Lucy Dreaming is a British “point and click” adventure game from Tall Story Games Ltd. Fans of classic LucasArts titles will feel right at home here, as Lucy Dreaming employs similar gameplay design and humorous writing as those titles. Lucy Dreaming is about Lucy, a plucky young girl who suffers from nightmares and uses her lucid dreaming abilities to escape from them. All the while in reality, Lucy is investigating an old mystery in her local town of Figgington.
Firstly I would like to mention that Lucy Dreaming originally released on PC in 2022 and this review is for the new Playstation 5 version. Unfortunately, that means trading a mouse for a joystick but I will say that the controls are perfectly fine. Players can use the directional buttons and bumpers to navigate menus with ease.
Her Majesty
I really appreciated how earnestly British Lucy Dreaming is. The town of Figgington is dreary, rainy, and is a host to a variety of “colourful” characters. The standout is Lucy herself, a curious “go-getter”. From the depressingly muddy village fete, to the mundane Fig hall, the game really captures and amplifies the British experience. The game uses Lucy as a comedic commentary device to explore the idea of Britain being fairly mundane and is very successful in doing so. The writing is very smart and genuine, often having Lucy pointing out the mundane absurdities of Figgington and its inhabitants.
Golden Slumbers
The game is split into two states: reality and dream exploration. It is called Lucy Dreaming after all. While reality is fairly normal, Lucy’s dreams are strange and filled with whacky characters. While weird and wonderful, I found that I actually preferred exploring Figgington over Lucy’s dreams. I found that puzzles in the dreams often had obscure solutions, leaving me stuck for long periods of time and resorting to a guide at some points. This was also the case in the tutorial section of Lucy Dreaming, which I found to be the most frustrating of all. This may be due to my lack of experience in adventure games, but I feel that it should be noted. I did enjoy the change of scenery provided by Lucy’s dreams, with the chips dream being my favourite.
In beautiful dreams…
Perhaps my favourite parts of Lucy Dreaming are the voice acting and the graphics. The variety of British accents is impressive and just over the top enough to be funny without being grading. The voice acting is diverse and enhances the writing and engagement from the player. My personal favourites are the shop clerk, the manservant and of course Lucy herself. Moving onto graphics, I thought they were fantastic. Character designs are unique and expressive of personality. The colour palette is consistent and carefully crafted, setting the mood of each location perfectly. Everything in the world is as detailed as the pixel count will allow.
It would be wrong of me to not mention the soundtrack which is just as whimsical as the rest of the game. Although I did find that some tracks became grading if you stuck around the same area for too long (the bloody tutorial).
Verdict
After my experience with Lucy Dreaming, I am definitely a lot more interested in the genre. I found the game endearing and charming, although sometimes frustrating. The world is interesting to explore, filled with delights and witty character writing. However some puzzle solutions should have been hinted at more. I think fans of adventure games will love Lucy Dreaming, and newcomers to the genre should definitely check it out.
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