Broken Dreams

I will leave the cat here, so that everybody who passes by can pet it and give it a thumbs up and awards.
⡏⠐⢌⡙⠲⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⡤⠖⠛⣛⢳
⠀⡇⠀⠀⠑⡄⠼⠗⠒⠒⠒⠒⠿⠁⢀⠔⠋⢀⠀⡇
⠀⣧⠀⠠⠊⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠢⡀⠀⣾
⠀⢹⣼⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠰⣴⠇
⠀⢠⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿
⠀⢸⡇⠀⠀⠶⢦⡀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⡤⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿
⠀⠤⢷⢒⣲⡄⠀⠀⣄⣄⡤⠈⠀⠀⣴⣒⢲⠯⠄
⠀⠈⠉⠳⢦⣤⠖⠛⢲⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣤⠶⠋⠉
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡏⠀⢿⠋⠉⠉⠉⠉⠙⣦
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢧
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⠆⠀⠀⡇⠀⢠⠀⠀⢸⣇
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡿⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⣟⡀⠀⣸⣍⢳⡄
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠓⠒⠒⠺⣅⣴⠿⠥⣼⠗⣋⡼⠁
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉

Greetings, fellow gamers. I come from the frozen tundras of Icesta. Where the snowfall is an eternal dance and ice magic courses through our veins. Gaming is a solace to my kind, and my vast experience has spanned many worlds and platforms.

So, when I encountered "Broken Dreams", I was hoping for an immersive experience, similar to the heart-wrenching tales of love and loss we share during our long winter nights. But alas, this game has left me colder than an Icestan blizzard.

Firstly, I need to address the glaring resemblance of "Broken Dreams" to "The Company of Myself". This is not just deja-vu, my friends. It's more like they've taken a fur pelt from another animal and tried to pass it off as their own. A travesty in my culture.

The artwork, though promised to be 'beautiful' and 'hand-drawn', feels akin to the hasty ice sculptures of an apprentice. Sure, there is beauty in simplicity, but in a world teeming with pixel art masterpieces, it's hard not to notice the rough edges. On my icy world, half-hearted effort in any art form isn't something we celebrate.

The voice-acting? Oh, by the frosted furs! The male voice actor was acceptable, but the female, it seemed like she had just emerged from a cold swim in Icestan waters; her voice felt off-putting and mismatched to the somber atmosphere. Imagine a lone wolf trying to sing with the voice of a chirpy bird; it just doesn't sit right.

As for the mechanics, I commend the concept of shadow friends. In Icesta, we have ethereal companions, too. However, the game's execution left much to be desired. At times, it felt like trying to control an icy gust with my bare paws – erratic and unpredictable.

Its story, centering around unrequited love, could have been touching. But in its current form, it felt more like the ramblings of a youngling, not the profound musings of a seasoned wolf. The narrative seems fragmented, like shards of ice, never quite fitting together into a cohesive structure.

Lastly, the length. Even for the price, it was shockingly short. Where I come from, when we share a story, it spans eons, echoing the tales of our ancestors. But "Broken Dreams" felt like a fleeting snowflake, melting before you could truly appreciate it.

In conclusion, fellow gamers, as an Ice Wolf Mage with three and a half decades of gaming behind me, I cannot, in all good conscience, recommend "Broken Dreams" to anyone seeking depth, innovation, or even a fulfilling narrative experience. There are other realms, other worlds, other games that would be a far better investment of your time and coin.

May your quests always lead to warmer and more welcoming terrains.

Rating: ❄️ 1/10

P.S: To those who crafted "Broken Dreams", I bear no ill will. Consider this a nudge, a gentle growl, urging you to strive harder, dive deeper, and truly encapsulate the essence of your stories in future endeavors. Remember, every snowflake has the potential to be part of a majestic glacier. Don't let yours melt away in mediocrity.

Nice concept but spawning character shadows, doesn't do exactly what they are supposed to do. looked messed up

Very nice puzzle and theme. I enjoyed solving them. Backgrounds were nice, too. However, boring story, really odd voice acting, and short gameplay make this a pass, unless you get it in a bundle or on sale, but at that point you might as well get some other puzzle game, like Braid.

(Got this game long ago from a long forgotten source...)

