Going Nowhere: The Dream

pretty fun, a few achievements were a little tough and i wish after beating the game u got a skip dialogue button, but overall the game was entertaining and the story was interesting

The Doge behind the slaughter was here. Hugs for Loren. [7.2/10]

For the price, its highly worth it. It's a parkour game with a short story but where it shine for me is the exploration aspect. You think you are breaking something, and yet, it will reward you with an easter egg or achievement. You can check the guide to know roughly where the secrets are and find a way to get there afterward.

I return to this game every now and then and just run around the world, very fun game to play, especially if you have played the first one.

if you like the first one, you will love this one

I had my fun.

It's probably not for everyone, but platforming onto random stuff in the distance and finding achievements is very fun.

A 30 minute main game hides hours of exploration, boundary breaking, and secret hunting. There are a couple of tedious elements, but the concept is still largely well executed, and I have to applaud the developer's audacity. It's a shame the game was so underappreciated since its launch.

Good

Gotta say I liked abstractness and phlegmatism of the original web game more; this game, on the other hand, delivers actual story about characters with names, and while it did manage to get a few tears outta me, meeeh. Other than that, it's a nice if a bit short parkour game with good music

Was looking for a cool game about dreams. Found one!
Pretty engaging game, if not just for the game play, which is really fun throughout. Plenty of legitimately cool secrets kept me playing it for a good while. Still more to unlock apparently! Really dug this game.

UPDATE:

Following my review, the developer and I had a long chat about various aspects of the game and other subjects, including his next project, which he hopes will greatly improve upon the experience here.

I learned that he intended for a community to form around this game and work together to figure out certain unexplained mechanics and locate the secrets, not for each player to try to do it all himself. Indeed, obtaining all the secrets requires several types of unconventional thinking that I do not regularly employ because other games do not expect it of me, but which a group would be much more likely to suggest. Of course, one cannot simply expect his game to be successful enough to generate that sort of interest and cooperation, but knowing the intention here does soften my opinion of the game a bit.

Additionally, the developer seems quite aware of the game's flaws and is open to substantive criticism and suggestions, so I am optimistic about his future work.

However, the following review does still stand.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

A game that does not respect my time is a game that I cannot recommend.

The mediocre main story is only around 40 minutes long, so the bulk of the game involves hunting down the various secrets and alternate endings. This is where things break down.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the secret hunting is that literally half of the levels take place on the same blocky, mostly empty map, with only minor differences among the chapters. I spent a long time running along identical rooftops and jumping over identical fences down similar alleyways (there is some variation to interiors, but secrets are usually outside), totally unsure if I was heading toward a dead end, an inescapable area, or one of the secrets. Each new chapter on the map also involved going back to the same places just to check if new secrets had appeared, which was sometimes the case.

Furthermore, since not every secret is meaningful or tied to an achievement, discovering something did not necessarily feel rewarding. Even when it did, it was minor: a few lines of dialogue adding little to the story or joke memes. I'm not sure why the developers put such an emphasis on this part of the game if they weren't going to do anything significant with it.

Traversal of a bland, empty world for meaningless rewards would be bad enough in any case, but there are also no in-game hints or nudges, no guide outside of the game, no map. The player is utterly directionless.

As for the game in general, various other design decisions work together to frustrate:

*Checkpoints are granted sequentially: they exist in particular locations in the level and are overridden and "deleted" upon reaching the next one. If the player has reached the end of a map and wants to return to earlier parts to explore, this means that every death will spawn him at the end of the map rather than at a checkpoint closest to the location of his death or at the last safe platform before that death.

*Some secrets/achievements require carrying an item across the map, but there is no inventory system. The item literally has to be carried by hand and thrown over obstacles, since the player can't climb while holding an item. Of course, if the item falls into a pit, it doesn't respawn near the player or on the ground nearby. No, it respawns all the way back at its original location -- if you remember where that was. Enjoy either backtracking to that location or dying to respawn at a distant checkpoint, only to have to attempt to take the item back to the goal -- if you can find it and recognize it as such.

*Accessing secrets often requires finding and carrying boxes or trash cans to walls to build towers to ascend. This can be tedious enough on its own, but these objects are also subject to physics, so placing them on top of each other and jumping on them without shifting them around can be a chore. Running with them in hand is also a visual mess.

*The wall jump mechanic is only granted after completing a secret level, which is only accessible after completing the game. It is also the worst implementation of such a mechanic that I have ever encountered. I have to wonder why this essential parkour element was left out of the main game.

*Replaying chapters leads to unskippable, though generally brief, cutscenes and dialogue.

*The final level forces the player into extremely slow and lurching movement for story reasons, which is fine except for the fact that exploring the level (once again, wide open and mostly empty) for secrets takes far too much time accordingly. I felt like my time wasn't being respected in the previous levels, but here I felt like the developers were just being sadistic.

