In Nightmare Critic Reviews

While at first glance I thought this was going to be a horror game in the same way that Grabbed by the Ghoulies is; that is to say very silly and a bit over the top. But I was pleasantly surprised at In Nightmare, as I said horror is not usually my thing but the subject matter here and the way it’s handled is quite masterful. I mean the whole game is extremely relatable as Bill discovers the thing that some of us have already; and that thing is that more often than not we create our own monsters via our subconscious. The situations or people we monster-fy were never as bad as we thought they were. And hopefully I haven’t said too much, because this game is a wonderful experience, despite the wonky jump button and iffy sonar system I enjoyed my time in this nightmare very much. And while there isn’t much replay value outside of trying to 100% everything; at a value price In Nightmare is more than worth it just on the story alone.

In Nightmare is a beautiful landscape touching on the process of working through trauma and bad memories. With stunning visuals and incessant monsters, you’ll feel like a child again.

Despite the confusing narrative, In Nightmare is still fun. The puzzles are varied and delightful to work through. And while not the scariest game I’ve played, there’s plenty of anxiety to be had sneaking around enemies and solving puzzles under duress.

The overall idea of In Nightmare is solid. The trapped-in-a-child’s-nightmare vibe and slow unveiling of his past traumas feel fresh.

Overall, In Nightmare hits the mark. It fits its self-defined genre, and was an otherwise decent game. Its overabundance of mechanics and reliance on standard horror game features hold the title back from being more unique than it could be. Though In Nightmare should not supplant any of your favorite horror titles, the game’s narrative and attempt to differentiate itself through its visuals might just be enough to garner a curious horror game fan’s attention.

In Nightmare could have been great, but the atmosphere and environments aren’t enough to make up for the woeful frame rate, frustrating enemy encounters, and overall tedium of the gameplay.

In Nightmare is an experience that will leave players more frustrated than frightened. The story is decent enough, if predictable, but it quickly loses steam since you can guess what'll happen and the pantomimed scenes are too vague. The gameplay teeters between fine to unplayable due to technical issues and an overall design that favors trial and error and memorization versus crafting a more dynamic challenge. All of those things rob the game of a scare factor; there's nothing really horrifying about what you're up against. The ideas are sound, but unless you have to play every single horror game out there, you can safely skip In Nightmare and not miss a thing.

In essence, In Nightmare is a narrative heavy puzzle game where all too often you must engage in more action heavy scenes in order to progress. That, coupled with frequent sections where you must navigate a room of either a single monster or multiple and avoid detection, caused the game to wear out its welcome sooner than it should have. When it’s just puzzles where you have have all the time in the world to reason out is when the game works best, and I found myself wishing for more of that as the game went on.

Unless you have the patience of a saint, I would steer clear of In Nightmare. It really is a shame, as there’s an interesting story being told from Bill’s eyes and a really vibrant and vivid world with a unique style to explore, but any semblance of gameplay is horribly hampered by a nightmare of poor gameplay designs. I’ll keep dreaming of how much I’d enjoy this game once it sees some quality of life improvements show up to fix the plethora of lackluster stealth gameplay and frustrating “puzzles”.

In Nightmare has a decent idea at its base and some nice visuals but the fundamental gameplay makes too many missteps to make this one worth playing.

In Nightmare is a pale competitor to other titles of the horror-adventure genre. Stealth that’s preferable to charge through, puzzles that are the blandest of time-wasters and a narrative of dark themes burdened with typos and poor delivery. Real nightmares threaten your sleep with terror and fear, whereas In Nightmare only threatens to bore or frustrate you to death.

A quaint art direction and an occasional well-conceived puzzle are not enough to redeem this painful slog through a child's living nightmare. Trial-and-error instakill sections and some of the worst hide and seek stealth since Sanity of Morris ensure the greatest nightmare will be your own.