The wonderful tale of a boy and his bear, Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is a beautiful platformer with some excellent horror elements thrown in the mix.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is a new indie platformer set to release on June 14th, 2023 from developers Frozen Line. They were a featured developer in the Game Development World Championship with Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow, their first game. The publishers are Ravenage Games, an indie publisher who is working with a variety of genres of game and promise to be a part of “a new generation of indie publishers”. Both developers and publishers have shown lots of excitement about their new game and have been very active with the community as demos have been released.
Griffin is a small child who is the protagonist of Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow. The player has to guide him and his bear, Birly, as they explore the 3D puzzle platformer. As well as being an action adventure, the game also has horror themes as various creatures pursue Griffin and his teddy. Nightmares infiltrate Griffin’s consciousness as he dreams of the past, travelling through the light and the dark of the world he finds himself in. By his side the whole time is Birly who can help with puzzles by completing simple tasks and accessing areas Griffin can not due to his smaller size and Griffin being able to throw him over gaps and up ledges.
Much of the gameplay and themes can be compared to the likes of Little Nightmares or Inside. The horror elements and the chases are very comparable to recent games as well as the lack of communication from the characters. The player is immediately thrown into a chase sequence from a burned and decaying hand that chases Griffin as the player has to quickly figure out how to escape or start the game on a kill screen.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is a side-scrolling platformer that adds in the third dimension, as many other platformers have been doing of late. This allows chases to move from left to right to being chased forward as an unseen enemy pursues behind the camera. Much of the game relies on puzzles to move to the next screen that has to be completed by Griffin and Birly working together. This can be done by instructing the bear to turn a crank, pull a switch or act as a counterweight to help the player move forward.
As well as the puzzles, the Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow gameplay also relies on enemy encounters within each of the game’s set pieces. These differ from the chase sequences as running away is often not the answer, instead there will be a creative way to defeat these various monsters. The ways to defeat each enemy type are introduced slowly, with the player having to combine tactics as the foes become harder to defeat.
There are a few main elements in the gameplay of Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow. These are the platforming and puzzles that really lean into the action adventure elements of the game. There are also enemies that have to be defeated throughout the levels as well as larger bosses that allow for chase sequences and often utilise the 3D elements of the game. These moments of the game firmly secure the genre to also be horror, as some of the creatures can be very frightening. These sections combine excellently so one part of the game doesn’t overshadow another and the action blends perfectly with the more thrilling sequences.
The platforming in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is introduced swiftly in the opening as Griffin has to run away from a disfigured hand pursuing him. The controls for sprinting, jumping, and crouching are all quickly and effectively communicated to the player through button prompts. This section even ends with a quick time event that has the player mash a button to finish the platforming section. These platforming elements all work together seamlessly in the opening of the game. There are, however, moments later that introduce a 3D element to the platforming that can struggle.
The depth persecution is often off in these sections, as is usually the case with games due to the screen being two dimensional. When playing other games with similar elements to this, such as Inside or Little Nightmares I found it took me a moment to adjust to the depth, but once I had it was fairly easy to navigate. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this to be the case in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow as even after several hours of playing, I was still finding assessing where I was in relation to an object in the foreground or background to be extremely hard.
I found that this mostly affected moments of platforming as I would misjudge where I was in relation to a gap and end up falling down. Towards the start of the game, Griffin has to climb the interior of a building with the help of Birly who is at the top. The wooden planks that the player has to jump up spiral around the building meaning the 3D element of the game fully comes into play.
It was in this section of the game I learned two things, firstly: I did not yet have the spatial awareness needed for this room, and secondly: The game has fall damage, and it is very willing to make me watch Griffin plummet to his death over and over again. While I understand that fall damage is necessary in some games it feels nearly pointless in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow. This is because a death will simply reset the player to the bottom of the section they are climbing. It seems it would be no different if Griffin simply landed and then had to jump up the whole section again.
This seems like a strange element of the game to flag as a negative. The problem is, however, that the death animation Griffin goes through for every death is fairly lengthy, and when the depth perception is as difficult to navigate as it is in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow this animation will be repeated a lot. I found I spent much of the game falling from a gap I had thought was small enough, only to have to watch Griffin crumple and Birly raise his little bear arms in sadness while I sighed and waited to respawn.
There were also moments where I had to die in order to know the trap ahead. An example of this is a boss section near the beginning of the game where Griffin has to remain out of sight of a large creature. The creature grabs the scenery Griffin is hidden behind until eventually Birly helps Griffin get away by causing a distraction. If you don’t know this is going to happen most players will try to run leading to an instant death. Another is a log trap that falls from nowhere killing anyone that walks into it. As far as I can tell this death is inevitable on an initial playthrough and the lengthy respawn is unavoidable.
