Dreamweb
Encyclopedia
Dreamweb is a DOS
and Amiga
parser-free cyberpunk
top-down adventure game
first released in 1992, then later released on CD in 1994, and developed by Creative Reality and published by Empire Interactive Entertainment.
The game feature mature themes and plot, with violence and a sex scene, rare for an adventure game
of that time, which were heavily influenced by the cartoonish style of Lucasarts
adventures.
. In addition of a similar looking typeface, credits are displayed in white on black, with a loud metallic noise followed by a fade out and finally the game title appears in red on black. Much of the look and feel of the game is reminiscent of Blade Runner.
The music in Dreamweb (by Matthew Seldon) is highly regarded, helping to bring about the atmosphere which made the game admired by many at the time, which even included a bonus audio track in the Dos only CD version. The dark story is also praised, and the characters are well developed. The original game came packed with a booklet named Diary of a (Mad?) man, written by Stephen Marley
which has a far more layered and atmospheric 'prequel' story than the one in the game itself. The diary also supplies more background info on the main character (and served as a copy-protection method).
The game was criticized for its poor top-down view and overlooking many "rules" commonly observed in adventure games; for instance, while the player can examine and pick up most objects on-screen, the large part of them don't have any other purpose than to take inventory space, and there aren't any options on how Ryan speaks with other characters.
Some puzzles, although logical, are very simplistic - while in many adventure games (even on more adult adventures) the solution to pass by a NPC
is working around him (by distracting or giving some object), in Dreamweb the use of a gun is quite common and the assassination of other characters frequent, sometimes with gory results. It was also one the first mainstream
games that featured an uncensored sex scene
, which was quite controversial at the time of release, despite merely being a few top-down viewed pixels.
Dreamweb had two releases on the Amiga - the AGA version has 256 color graphics and an extra song over the standard version. It was also released on the PC, first on disk format. It's mostly the same, although the soundtracks are different. The Amiga version features extraordinarily moody electronic music, which is something the MOD format pulls off perfectly. The PC version is similar in style, although some of the compositions are different. They're all short, looping, streaming sound files, more advanced than the Amiga songs, although they suffer from low-fi encoding. There's also more songs total in the PC version. A CD version was also released for the PC, which is mostly the same except for some scattered voice acting.
), a bartender
in a futuristic dystopia
n city whose nights are plagued with strange dreams. In the last dream before the game starts, Ryan is asked by the master monk of the keepers to be the deliverer and kill the seven evils who are united to break the Dreamweb (In Diary of a (Mad?)man, however, which precedes the start of the game, it is strongly implied that Ryan is descending into psychosis and has fabricated the whole Dreamweb scenario in his mind.)
After Ryan leaves Eden's (his girlfriend) house, he learns that due to frequently arriving late to work, his boss has decided to fire him, although after hearing his explanation, he decides to give him a two week, fully paid, vacation to recover. On the TV, he learns about the name and location of the first evil: David Crane, a rock
star, who is housed in a hotel for a gig later that night. He visits his friend Louis, where he learns where a gun can be purchased. After doing so, he registers himself at the same hotel
, and after managing to get himself up to the penthouse
, killing two guards in the process, he finds Crane in bed with a woman. His partner hides under the bed and after begging for mercy, Ryan kills him and is teleported to the Dreamweb where he learns the second evil, a general
. He returns home, and while checking the news (where he finds the report of Cranes' death), he learns General Sterling is the guest of a talk show
in a TV station.
He leaves for the heavily guarded building, and finds a weak spot in the security. He shoots the guard, enters the building and gets access to the rafters of the studio
. After replacing a burned-out fuse, he controls a huge box over Sterlings' head, and drops it, thereby crushing the general to death, but also a ratings peak for the channel. Then, Ryan is transported again to the Dreamweb, where he learns the third target is very close to one of his friends, none other than Eden's boss, Sartain. He collects information from Eden's work gear while she is bathing, and leaves for the company headquarters.