Beyond the flaws in the design, the game suffers in other ways:

*It doesn't explore its platforming to its full potential: there are never any hazards besides pits, platforms don't ever move or do anything interesting, and the difficulty doesn't escalate as the game, short as it is, progresses. The wall jump is barely explored at all simply because it isn't available until after the end of the game. This was a big missed opportunity.

*The story is nothing special, nor could it have been with what little dialogue there was in such a short time.

*The music is nothing special and often seems to disappear. I don't know if this hurts the game, but it certainly doesn't help it.

*I don't have a problem with Minecraft-like visuals, but here they seem very lazy, especially in the exteriors. I already mentioned that this is bad for secret hunting, but it's also just unpleasant to look at identical brick or rooftop textures stretching across the screen with no detail whatsoever.

Don't be fooled by my hours played. I wasted a lot of time and I don't look back on the experience fondly.

Quick, pixely game with parkour runner mechanics. Mirrors Edge without guns or combat. The story is kind of hamfisted but ultimately enjoyable. The game is shorter than I would have liked, but that's much better than trying to artifiially stretch out the game. Would recommend!

Fun parkour-style game with a nice story, interesting visuals and hidden secrets.

Its a short but a beautiful and calm game. It has some secrets here and there but they are NOT achievement secrets and i find that a bit nice. (Dont read this part for spoilers if you want) There is a secret on the first level.

Going Nowhere: The Dream is not what you think it is. I should warn you that reading this review may spoil the experience. I highly advise playing it blindly. Sometimes you run into those sneaky developers that can manipulate your expectations.This is the type of game that rewards you for curiosity in a big way. On a surface, Going Nowhere is a mediocre platformer that plays similarly to Mirror's Edge (without the wall running). Sure you could just beat this game in about 40 minutes and be done with it. You might even get some mild satisfaction from the interesting narrative. However, you can easily spend another 4 to 12 hours "going off the rails" to find some hilarious secrets and places to explore.

I beat the story in about 40 minutes. Although the story is just a small part of a bigger picture because you can find some hidden context. Each level is just going from point A to point B with obstacles in a way. It was alright, maybe a little slow paced but the endings made up for it. There is also a deep psychological aspect. Not only in the narrative but also in regards to how the player perceives a video game. If you run into optimization issues try setting graphics to low before the start (it makes very little difference on the aesthetic). Otherwise, I like the Minecrafty look. Platforming elements are very basic but they work fine and controls are responsive.

Now I want to talk a little bit about those "secrets" so if you want to avoid spoilers please skip this paragraph. I am the kind of person who likes to find glitches in games so I decided to jump to a distant location. Sure enough, that location is a huge glitchy paradise that is made by the developer for you to explore. I even found a Slender minigame where you had to find the notes and avoid the monster. Each level seems to have several secrets. You can even find the secrets within the secrets. I don't enjoy the game as much as the dance between player and the developer. It seems like the developer is always one step ahead so you constantly trying to get away from his traps.

Final Thoughts 8/10

There is so much more to this game beyond just beating the story. It is a seemingly linear platformer but also an exploration game that wants you to go off the rails. I did encounter a couple technical issues which did not ruin the game overall. You might have to turn of the shadows by using low settings. For someone who loves exploring game in an unconventional way, this is a gold mine. The game is only $4-2 depending on sale so I hope more people will give it a try.


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For more hidden gems:
http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/

Lot of stuff not working -- cannot figure out how to use the main menu with just the mouse and keyboard, then the controller interface has a number of issues, too. Cannot successfully remap keys to anything usable, and testing out each new configuration means sitting through a long intro animation. Unplayable on Ubuntu Linux 18.10 and 19.04 with xbox-type gamepad controller.

(Update 05/2019: Tried to use Steam Big Picture to get controller support. No dice.)

So, I bought this game without any real expectations and im glad for it. Don't misunderstand, it was worth the money I spent on it but I was expecting a parkour game. It kinda is, but its more like running from point to point to get to story nodes. The parkour and movement it is very...floppy? Floppy is the only word I can think to describe it.

The character doesn't have a lot of traction keeping her on the ground, which means sprinting up a ramp will result in broken legs most of the time. There were a few times where I was confused on where to go, but that was more me not taking any hints rather than the games fault.

There are multiple endings from what I can tell and a few achievements for finding secrets etc.

The story for the game was rather predictable, but the actual writing itself was well done, and made me feel a little sad at the main ending which is quite good for a game that took less than an hour. Some people may be saying "An hour? I don't want to waste my money on that!" which is a valid opinion, but I think if they tried to stretch it into 2 or 3 hours it wouldv'e degraded the experience as a whole.

Overall, while the gameplay isn't the best the story makes up for it, and although it is less than an hour long if it was any longer it would degrade from the experience

loved the game, great music, atmosphere, gameplay, art style, its all just really enjoyable. sure its not the longest thing ever but i dont think it needs to be, the world is far more open then the look of its narrative focused linear looking gameplay may seem, its as enjoyable as a scavenger hunt/puzzle exploration game as it is a platformer.