Dread Delusion

Developer : Lovely Hellplace

Publisher : DreadXP

Platform : PC - Steam

Release Year : 2024

A Strange Fantasy

I have been a huge fan of the strange and weird genres of fiction for decades now. Their themes of unease born from the infinite, insignificance of humanity , and fear of the unknown tickle something deep inside my mind. From the strange and wonderful fantasies of Lord Dunsany, to the lingering feelings of dread and the fear of the unknown Lovecraft perfected, to the unease and melancholy that ‘modern’ society inspires in the work of Jeff Vandermeer, the strange and the weird call to me and inspire me. I love the idea that us humans are small and insignificant in the eyes of the universe, and that reality is so much stranger than any of us suspect. It is little wonder then why I love games like the Dark Souls series with their dark and dying worlds with their hauntingly bittersweet stories, and Dead Space with its sense of grotesque loneliness and lushly evil religious motifs; I love the horror and the beauty in those worlds. Dread Delusion with its strangely beautiful landscapes and sombre stories struck a chord with me, and I am so grateful that I got to experience this title in all its morbid beauty.

Gameplay

Dread Delusion is a first-person open world RPG with a heavy focus on exploration and questing rather than battling and grinding. The game plays very much like an Elder Scrolls title, but pared down in both scope and mechanical depth, which is a benefit for a title of this size. This inspiration is evident throughout most of the game, and especially when it comes to character creation: before jumping into the world and starting your adventure across the Oneiric Isles, a floating archipelago tucked away in a quiet corner of the Skyrealms, you answer four questions that will determine the starting value of the game’s four attributes (Might, Guile, Wisdom, and Persona), which then determine your starting stats in the game’s eight skills. Unlike the Elder Scrolls, where your skills and attributes level up as you us them, in Dread Delusion you ‘level up’ by completing quests and finding floating skulls known as delusions. This leveling system focuses on exploration and completing quests rather than mindless grinding, which I really like. I love that you are rewarded for exploring every nook and cranny across the isles as well, weather that be by finding delusions, treasures, or raw materials used to upgrade your gear.

The game’s smaller scope is also seen in the weapons, armour, and accessories you find during your adventure. Instead of dozens weapons, you’re limited to a single kind of dagger, short sword, great sword, and a bow, and all can be upgrade with the raw materials you can find across the floating islands. Just like the weapons, your armour and clothing options are also limited to a small handful of upgradable options. You do have more of a selection when it comes to rings and other accessories, but even then, it is still a smaller selection than other open-world roleplaying games. I do wish the game had more variety when it came to the gear options available, because with such a unique setting it would have been cool to see a few more unique and strange options when it came to the equipment.

Combat in Dread Delusion is a pretty basic affair, which makes sense given the game’s emphasis on exploration and questing over combat and grinding. You swing your weapon, shoot your bow, or cast a spell, and it never really gets more complex than that. The monsters and other enemies you face off against are pretty easy to defeat for the most part, and maybe it’s because I was playing on the normal difficulty, but I never felt like I was in any real danger. That is something I wish was different, because it was only at the very end of the main quest that any of the enemies where able to make me sweat. Now this may be a problem for some people, but I didn’t really mind it because I was too busy losing myself in the game’s world and the sense of adventure it was giving me.

Your skills let you interact with the world in a handful of ways, from picking locks, to talking your way into or out of trouble, and even solving magical environmental puzzles with your lore skill. The skill checks are basic pass/fail, which makes sense due to the game’s small scope: picking a lock is a simple dice roll, with harder locks needing higher rolls, while the charisma and lore checks are either pass or fail depending on your skill level. There are no skill minigames here, you either do it or you don’t, and that’s it.

Presentation

The low-fi PS1 inspired graphics is what first drew my attention to Dread Delusion, which should come as no surprise if you have been following this blog for even a little bit. The blocky look of everything is just so charming to me and is an art style that I will love until the day I die, because it reminds me of being a young guy and marvelling at the power of the original PlayStation. One awesome aspect of the game’s visual presentation is the dithering/wiggling textures, which gives the world an almost dream like quality, and adds to the other worldly feeling of the whole package; it’s like you’re hallucinating, and the whole game is just a strangely wonderful fever dream. It’s so cool.

Dread Delusion’s sound design is one of the game’s weaker aspects, but it is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. The sound effects are serviceable, but nothing to marvel at, but then again, how many ways can you make a footstep sound, or the swing of a sword? The game’s music selection, while good, is also far too limited, and you end up hearing the same tracks over and over. While the music that is here sets the tone and strange mood the game impeccably, the game’s limited tracks still get old after a while; it’s good then that the game is not some hundred hour epic, but a manageable twenty to thirty hour adventure, because I would be hating the music if I had to listen to it any longer.

The monsters and NPCs range from horrifying to normal, which, just like the music, helps the game achieve its strange and melancholic tone. I don’t want to say too much about the peoples, creatures, and things you meet along your journey, but trust me when I say that they are a diverse and unique group of characters.

It is obvious how much creativity and soul was poured into this project just by looking at how it presents its world and the people who call it home. Dread Delusion is just oozing personality and style, and there are very few games that I have seen or played that are as strange and unique as this. I recommend everyone play this game just because how creative and stylish it is.

Narrative

I am going to be mum here about the story, because I honestly think that the game’s main quest, as well as the smaller stories in each of the game’s regions, are worth seeing and experiencing without knowing anything. What I can tell you is this: you start the game as a prisoner and are tasked with tracking down the fugitive Vela Callose across the Oneiric Isles. Even with the title’s smaller scope, the main quest is a pretty grand adventure that had me intrigued until the very end. The side quests and reginal quests and stories are also really good and do some much in fleshing out this strange and wonderful world and making it feel like a real and living place.

The world building on display in Dread Delusion is on par with any of the large and sprawling worlds we have seen in gaming. Like before, I don’t want to get into any of the finer details about the world, because I feel that the real magic here is discovering the Oneiric Isles for yourself. The more I learned about the Oneiric Isles, as well as the world as a whole, the more I was impressed by the creativity and the confidence on display. I have my fingers crossed that we get more games set in this world, because I want to visit the other regions, locations, and countries you learn of during your adventure.

A Weird and Wonderful Adventure

Dread Delusion is an amazingly weird and strange fantasy, and one I am so glad I got to experience. While I picked it up because of its PS1 inspired look, and its similarities to the Elder Scrolls, I stuck with it because of its fascinating world and the intriguing stories it tells. I loved getting lost among the floating islands, meeting the game’s many strange and wonderful people, learning about the world and its history, and forging a path that was all my own. It was a joy playing this game, and I cannot recommend Dread Delusion enough to anyone who likes CRPGs or who are fans of the Elder Scrolls. If you’re looking for a new world to get lost in, you could do a lot worse than Dread Delusion, and I think it’s time you departed on your own journey through the Oneiric Isles.