Extraterrestrial Dreams it gives you everything you need to succeed, if you really want it. Help is just a few button clicks away (almost) every time. As a result, it feels differently accessible than what it is — an “invisible puzzle platform” designed to trip you up over and over again until you learn enough from your mistakes to move forward. Depending on how you deal with it, Extraterrestrial Dreams it can be a nightmare loop of trial and error or a simple field trip. Or something in between the two. I died 274 times in my first playthrough, if that’s any indication of how challenging it can be.
Extraterrestrial Dreams it gives you (you play as a blob) a grid and some floating doors, and it says, basically, ‘okay, now find your way out.’ There are platforms leading to each door, but all platforms are invisible. This is where the game’s ethos of “difficulty is what you make of it” comes into play. You can commit to jumping into the abyss every time and hoping to land on the platform, memorizing each misstep so you know what not to do next time. if you die, or you can choose one of the three tools available for specific guidance. “Peek” will give you a quick view of any nearby platforms, “Paint” will highlight any platform you’ve stepped on, and “Show” will reveal all the platforms in that room.
Stubborn as I was, I was determined to go as far as I could without help. But, I wasn’t too humbled when I found myself stuck on Levels 2-5 – a level with multiple lower levels that will send you back to the beginning over and over again if you enter through the wrong doors. Here, I ended up bending over and doing “Show” just to give my mind some space to figure out what the puzzle was without worrying about memorizing the fields. (When I finally got it, it wasn’t complicated at all. Sigh). After that point, I bounced back and forth between being unassisted and using the “Paint” option as a bit of a management option.
The game throws you a curveball about halfway through when it introduces a new mechanic that requires a crank, which I thought was really clever once I got over the initial frustration of not knowing what was going on. And further, Extraterrestrial Dreams you get a style change that transforms you into something completely different than what you originally were. The developers wrote in the description that Extraterrestrial Dreams “it’s more than a dotted line,” and they weren’t kidding. I am very happy with it. You can get it now in the Playdate catalog for $6.
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