The real monster isn't an obsessive lover, but the depression he feels from a broken/timid heart...

Tags: Platformer
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library

TLDR: No controller support. Implementing solution to puzzles is a chore and clunky. Figuring out puzzles straightforward. Story is flat and flavorless.

Platformer with one screen levels and either shadow clone management or multicharacter management. Levels always stay the same except you can use shadow clones as platform. In that sense it reminded me a lot of "Another Perspective" Broken Dreams is arguably worse without controller support, and with more fluff text for story but it mostly involves a love obsessed stalker and some kind of hard to get valley girl. The core gameplay is always to bring objects to an exit point and rearranging either crates, protags, or shadows to get there, getting a nugget of story on the next level as reward.

Voices in the game are just bad. Game is very short, can be done in under an hour. Very boring to play and the ending is also terrible. Too short to get attached to the characters, but no matter how long the game was, storytelling is so bad no character development would ever happen.

My antivirus software completely blocked this game for some obscure reason and I should have heeded its warning.

Plain boring story. The same cliché sad music looping. The voice acting in itself is alright, but the dialogs are mediocre at best and the (half done) tutorial doesn't blend well in them. The animation is... limited. The gameplay's gimmicks get wonky at times (shadows not following your previous actions and not working in level 7 for some unexplained reason).

Not worth buying, really.

Story is a cheeseburger.. The background pics for this flash game are nice but rendered at a very low resolution. Animation is almost non existant. The "press space and see if you made it" mechanic is mildly entertaining and you will fly through the game in no time as it poses no real challenge, still I cannot recommend, as it is sub-par across the board.

This game is almost an exact copy of the 2009 game "The Company of Myself". The Company of Myself, however, is arguably much better than Broken Dreams, AND is free. Most specifically the soundtrack of The Company of Myself is still one of my favorite game soundtracks.

The artwork in this game is nice, but there is no real animation. Your character seems to just slide from one place to another with no other movement.

The male voice actor for Broken Dreams is alright, but the female voice actor sounds like she has a cold.

The ending also leaves much to be desired. While I won't spoil it for those of you who choose to play the game, I will say that it brings no closure to the short story.

Overall, considering I got the game in the bundle at 90% off, I cannot complain too much, but I certainly would not reccomend buying Broken Dreams at the asking price of two dollars (Especially when a better version is available for free). Also consider that the game only takes about one half-hour to complete and decide how much money that is worth to you. While I would not spend extra money here, I do not feel that I wasted my half-hour.

Finished in 45 minutes, was a cakewalk for most of it. The mechanics of shadows are interesting, but easy after you get used to it. Some levels were catching and took some minutes to figure out, but they were the minority. Most of them were obvious or just boring. Out of 30, I'd say only 2 or 3 were challenges.

The story promised well, but made no sense in the end (?). Seemed a metaphor about love and selfishness, but it didn't leave me anything. The protagonist isn't really someone to be remembered too.
The music is ok, nothing great, but nothing bad either.
I actually liked the voice acting, even if sometimes it was overdone, but that's me.

Not worth 1 dollar, I am happy I got it for 35 cents with medal coupons. If you can find it for less than 50 cents and are into this kind of games, give it a go.

Got this game because I got a 90% off coupon. I really like this game, I love this style of puzzle game and the voice acting (for the guy anyway) is pretty solid and adds to the feel of the game. The art style is pretty nice and the music is calming. I'd give this a 9/10. For a cheap little game it is quite satisfying.

Hey everyone and this is my review about the game!

This is a platform puzzle game.

Interface/Menu/Settings

About the game.

Other things.

Not worth the dollar. Not sure why this has such rave reviews. Its flash game quality and the core gameplay is using mimics of your past gameplay to climb to new hights. This mechanic has been done by several flash games already and this game doesnt do it very well. The shadow replays dont always follow the same patterns and sometimes you get different outcomes of what they do from the same action This is pretty bad, and makes some of the later puzzles near impossible.
Levels where you have to platform through a maze of invisible walls and platforms also make sme appearances and I dont see how they could be fun for anyone. Though this game is marked as multiplayer, most of the game only has 1 character and the 2 player puzzles are all babyishly easy. DONT BUY THIS FOR MULTIPLAYER!
Calming music was ok. Other than that this game was a completely bad experience. You can also probablly clear the game in less than an hour. I gave up after half an hour at which point I had 3 levels left to do. Any time I have logged past that was probablly idling for trading cards. YAY IDLING FOR TRADING CARDS 10/10! :-D

The story of the game was really cringe-worthy. The puzzles themselves were fairly simple, such that the main levels were only ~30 minutes to complete. The art was okay, but again the story of the game left me wanting to just be done and leave the whole time.

