Reviews - KuriJaVaba

By far the single best mod I have ever played. It's like Portal, but even more story intensive. It basically changed my life.

'Inner Dream' is the very definition of pretentiousness. I am giving 'Inner Dream' a 4/10 and that's being overly generous.

I'll start with what I liked:
1. The concept is very interesting. I like the point-and-click adventure style and exploration of the surreal and bizarre world of dreams.
2. The photography is stunning. Absolutely beautiful. The conflicted beauty of Eastern Europe is wonderfully captured. The quality of the photography really draws the player into the world of the game.
3. The music was calming and appropriately atmospheric. It fit the dream world well. I quite enjoyed the song playing over the credits.

Now what I very much did NOT like:
1. The game MADE NO SENSE. It's not that 'Inner Dream' is too surreal, it's not, it's a game about dreams, it's supposed to be surreal. The problem was the translation. "Viscous air above the city does not go through." is nota real sentence. That means nothing. Kirill Lipatov, the English translator in the credits, is a terrible translator. For a game that is 50% visual and 50% story the game dies if I can't understand the story. I only had a vague understanding of the three (four? five?) characters in the game and that was only pieced together with some guesswork at what the game was SUPPOSED to say. "Us both is me" probably meant "We are both a part of me" or "I am both you and I" but as it is 'Inner Dream' is an unbearably poor translation.
2. Parts of the game were poorly done. During 'Beasto's' voice-over the breath of the voice actor could be overheard hitting the microphone. This immediately and irreparably broke the tone of the game and drew the player out.

TL:DR summary: Great concept and visuals, terrible translation and execution. Fix it up and you may not fail miserably.

This is really the perfect game. Short enough that it doesn't overstay it's welcome, but long enough that you don't feel shortchanged. And it just draws you in like nothing else. Go Portal!