Koshmar: The Last Reverie Preview
Sometimes, watching hours of trailers and pre-release gameplay leaves you as confused about a game as you were to start with. Other times, even a short glimpse of a game cements a strong impression. You know immediately what the game is trying to go for in both story and mechanics. Recently, I had the chance to get a very short, hands-off sneak peek at Koshmar: The Last Reverie. The developers were on hand to fill in some details. While a lot about the game remains to be seen, I was definitely intrigued by what I saw.
Spot the Influences
Koshmar: The Last Reverie is a third-person action-adventure with some roguelite elements. It’s the second game from Polish developer Purple Ray Studio, a 17-member team of industry veterans. With a visual style that could be a close cousin to Netflix’s Arcane, the setting, story and mechanics have been influenced by a few other action games as well. The team happily admits that games like Lies of P, Control and Alice: Madness Returns all helped shape the vision. That makes Koshmar: The Last Reverie sound derivative. It doesn’t feel that way.
Details of the game’s narrative are still a little hazy, but the broad strokes are there. You play as Violet, a teenager in a small town in 19th-century Europe who is exploring the idea of lucid dreaming, in part to escape a hum-drum waking life. Violet literally sleepwalks through her days so that she can adventure in her nighttime dreams. The waking/dreaming duality shows up not just in the story and characters, but in the combat mechanics, too.
Not unlike the real plagues of the time, Violet’s daytime world is beset by a psychological sickness that produces a growing madness. Violet must enter nightmares and Nightmare Rifts to obtain new weapons and abilities as she searches for a source and a cure. Like many games, the idea of ever-changing sanity as both a blessing and a curse is an important thematic element. Koshmar: The Last Reverie is clearly is obviously going for action mixed with some uneasy psychological conflicts.
Night and Day
At least from the little bit I saw, combat looked stylish, fluid, and visually impressive. There are a range of both “night” and “day” weapons, each with unique skills, upgrades and ultimate attacks. They cover the usual action adventure bases, from swords and magic to spears, daggers and a scythe. The developers note that there are at least 500 unique combinations of weapons, skills and upgrades.
As you can probably imagine, combat and exploration take place in both the daytime realism of a 19th century setting, and in the anything-goes nightmare realm. The game is a roguelite, which implies that Violet’s progression through the story will include a fair number of repeated visits through some procedurally generated levels, with persistent rewards to increase her effectiveness.
Koshmar: The Last Reverie isn’t being described as a Soulslike, but according to the developers, success in combat will require precise timing, strategic positioning, and use of environmental objects and the environment. Going by the list of acknowledged influences, players can probably expect some platforming and puzzle-solving too.
Just a Glimpse
Admittedly, trailers and video previews highlight the most impressive aspects of a game, but as a fan of Arcane and the graphic novel visual aesthetic, I was definitely drawn in by the game’s art direction. Koshmar: The Last Reverie promises a lot, but it comes from a team of experienced developers and already has a strong identity. I’m certainly looking forward to getting my hands on it when it releases later this year.