Okay, I'm not going to sugarcoat this for you. This game...is a piece of work. The graphics are pretty unprofessional-looking, the story is just about the most cliche you can find, and the music is generic "sad, sentimental" music. Overall, the game looks, sounds, and feels like a project made by a college freshman art major who's not quite out of their "edgy teenage angst" phase. And the gameplay?

The gameplay is freaking AMAZING.

This game is a short, sweet, little puzzle platformer with well thought out levels and several interesting, unique mechanics. I found myself playing it all in one sitting. I found myself wishing it were LONGER.

So, bottom line? If aesthetic is a deal breaker for you, then this probably isn't the game for you. But if it's not, the gameplay more than makes up for it. Several times over. I think in the end it's definitely worth the price.

Completed this game in 1hour 20minutes, and I was pretty much immersed in it. I am not a fan of platformers but this one is pretty good. I highly recommend this to those who have a few cents to spare during sales so that you have a short game such as this to entertain you for at least an hour. There is a story, though its simple, which the ending kind of makes you reflect about life when you are in a relationship. Play it and you will know it.

See written review below or watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXm6eRrL-98

Broken Dreams is a casual platformer with some minor puzzle aspects. By moving around and copying yourself, you must find your way through the levels.

You move around, and then make a shadow of yourself as you return to the starting location. Your shadow carries out the actions you made. You can repeat many times and use your shadows to complete the levels.

Pros:

• cheap to buy
  
• steam Trading Cards
  
• music was pleasant
  
• good concept with the shadows (reminded me a little of Braid)
  
• simple, casual gameplay if you're looking for something quick

Cons:

• voice acting was irritating and over-done
  
• short (but for the cost this was expected)
  
[*]mediocre story

Conclusion:

You can find my full review here.

Broken Dreams is a fairly short 2D puzzle platformer title. You follow Jack who is trying to get back to his love Michelle. We will need to use his shadow in a sort of Braid-like gameplay. Well, except when you're controlling both him and Michelle. Then you have to use both WASD and the arrow keys to move them.

The music, while nice at first, can get a bit repetitive. I'm not really a fan of when you're trying to have a serious story but the characters are saying stuff like, "I can use the right key to get to Michelle" (so as to tell the player the controls). The voice acting feels a little like it was on low quality microphones at times. The backgrounds are quite nice, however the sprites feel fairly downgraded from how they were on Flash/Android.

The game is a nice little time killer, though some trial and error things may get annoying to you. It's also available for free from the Google Play Store, and as mentioned before it is also available as a Flash game. There are some extra, more challenging, levels in the Steam version though, if you want to try and challenge yourself to those. This gets a weak recommendation from me, but there was some things I definitely didn't enjoy as much.

Got this on sale for .59 cents and I pretty much got my money's worth. For the price, I don't really think I can rag on it that much. It is rather short, which I actually liked (and expected).
I did like the voice-overs; I felt they gave a bit more color and personality to the game.

My biggest issue is actually that it reminds me a LOT of a free game I played on Kongregate called "The Company of Myself." The gameplay AND story is almost exactly the same... and the Kongregate game had smoother/tighter controls and a much heavier story/ending.

That said, I was a little disappointed that it didn't seem to have anything fresh or new to add, but for what it was I did enjoy it.

I didn't expect much, because of the $0.99 price, and I got what I expected. The voice acting in the game is.. not great. The shadows that seperate from you and repeat your movements can be buggy, and frustrating at times. The game is the perfect amount of time for a game of this price, I finished about half of it in about a half an hour. There's one thing that made me stop playing, and for gods sake, stop putting invisable mazes in games. The invisable maze in this game is a pain, not to mention (I suppose) you need to use the shadow dupes to get through. If you're consistent with platformers, and have the extra money, I'd recommend this game despite it's flaws.