Dreams Early Access: Impressive First Impressions

The highly ambitious game creation game for PlayStation 4 makes its way into early access. For those who don't know...

What is Dreams?

Dreams is a PlayStation 4 titled that has been in development for more than 5 years now. Media Molecule, the brains behind LittleBigPlanet (1&2) and Tearaway, are also the brains behind that immensely ambitious title: Dreams. The game revolves around the same values of LittleBigPlanet back in 2006: Play, Create, Share. Although instead of making levels, like in LBP, players will be able to create entire games and on top of that music, animations, and more… You can make all of your wildest DREAMS! Heh, ahem... I've always seen Dreams as, potentially, one of the most influential and impactful games on the world and industry of video games. It's basically the most user-friendly game engine to ever exist combined with its affordable operating system the PlayStation 4. Anyone can create games, using a DualShock 4, from the comfort of their couch! Lastly, much like LittleBigPlanet, Dreams offers those who aren't interested in the creative process an nearly endless supply of games to play as long as the Dreams community is alive.

Early Access

An early access version of Dreams released today. It costs 30 USD for entry and is specifically targeting creators as it comes with the full suite of creation tools, but no campaign. When the official release of Dreams releases early adopters will receive it free of charge. Dreams early access has a limited number of spots available so buy it asap if you want in!

First Impressions

With only almost 2 hours of play time, Dreams makes great impressions. It's clear that media Molecule knows, to an extent, the power of their game and subsequently, they know that could be quite overwhelming. The first couple hours of the game ease you into its basic controls and features. The very beginning of the game teaches you how to control your imp, a living cursor, and use it to move objects or control characters. After learning the bare-bones basics the player is allowed access to the meat of Dreams: “dream surfing” and “dream shaping”. Dream surfing is the entirety of the community made content. Here you can play Media Molecule's games as well as other players' games. Popular and quality content is presented to you first and foremost, but a robust set of filters and a search bar allow you to find anything you may be seeking. The creative mode is… let's be frank. It's insane. I wasn't allowed to access the creative mode until I completed the first creative tutorial. After that, you can go into the creative wilds…but beware. Even as someone who loves to experiment to learn, I was having a bit of trouble. I was planning on it anyway, but I advise anyone to complete at least a few tutorials or the tutorials that sound useful to what they want to create with dreams before delving into creating from scratch. With that being said, below is a video by PlayStation Prospect showcasing some of what has already been made by different Dreams users and it looks very promising for the future.

Now on top of all this, there is also remixing. Remixing is basically taking something someone else made, a game, song, etc, and putting their twist on it… or changing it drastically. This may be a great place to start for those intimidated by Dream's extensive creation tools. As a kid, I used to draw out video game levels and as someone who loved to create in LittleBigPlanet or Tony Hawk's Create-A-Park years ago, Dreams is beyond amazing. The potential behind all of the options and creation tools that Dream’s offers and the possibility of additions to that tool-set in the future make for a fantastically promising video game, but even more a fantastically friendly video game creation tool.

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I hope one day I can be competent enough with Dreams to create something that truly awesome and entertaining and something that people love! It will definitely take countless hours of learning and practice, but what doesn’t? I am looking forward to the lengthy and fun journey to becoming a Dreams aficionado. Most of all I can barely wait to be surprised and blown away by what members of the Dreams community across the globe create! The creation of a calculator in LittleBigPlanet was a big deal back in 2006, so I cannot imagine what the “impossible made possible” of Dreams is. Cheers!

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Have a creation in Dreams you want me to check out? Let me know how to find it down below and I’ll be more than happy to give it a go!

What are your thoughts on Dreams? Have you or will you jump into early access? What's the first thing you would want to create? Let me know down below!