Ryan destroys a security console to get access to the upper floors, but as soon as he enters, he is greeted by two guards and a fleeing Sartain. He kills both guards with the help of a gem obtained in the Dreamweb, and while reading the contents of a briefcase
grasped by the charred remains of an arm belonging to one of the guards, Ryan learns the identity of the remaining four members. Then, he chases Sartain to the rooftop where he tries to flee using a hover car, but Ryan opens fire on the vehicle, destroying it. Ryan enters the Dreamweb, and upon returning to the real world, he arrives at Julliet Chappels' destroyed house, another of the evils. Believing she died, Ryan picks up a half-burnt cartridge and returns home, where from reading its contents discovers the location of the church.
However as he can't get inside the church, he visits Diane Underwood, who is in a heavily guarded beach house
. Upon inspecting the surroundings of the house, Ryan finds the control box of the security system, and drops a bottle of water, resulting in the explosion of the turret
which releases heavy bolts of energy inside the house. Entering by the huge hole in the wall, Ryan finds Underwood chopped in half, but still alive. After learning more about the "Project 7", Ryan executes the suffering woman, where he arrives at the Dreamweb, where he learns the remaining two are growing more powerful with the death of the members.
Arriving at the church and making his way into the secret underground passages, he finds the deceased, deformed body of Father O' Rourke, which leaves only one living member: Dr. Beckett. Ryan finds his whereabouts in the subway
, linked to the church' undergrounds. As Beckett chases to kill Ryan, he is run over by a train
. Ryan returns to the Dreamweb, where he is thanked by the Master monk, but also learns his fate. He returns to the real world for the last time, where he is shot by the police for his numerous crimes. In the last images, his soul is entering the Dreamweb.
#215 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Both reviewers gave the game 1½ out of 5 stars.
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
parser-free cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
top-down adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
first released in 1992, then later released on CD in 1994, and developed by Creative Reality and published by Empire Interactive Entertainment.
The game feature mature themes and plot, with violence and a sex scene, rare for an adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
of that time, which were heavily influenced by the cartoonish style of Lucasarts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
adventures.
Overview
The game opening credits scene is reminiscent of Ridley Scott's Blade RunnerBlade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
. In addition of a similar looking typeface, credits are displayed in white on black, with a loud metallic noise followed by a fade out and finally the game title appears in red on black. Much of the look and feel of the game is reminiscent of Blade Runner.
The music in Dreamweb (by Matthew Seldon) is highly regarded, helping to bring about the atmosphere which made the game admired by many at the time, which even included a bonus audio track in the Dos only CD version. The dark story is also praised, and the characters are well developed. The original game came packed with a booklet named Diary of a (Mad?) man, written by Stephen Marley
Stephen Marley (writer)
Stephen Marley is a British author and video game designer, best known for his Chia Black Dragon series. He was born in Derby of Irish parents and was educated in Bemrose School in Derby and at Nottingham. He graduated in Social Anthropology in 1971 in London, gained an M.Sc in the Sociology of...
which has a far more layered and atmospheric 'prequel' story than the one in the game itself. The diary also supplies more background info on the main character (and served as a copy-protection method).
The game was criticized for its poor top-down view and overlooking many "rules" commonly observed in adventure games; for instance, while the player can examine and pick up most objects on-screen, the large part of them don't have any other purpose than to take inventory space, and there aren't any options on how Ryan speaks with other characters.
Some puzzles, although logical, are very simplistic - while in many adventure games (even on more adult adventures) the solution to pass by a NPC
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
is working around him (by distracting or giving some object), in Dreamweb the use of a gun is quite common and the assassination of other characters frequent, sometimes with gory results. It was also one the first mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
games that featured an uncensored sex scene
History of erotic depictions
The history of erotic depictions includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, dramatic arts, music and writings that show scenes of a sexual nature throughout time. They have been created by nearly every civilisation, ancient and modern. Early cultures often associated the sexual act with...
, which was quite controversial at the time of release, despite merely being a few top-down viewed pixels.
Dreamweb had two releases on the Amiga - the AGA version has 256 color graphics and an extra song over the standard version. It was also released on the PC, first on disk format. It's mostly the same, although the soundtracks are different. The Amiga version features extraordinarily moody electronic music, which is something the MOD format pulls off perfectly. The PC version is similar in style, although some of the compositions are different. They're all short, looping, streaming sound files, more advanced than the Amiga songs, although they suffer from low-fi encoding. There's also more songs total in the PC version. A CD version was also released for the PC, which is mostly the same except for some scattered voice acting.
