The "official title" Lovely Sweet Dream was released in 1998 for the PlayStation in which you walk around some of the most terrifying digital landscapes imaginable for 10 minutes exploring and running from a man in black. After 10 minutes, you are transported back to the title screen and you can start your adventure again in new rooms and landscapes.




The idea for the game actually came from a journal kept by developer Hiroko Nishikawa. He kept this journal for a decade notating his dreams in short little explanations and strange pictures.

You can actually check out the journal HERE and it's an outstanding piece of work filled with bizarre imagery and fragmented consciousness.

1/11/1989

Raw oysters are on a plate. They are a couple, and both have eyes. They are still alive and it looks like they are mating on the plate. After a while, I come back to the plate. The oysters are still there. This time, I grab them and put them in my mouth, but I cannot swallow them, as I feel like their eyes are watching me. With the raw oysters in my mouth, I can’t even chew, and I’m feeling sick in a greasy sweat, but I can’t do anything but to keep just standing there.

So ... this is what we are dealing with and the Japanese - in their flawless creative drive - decided to market a game based on someone's bad dreams.

The game is a simple "walk simulator" which is what kids call games with no real objective besides observing the environment with little reward. In 10 minutes you get to explore your surroundings before waking up. If you bump a character you get transported to another world. If you run into "the man in black" you go back to the title screen and start over. You never get the same world twice to begin with.


When you play the game is a constant assault on all of your senses. It flashes wild, bright, colors. It makes weird screeching noises over a heralded electronic soundtrack. The environment constantly shifts and changes sending you into confusing scenarios that defy and mock logic. There is no pattern, tirck, or goal to this game. It was just a man's portal from his subconscious to your thumbs.