The name of the game reflects what happens when you play it

A neat little puzzle game about different dreams one has, going through each one, trying to find the multiple ways through it. Not too bad, pretty entertaining in the hub world after a while.

Creative puzzle game in the same vein as FEZ or Antichamber and sprinkles of Starseed Pilgrim.
Play if you like cryptic games and figuring out what to do on your own.
Worth way more than the asking price.

Interesting

Hello everyone, I am the sleepy philosopher game-designer, G.E.M.Simov, a goon that tends to enjoy sleeping, here to tell you about a game that goes by “Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz”, which could also be called “Triple-Quadruple-Z”, or simply “That game about sleeping”. Henceforth, I’ll refer to it as THE GAME. Sorry to those of you who lost!

Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.

Gameplay

How would this game even be described? An abstract indie puzzle platformer, perhaps? That ought to be able to tell the reader more than they need to know, as it is exactly that. When one sees it and comes to know it, that’s how it is described, yet it also feels as though that description is somewhat lacking, somewhat untrue.

It’s not that there’s no platforming, but the platforming is just there as a means of preserving the ‘game’ aspect of the game. It’s not that there’s no puzzles, but these puzzles face some issues that really make me wonder if they are, indeed, puzzles in the first place.

An example of the ‘game’ aspect being somewhat forcefully preserved would be one of the first levels the Player encounters. It’s a set of platforms, one-two-three, which go up, then repeat in the opposite direction, still going up, and then keep repeating infinitely. The Player is then tasked with jumping from platform to platform for a certain amount of time, whilst the abstract narration pops in… Creating a concept, which concept is being enforced by the platforms.

See, these platforms are endless. The Player Character can go up infinitely - which is precisely what the developer/game intends as a possibility - but in reality what is wanted of the Player is to consider the narration, conceptualize that, which is being spoken of, and then solve the puzzle - which puzzle is to fall down from the platform when new text stops appearing.

What indicates that this should happen? Well, nothing. But maybe there is something, as in a previous level the player similarly ascends a number of platforms and then gets told that there’s something down below, urging them to go back all the way down to see if there is something down below. There turns out to be something down below, which then creates the idea that the Player should backtrack, or maybe even lose their progress on purpose, to check for these newly appeared rewards.

So then the puzzle with the infinitely ascending platforms makes sense, does it not? That is true, it does. Then, following this logic, every consecutive puzzle in the game should have its solution hinted at in a previous ‘puzzle’ or level of the game, right?

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Naturally, due to the fact that this game is so tightly bound to dreams, one could argue that the fact a puzzle’s solution is not hinted at in a previous level, in a different dream, is indicative of the nature of dreams - after all, they are not all truly connected, are they?

Then, however, the game goes on and connects all dreams - in a literal sense, through a massive hub world - and in a less literal sense, but still relatively literal, as each dream comes as a point in a sequence of points. Sure, the sequences may be different, but the dreams do have connections to other dreams.

Yet there’s a large blot of lacking. Lacking in general, not lacking a certain thing. Maybe consistency, but that’s going to come slightly later.

The puzzles in the game are interesting. Almost all of them are somewhat simple, yet with that simplicity comes a measure of amusement. Then, there are the ones that don’t seem simple, the ones that appear obtuse beyond reason, the ones that seem hard for the sake of being hard.

Naturally, the game features a vast array of puzzles, a vast array of platforming sections, as well as a vast amount of waiting for things to happen. The first two things are good, the second one - not so much, but why?

Well, the game does not actually force the Player to wait directly, but does so indirectly. The Player Character (PC) moves painfully slowly. In most of the levels, the PC wobbles through at a most displeasing pace. If one was meant to experience the levels once, maybe twice at most, thn that would not be a problem, but due to the fact that the game’s puzzles are so plentiful that some span a multitude of dreams, there’s a very real likelihood that one will be forced to go through a level (dream) more than they would want to.

In addition to that, one can fail. Failure, then, requires repetition - as many of the dreams have different endings, or rather can lead to different points in the sequence of dreams, thus requiring to be played through a multitude of times. An example would be the ‘Depth’ dream, in which the Player can fail many times, whilst also having at least three possible conclusions to the dream.

What this creates is a very real sense of tedium. I am interested in finding out where this leads, how it gets resolved, but the act of finding that out it so bothersome that I don’t want to do it. The act of moving is so sluggish and unpleasant to partake in that I simply fail to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, that’s a very big issue. A humongous problem, actually, due to the fact that we’re talking about a game, and the most important thing in a game is the enjoyment of playing said game. That’s the ‘gameplay’ and its requirement to be good. In this game… That aspect is not good.

Sure, there are moments, levels, which feature increased mobility, which are a lot more enjoyable to go through than the other levels, but they are rare. Then, the issue is exasperated by the fact that there’s a ‘Reward’ system, which reward system features ‘improvements’.

One of those is the ability to fly in SOME levels. Not all, but some, according to the Reward. Unfortunately, that SOME means… The Hub world and that one level in which you unlock the reward. There’s the Reward letting you run, but then out of 10 levels you can only run in 3.

Supposedly, the Player is rewarded by the game for doing certain things, for finding secrets or going out of their way to do something specific - like jumping 200 times on a button - but then that reward is not actually a reward, because it does not really take effect.

Frankly, that’s disappointing. The game has interesting ideas, some are executed in interesting ways, but, alas… It isn’t that good a game. 1/3

--

Unfortunately, there's a limit to how long a steam review can be, so I'll urge you to take a look at my website: gemsimov.com to find the remainder of this review.
Here's a direct link ;)
https://gemsimov.com/game-reviews/f/zzzz-zzzz-zzzz---a-review

zzz

Good sleep. Zzzz

what the ♥♥♥♥ do i do where the ♥♥♥♥ do i go

An interesting and cute game. It is fun uncovering the different dreams. The game is really vague about what you are supposed to do in that dream so do open a walktrough while playing it, unless you want to be stuck on a dream for 10+ minutes.

Like several others have already said, this is a true indie gem. Doesn't try to copy others, having its unique style both in graphics and in the game itself.
It's simple, lighthearted, and it quickly draws you into this dream game.
If only my dreams were as interesting as these.