Story
The player is Ryan (who can be described as an anti-heroAnti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
), a bartender
Bartender
A bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
in a futuristic dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n city whose nights are plagued with strange dreams. In the last dream before the game starts, Ryan is asked by the master monk of the keepers to be the deliverer and kill the seven evils who are united to break the Dreamweb (In Diary of a (Mad?)man, however, which precedes the start of the game, it is strongly implied that Ryan is descending into psychosis and has fabricated the whole Dreamweb scenario in his mind.)
After Ryan leaves Eden's (his girlfriend) house, he learns that due to frequently arriving late to work, his boss has decided to fire him, although after hearing his explanation, he decides to give him a two week, fully paid, vacation to recover. On the TV, he learns about the name and location of the first evil: David Crane, a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
star, who is housed in a hotel for a gig later that night. He visits his friend Louis, where he learns where a gun can be purchased. After doing so, he registers himself at the same hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
, and after managing to get himself up to the penthouse
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
, killing two guards in the process, he finds Crane in bed with a woman. His partner hides under the bed and after begging for mercy, Ryan kills him and is teleported to the Dreamweb where he learns the second evil, a general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
. He returns home, and while checking the news (where he finds the report of Cranes' death), he learns General Sterling is the guest of a talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
in a TV station.
He leaves for the heavily guarded building, and finds a weak spot in the security. He shoots the guard, enters the building and gets access to the rafters of the studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
. After replacing a burned-out fuse, he controls a huge box over Sterlings' head, and drops it, thereby crushing the general to death, but also a ratings peak for the channel. Then, Ryan is transported again to the Dreamweb, where he learns the third target is very close to one of his friends, none other than Eden's boss, Sartain. He collects information from Eden's work gear while she is bathing, and leaves for the company headquarters.
Ryan destroys a security console to get access to the upper floors, but as soon as he enters, he is greeted by two guards and a fleeing Sartain. He kills both guards with the help of a gem obtained in the Dreamweb, and while reading the contents of a briefcase
Briefcase
A briefcase is a narrow box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and other documents and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name...
grasped by the charred remains of an arm belonging to one of the guards, Ryan learns the identity of the remaining four members. Then, he chases Sartain to the rooftop where he tries to flee using a hover car, but Ryan opens fire on the vehicle, destroying it. Ryan enters the Dreamweb, and upon returning to the real world, he arrives at Julliet Chappels' destroyed house, another of the evils. Believing she died, Ryan picks up a half-burnt cartridge and returns home, where from reading its contents discovers the location of the church.
However as he can't get inside the church, he visits Diane Underwood, who is in a heavily guarded beach house
Beach house
A beach house is a house on or near a beach, generally used as a vacation or second home for people who commute to the house on weekends or during vacation periods....
. Upon inspecting the surroundings of the house, Ryan finds the control box of the security system, and drops a bottle of water, resulting in the explosion of the turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
which releases heavy bolts of energy inside the house. Entering by the huge hole in the wall, Ryan finds Underwood chopped in half, but still alive. After learning more about the "Project 7", Ryan executes the suffering woman, where he arrives at the Dreamweb, where he learns the remaining two are growing more powerful with the death of the members.
Arriving at the church and making his way into the secret underground passages, he finds the deceased, deformed body of Father O' Rourke, which leaves only one living member: Dr. Beckett. Ryan finds his whereabouts in the subway
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
, linked to the church' undergrounds. As Beckett chases to kill Ryan, he is run over by a train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
. Ryan returns to the Dreamweb, where he is thanked by the Master monk, but also learns his fate. He returns to the real world for the last time, where he is shot by the police for his numerous crimes. In the last images, his soul is entering the Dreamweb.
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1995 in DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#215 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Both reviewers gave the game 1½ out of 5 stars.
External links
- DreamWeb review at NTSC-uk
- DreamWeb review & screenshots at Adventure Classic Gaming
- UnExoticA music files page
- Dreamweb Fan Site