From the House of Fables, developer of the Eventide series comes Dreamwalker: Never Fall Asleep with pretty much everything one could expect from a modern hidden object game: enjoyable gameplay with some good puzzles and hidden object scenes, well-done graphics and an initially interesting story which eventually becomes somewhat hindered by supernatural elements.

We play as a psychiatrist who possesses unique powers thus is able to get into people's subconscious. The mayor of a small town asks for our help after her daughter Sandra suffers a mental breakdown and falls into a coma-like state. It turns out she was attacked (not in reality, but in her mind) by a monster, mentioning someone named Allan and after we tell the mayor about this, she suddenly becomes very hostile towards us and relieves us of our duties. So we have to take matters into our own hands and start investigating by visiting the locations that are connected to Sandra and to this mysterious Allan. The weather forecast of an approaching snowstorm doesn't make our job any easier...

Unfortunately the story isn't as good as it could have been mainly (or entirely) due to the supernatural elements. The investigation itself is smooth, the events are finely paced, but there's no need for the 'dream demon' or as the game calls it, "The Nightmare".

The strength of the game is the gameplay: there's just enough amount of hidden object scenes, with no morphing objects, but interactive elements, like a toy train which we have to stop first in order to collect for example and these are detailed, clearly drawn, so they are easy to distinguish without blending into the background. There's no backtracking as we can only access just a handful of locations at a time and it's always shown how and why we get to the mentioned places (and if this wasn't enough, our diary also contains useful information). This of course also means that we can't go back for missed collectibles, but it shouldn't be a problem either, since they are relatively easy to find (there's usually 2 on each scene, sometimes hidden in subscenes as well). Speaking of which, there are 64 in total involving 2 types: sheep and postcards.
There weren't as many minigames (the picross was nice) as there usually are in other hidden object games, but the abundance of inventory based item combinations and uses - which make the game more similar to a classic point and click adventure, than to a HOG - make up for it. I also liked the fact how we occasionally have to check back and take stuff from our car (at least in the first half, while we have access to it).

The special feature here (instead of the fashionable alchemy so common in many recent HOGs) is the mentioned dream sequence scenes and the preparations beforehand: we have to rotate and switch fragmented pieces of an image to enter the subconscious/dreamworld and eliminate distracting factors which would prevent us from focusing (loud television, ticking clock, etc.). These areas - marked with a hint of blue colour around the corners of the screen along with some disturbing sounds - offer a somewhat cheap opportunity to present some new, unusual locations related to the situation and mental condition of the given character whose subconscious we have entered.

The graphics are of the highest quality the engine of these hidden object games can offer: character models are nicely done and the snow-covered locations (along with the cozy indoor ones) are amazing to look at.

Both the sound effects and music are on an even higher level. Besides the good voice acting, I really liked how robust the sound effects were, either the powerful wind howling or just the subtle background noises. The music selection fits each scene perfectly, ranging from melancholic to suspenseful.

The production values of Dreamwalker: Never Fall Asleep are high, I wish there were no supernatural elements, but an additional twist instead, besides the revelation of the hotel owner. Mostly due to the fantastic locations, the game reminded me of Crime Secrets: Crimson Lily, even if the hypnosis feature here can't reach the levels of the crime scene investigations seen there. But even with these shortcomings and the lack of a bonus chapter I can only recommend this game to the lovers of the genre (and especially to those who love snowy environtments, like I do).

PROS
+ truly amazing looking environments
+ lots of inventory based item management
+ sharp, very detailed hidden object scenes
+ excellent audio in all aspects

CONS
- while there's a twist, the plot is still rather simplistic
- the supernatural thread feels unnecessary

RATING
7.5/10

From the House of Fables, developer of the [url=store.steampowered.com/bundle/4732/Eventide_Collection/]Eventide series[/url] comes [i]Dreamwalker: Never Fall Asleep[/i] with pretty much everything one could expect from a modern hidden object game: enjoyable gameplay with some good puzzles and hidden object scenes, well-done graphics and an initially interesting story which eventually becomes somewhat hindered by supernatural elements. We play as a psychiatrist who possesses unique powers thus is able to get into people's subconscious. The mayor of a small town asks for our help after her daughter Sandra suffers a mental breakdown and falls into a coma-like state. It turns out she was attacked (not in reality, but in her mind) by a monster, mentioning someone named Allan and after we tell the mayor about this, she suddenly becomes very hostile towards us and relieves us of our duties. So we have to take matters into our own hands and start investigating by visiting the locations that are connected to Sandra and to this mysterious Allan. The weather forecast of an approaching snowstorm doesn't make our job any easier... Unfortunately the story isn't as good as it could have been mainly (or entirely) due to the supernatural elements. The investigation itself is smooth, the events are finely paced, but there's no need for the 'dream demon' or as the game calls it, "The Nightmare". The strength of the game is the gameplay: there's just enough amount of hidden object scenes, with no morphing objects, but interactive elements, like a toy train which we have to stop first in order to collect for example and these are detailed, clearly drawn, so they are easy to distinguish without blending into the background. There's no backtracking as we can only access just a handful of locations at a time and it's always shown how and why we get to the mentioned places (and if this wasn't enough, our diary also contains useful information). This of course also means that we can't go back for missed collectibles, but it shouldn't be a problem either, since they are relatively easy to find (there's usually 2 on each scene, sometimes hidden in subscenes as well). Speaking of which, there are 64 in total involving 2 types: sheep and postcards. There weren't as many minigames (the picross was nice) as there usually are in other hidden object games, but the abundance of inventory based item combinations and uses - which make the game more similar to a classic point and click adventure, than to a HOG - make up for it. I also liked the fact how we occasionally have to check back and take stuff from our car (at least in the first half, while we have access to it). The special feature here (instead of the fashionable alchemy so common in many recent HOGs) is the mentioned dream sequence scenes and the preparations beforehand: we have to rotate and switch fragmented pieces of an image to enter the subconscious/dreamworld and eliminate distracting factors which would prevent us from focusing (loud television, ticking clock, etc.). These areas - marked with a hint of blue colour around the corners of the screen along with some disturbing sounds - offer a somewhat cheap opportunity to present some new, unusual locations related to the situation and mental condition of the given character whose subconscious we have entered. The graphics are of the highest quality the engine of these hidden object games can offer: character models are nicely done and the snow-covered locations (along with the cozy indoor ones) are amazing to look at. Both the sound effects and music are on an even higher level. Besides the good voice acting, I really liked how robust the sound effects were, either the powerful wind howling or just the subtle background noises. The music selection fits each scene perfectly, ranging from melancholic to suspenseful. The production values of [i]Dreamwalker: Never Fall Asleep[/i] are high, I wish there were no supernatural elements, but an additional twist instead, besides the revelation of the hotel owner. Mostly due to the fantastic locations, the game reminded me of [url=steamcommunity.com/id/atisz2/recommended/465170]Crime Secrets: Crimson Lily[/url], even if the hypnosis feature here can't reach the levels of the crime scene investigations seen there. But even with these shortcomings and the lack of a bonus chapter I can only recommend this game to the lovers of the genre (and especially to those who love snowy environtments, like I do). PROS + truly amazing looking environments + lots of inventory based item management + sharp, very detailed hidden object scenes + excellent audio in all aspects CONS - while there's a twist, the plot is still rather simplistic - the supernatural thread feels unnecessary RATING 7.5/10