When Sony’s original PlayStation console launched on these shores nearly 30 years ago now, somewhat predictably I, like many others, found myself enraptured by the likes of Ridge Racer, Tekken and Wipeout. Indeed, those three titles felt utterly emblematic of that era to me, but there was one other – Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – which kept me firmly in the bosom of Sony’s debut lump of gaming silicon. Funny, witty and a challenging test of the old grey matter, Discworld was one of my favourite launch titles for Sony’s debut home console and a timely reminder that the humble point and click genre was present at the very genesis of PlayStation.
Though it might seem like it to console gamers in recent times, crafting heady point and click adventures like this isn’t some sort of lost arcane art, but rather a lively confection formed from a steady injection of sly humour and great puzzle design. Who knew that was the secret, eh? Tall Story Games knew, that’s who. A British based studio situated in the leafy environs of Telford and founded by creative powerhouse husband and wife team, Emma and Tom Hardwidge, Tall Story Games is certainly a practiced hand when it comes to crafting point and click adventure efforts and Lucy Dreaming arguably represents the qualitative apex of their genre output.
Lucy Dreaming PS5 Review
The Best Point And Clicker To Come Along In A Good While
Unfolding in the sleepy, yet fictional British Midlands enclave of Figgington (Tall Story Games has even crafted a delightful little website for the place – figgington.co.uk) in an impressive bit of commitment to the setting), Lucy Dreaming centers in on its titular hero who must uncover the secret behind a prolific local murder, all the while navigating the treacherous familial waters of her own *deeply* odd family.
From the off, it is abundantly clear that Lucy Dreaming is a love letter to the halcyon days of the point and click genre and most keenly, this is felt in the audiovisual presentation that feels like a proper throwback in all the best ways. Rendered in the sort of pixel art that would have been considered cutting-edge on the chunky VGA PC displays of the early 1990s, and indeed also the original PlayStation hardware, Lucy Dreaming’s distinctly retro visuals are ageless – neatly evoking that earlier era, while also being imbued with a sort of quirky and whimsical charm that allows it to stand shoulder to shoulder with more contemporary genre efforts.
Despite running on PS5 (and PS5 Pro by natural extension), Lucy Dreaming very deliberately makes little use of the elevated technical horsepower afforded by Sony’s latest generation of home consoles, outside of the provision of much welcomed lightning quick loading times. This is important, not least because it allows Lucy Dreaming to seem entirely like a game out of time in the best way. With its traditional 2D backgrounds and sprite based characters, not to mention a simplified point and click UI, Lucy Dreaming very feasibly could have been pulled off very deftly on original PlayStation hardware, ultra-swift loading times aside.
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Though clearly there is a hearty, nostalgic meal to be had with Lucy Dreaming’s delightfully retro visuals, it’s also true that while detailed and vibrant in their own way, the various locales glimpsed in the various environs seen around Figgington (and beyond) aren’t quite as memorable as those seen in the classics that developer Tall Story Games have been proudly influenced by. Certainly, there is nowhere in Figgington that quite evokes the quiet spectacle of the swamp on Monkey Island 2’s Scabb Island, for example and it seems like a big part of this is that Lucy Dreaming’s visuals don’t quite embrace the sort of wealth of foreground detail that the likes of LucasArts games strove to engineer in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Deftly complimenting the visual side of things is the audio aspect of Lucy Dreaming’s aesthetic design. With hugely entertaining and frequently funny voice acting performances doled out by its talented cast, together with a choice of foot-tapping AdLib and Roland MT-32 sound options, which will be familiar to anyone who fiddled around with such things on their PCs back in the early 1990s, Lucy Dreaming’s soundscape emphatically dovetails with its visuals to make Tall Story Games latest effort feel like a true love letter to that earlier time where the point and click genre was far more prominent than it is now.
Where Lucy Dreaming absolutely does elevate itself from being just a mere tribute act to the greatest hits of the genre however, is in its overarching game design. Lucy Dreaming is steadfastly a point and click adventure with well designed puzzles that never really stretch credulity or in which the solution never really feels too obscure. There are some welcome quality of life design wrinkles in here too, which help to make things a little easier such as Lucy’s diary keeps you focused on what you need to do next and a natty mechanic which allows you to double click on any entrance or exit in a scene and instantly take you there, rather than being forced to watch a lengthy walking animation to reach the same destination.
Where Lucy Dreaming separates itself from genre efforts of the past is in its use of the titular dreams that our hero experiences. While there are a raft of objectives to be completed, progression is essentially gated by the fact that Lucy needs to dream (hence the title), which then allows her to progress on with the rest of the story. As it turns out, dreaming isn’t as straightforward as just putting your head down and closing your eyes, but rather Lucy needs to collect a number of special items which must be combined in her dream box in order to effect the sort of dreams she wants to have.
The kicker however, is that in these dreams, the items that Lucy collects in one can be used in another and these dreams vary wildly in content and composition, from running away from a pursuing a off-screen monster, to taking part in a comedy stand-up routine (complete with a trio of appropriately grotesque and monstrous judges). It’s the sort of thing that both Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer would approve of, I’m sure.
Arguably though, beyond the neat dreaming mechanic, it’s really in the highly entertaining and often amusing setting and cast of characters that Lucy Dreaming soars. With a dash of Terry Pratchett and more than a teaspoonful of Roald Dahl slushing around in there, the various offbeat circumstances that you’ll encounter in Lucy Dreaming rarely fail to delight. From satanic librarians (complete with decidedly demonic book management systems), to obstinate child pram pushers, cake obsessed priests, seemingly lobotomised corner shop staff and just about everything else you can think of in-between, Lucy Dreaming’s eclectic cast of characters which always entertain and amuse with aplomb.
The writing is tip-top too, with some crackingly sardonic dialogue that riffs on everything from pop culture Easter eggs in other point and click games and 1980s/1990s pop culture, all the way through to some insightful commentary about the inflation of Wagon Wheels (or wagon wheelies) as they’re known here, Lucy Dreaming unleashes a kaleidoscope of scattershot references that rarely fail to land with an expected cheeky grin. There are even some references to previous Tall Story Games titles thrown in there too – though I suspect that only PC owners that have enjoyed the likes of Heir of the Dog would really be able to pick up on this.
Ultimately though, this also hints more directly at Lucy Dreaming’s rather sizable caveat regarding its humour. Which is to say that with its northern British vernacular and very British brand of cheeky humour, Lucy Dreaming’s various gags and references will resonate more strongly if you’re from this decidedly normal island. Luckily, I exist on said landmass so I happily found much of Lucy Dreaming’s particular brand of comedy to be appropriately face-creasing.
The best point and click adventure effort to come along since Thimbleweed Park, Lucy Dreaming is a relentlessly entertaining genre effort that deftly blends well structured puzzle design with the sort of delightfully irreverent and offbeat humour that will have you grinning and quietly chuckling like a loon throughout its duration. A great point and click offering that you can enjoy with a nice cup of PG Tips, though I suspect that a cuppa of Yorkshire Tea would be more in line with what the creators intended.
Lucy Dreaming is out now on PS4 and PS5.
Review code kindly provided by PR.