Dreams of Another is a fascinatingly surreal mind trip

Conceptually, Dreams of Another is purposefully vague and incomprehensible as it aims to create a dreamlike environment where the rules of destruction are flipped. Developed by Q-Games, the mind behind the PixelJunk series, this philosophical adventure game has the main character use a gun whose bullets are a means of creation. It’s a strange experience, and while the demo for the game was extraordinarily short at the Day of the Devs event during GDC 2025, I came away still trying to work out the mystery of what it’s all about.

Sleepwalker, don’t be shy

The demo opens with a character, aptly named “The Man in Pajamas,” who is wearing his white and blue-striped robes in a dreamscape filled with floating yellow and red spheres. They obscure the world like a thick fog, and the only way to reveal the image behind them is to pick up a rifle and begin firing bullets in a random direction, hoping that it will clang against an object. This will effectively clarify the space, at least temporarily, as walls, lights, fountains, stairs, and people come into view.

More precisely, the game uses a technique called point cloud rendering to resolve the places that the player shoots. The effect is like trying to make out a hazy pointillist painting by using a filtering lens, which takes the form of bullets for some reason, to discern the actual picture. This design element comes from the idea that there’s no creation without destruction, a philosophy that Dreams of Another seeks to explore artfully through the vocabulary of video games. 

Mental confusion

That said, the context for why the main character is going around inside the dreams of other people, if the game’s title can be taken at face value, is unclear. That could be intentional, like a David Lynch film where the point is to interpret what’s happening instead of taking things too literally. In the demo, the character finds himself in a town courtyard where doors talk to him and unintelligible voices fill the air. Later, a manhole cover spins around the field on its side and needs to be shot so that the story can move forward. To say that this is perplexing would be an understatement.

I have the theory that the character is trying to delve into someone’s memories, à la Inception, but that would be a wild guess. The official description of the game on Steam says the story also centers around another character called “The Wandering Soldier,” so that could be the mind that our man in pajamas is exploring. Whatever’s happening, I hope to learn more about where the plot is heading when the game finally comes out.

Dreams of Another is expected to release in 2025 on PC via Steam, PS5, and PlayStation VR2.

This preview is based on a preview provided by the publisher during the Day of the Devs: San Francisco Edition event during GDC 2025.

Nick Tan

Contributing Editor

Once upon a time, Nick's parents confiscated his Super Nintendo because he was "playing it too much." He has secretly sworn revenge ever since. Nick is now a freelance writer for various video game sites. Powered by iced green tea, he typically plays RPGs of all kinds like Shin Megami Tensei, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout. In his spare time, he follows the latest season of Critical Role.