Beyond this the platforming in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow was really fun. The game maintains a tight screen ratio around Griffin that allows the player to see where they need to travel to. The sizes of the gaps Griffin can make also remain consistent allowing me to know exactly when I could make a jump and times I had to sprint jump instead. I also enjoyed throwing Birly over gaps and asking him to pull levers and flip switches in order to help Griffin pass through the treacherous terrain. This added a fun and unique element to the game that I haven’t seen in other such platformers. Having another character assist was a really fun asset.
Alongside the platforming that takes up much of the game there are also many puzzles in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow that add some variety to the gameplay. The first of these that really stood out to me was in a study area. After a chase sequence Griffin and Birly enter into an office and have to find a way to access a hidden door behind some bookshelves. After spending a fair amount of time sending Birly from switch to switch I realised I could backtrack a few rooms and find an item I could use to repair one of the switches.
While the puzzle itself wasn’t terribly complicated the clues left around the room were very helpful when I did get stuck at one point. A chest that needed to be slid across the room was surrounded by scratch marks that let the player it could be moved. After a while of wondering how I could fix one of the switches I noticed Birly was looking towards the door, the way we had just come. It was only then I realised I could travel back to that part of the level and complete the puzzle. Birly’s help is never pointed out by the game, the player discovers it.
There were other ways in which the game would assist with puzzles, all equally subtle. One of the main ways this is achieved in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is through red ribbons that sit on top of objects Griffin has to either climb or throw Birly up to. The game also uses sound to do the same thing. In one puzzle, the player has to use a cage holding a spider to prop up a platform. The spider makes constant noise until the player approaches it, this is very helpful and works really well in many puzzles throughout the game.
I loved the ways in which the bear helped the player in Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow. At no point is the player told to look to Birly for assistance if they get stuck. His movements, however, are exaggerated in such a way that I noticed right away that he was no longer my little shadow following me around the room. Griffin can also give Birly simple commands that could also help when stuck in a puzzle. I was sometimes unsure of which objects I could interact with so being able to suggest a job for Birly let me know what I could also interact with.
The reason I had to use this at some points was, unfortunately, because many of the object interactions would only work when Griffin was placed at exactly the right angle. This wasn’t a huge issue in many situations, I could just manoeuvre around the object I needed until it started moving. However, I had one issue where the game was soft locked for me as I tried to move a bike Birly was staring at for 40 minutes before finding the perfect position I had to be in to get it moving. To call this moment frustrating would be an understatement. Not to mention Birly staring at the bike was starting to feel mocking and I inched around it.
Being unable to pick up certain objects was also an issue during certain chase sequences, another of the core gameplay elements of the game. Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow has a large section of the game dedicated to light adverse spiders that can be fended off with torches scattered around the caves the player finds themself in. One of the chases involves one of the spiders chasing Griffin and Birly, grabbing the bear and spinning him in a web. Griffin has to swipe the web with the flames to free him but if you can’t grab the torch in time this section becomes very frustrating.
A chase being annoying is, unfortunately, one of the main ways to kill any tension in a moment that should be horror. The more times I died the less scary I found the spider. It also meant that one of my other grievances, the long death animation, was constant in this section too. This was a rare example of an unsuccessful chase segment though as I found many of the others very fun. An early example of this is when Griffin has to run down a corridor that collapses around him. This takes advantage of the 3D element of the game as he runs from the camera.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow has a delightful art style that compliments both the moments in a dark cruel world, as well as the bright and beautiful colour that can be seen in lighter moments. The character design for both Griffin and Birly are adorable, meaning I felt very protective of both as they made their way through a sometimes cruel world. The art in the background is also fantastic. A common image throughout is the lighthouse that Griffin and Birly are making their way towards. This lighthouse is absolutely stunning along with many of the other cutscenes.
The game is also very well made, suffering no frame rate drops or graphical errors while I was playing. Made using Unreal Engine it is no surprise that Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow runs as well or as beautifully as it does. Particularly as it received an award in the Indie Cup for its use of the engine.
The sound design in the game is also very well done. When in a chase the tension is built through the music and eerie soundscape that would feel right at home in something from the horror genre. There were a few moments where the levels felt a little off as some of the lighter, more calming music was a little loud to have the zen effect it was clearly supposed to. The sound can also assist with the puzzles, such as the spider mentioned earlier that lets the player know it has to be used as a part of the solution.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is a wonderful sidescroller that shows great potential from a clearly passionate and skilled new developer. While there are some teething problems with the 3D elements of the game and some object collision issues that can make puzzles frustrating, the game definitely demonstrates what it does right far more than what it does wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing and can’t wait to see what Frozen Line will be up to next. Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow comes out on June 14th and it well worth checking out.
