting and gifting felt like padding to many), combat balance and clarity, and a rough start for new players. Metacritic user score is noticeably lower (6.8 from only 28 ratings), which reflects a small, more divided sample. The game went through Early Access before its 1.0 release on 5 Aug 2021 and players mention later patches (such as 1.1) that nerfed overpowered leech effects; there is no sign it was abandoned. Steam lists it as Windows-only, with console versions covered by the Switch critic reviews.
Players love
- Fluid, dodge-centred melee combat with weighty acrobatic moves; critics called it fun and rewarding
- Large amount of build variety from weapons, dodges, shields, elemental affinities and artifacts, so runs feel different (players mention fire/lightning/water combos such as extinguish crits)
- Emotionally sincere story about anxiety, grief and loss; several reviewers (including But Why Tho) called the mental-health focus well done and powerful
- Striking painterly, surreal dream-world art and atmosphere
- Soundtrack widely praised as atmospheric and non-repetitive over long sessions
- The day/night structure ties narrative to mechanics, with relationships unlocking permanent upgrades (critics cited the synergy of story and roguelike loop)
- Good pick-up-and-play pacing: players like being able to do a floor and save after bosses, and a difficulty ramp that can be raised after the first clears
- Calmer, cosier alternative to Hades for people who want a lower-pressure action roguelite
Common complaints
- The waking overworld is the most criticised part: NPC dialogue felt slow, cringey or skippable to many players, and some called the dialogue the weakest element
- Combat balance: life-leech / heal-on-hit effects are regarded as far stronger than other stats even after a nerf, and some weapons and moves feel clearly worse than others
- Some players find movement and combat clunky or slow, with attacks lacking punch compared with Hades
- Visual clarity problems: busy effects and sparkles make it hard to tell important items or telegraphs from decoration
- Enemy variety wears thin over long playtimes (one 60+ hour reviewer called enemies samey)
- Story and characters outside the core emotional themes were called simple or forgettable by some players
- Confusing onboarding: several negative reviews say the tutorial bombards you with controls and mechanics and leaves you without direction
Can feel tedious
- Overworld conversations and gifting/relationship chores that many players skip without feeling guilt
- Crafting described as pointless by a 100%-completion reviewer
- Grinding weapons up and hunting for completion, which some enjoy but others find repetitive (the same player enjoyed the weapon grind but not the rest)
- Dungeon layouts and encounters repeating immediately after a failed run, cited by a new player as frustrating
- Early difficulty spikes and being thrown out after a scripted first boss loss for unprepared newcomers
- Sluggish movement and slower pacing compared with Hades-style peers
- The grind: a positive reviewer calls it insane, and a negative one dislikes that run unlocks and purchases vanish when a run ends
What's unique
- Day/night loop: daytime social exploration of Redhaven and nighttime dream dungeons feed each other, with relationships giving permanent power
- Direct, personal treatment of mental health (anxiety, isolation, grief) that is rare in action roguelites
- Bosses are embodiments of emotions such as Isolation, Fear and Loss
- Lucid powers that let you manipulate the environment and surreal artifacts in the dream levels
- Nintendo Life summed it up as lacking originality in genre terms but making up for it in heart
Players want
- Better onboarding and tutorial: negative reviewers describe being overloaded with controls and mechanics early and not being told about dodge and mana
- Clearer in-game guidance or map for the overworld, since some players report getting stuck with no direction
- Rebalance leech and other dominant stats and underperforming weapons and moves to make more builds viable
- Improve combat feedback and readability (punchier hits, clearer audio and visual telegraphs)
- Make the overworld relationship and crafting systems less padded or more optional/skippable, and tighten the writing
- Smooth the early difficulty curve
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Action RoguelikeRogue-liteActionIndieRPGDungeon CrawlerSingleplayerFemale ProtagonistReplay ValueAdventure
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Tier list Part 2 (2024)
Dreamscaper is a story-heavy action roguelite split between a hub world, where you explore a city and befriend NPCs, and dungeon runs. PepperHead is impressed by its visuals, mood, theme and the care put into the outside-world content and unlocks. His problem is the gameplay, which he finds slow, repetitive and low on animation cancelling. He hasn't finished it but wants to go back for the story, and he lands it in the middle of B tier.
Liked
Disliked