Review

You may say I'm a dreamer ...

Dreamscape

... but I'm not the only one

Many games that start their life in a crowd-funding campaign are reserved for a small, elitist circle. And this is often good as such games, asides from the usually sensational components which are still off-limits for the big publishing companies, usually do not shine with gameplay innovations or special gaming experience. This one is different!

The cover alone invites you to enter the dream world, to lollop across tender spring meadows with the bunnies, to sip fresh spring water from the silver glittering mountain stream ... but, stop! This is not as lovely by far as you imagine it might be. Dreamscape is a stringent, severe, tactical game - only if you dream best you will be able to win.

You have six rounds to build your personal dreamscapes which are required by cards in varying levels of difficulty. The planning phase already begins with the picking up of cards - you can only keep one of them! Which locations enable you to get the necessary pieces - dream splinter - most quickly? Do you get yourself a card or will that cost you victory because you are not ably to acquire the necessary pieces and cards that you could not resolve result in loss of points? As pieces already placed can be re-used and re-arranged to depict an additional scene and thereby to collect more points, this might often be the quicker way towards your goal. With only four action points, that you need to use to collect splinters and to move to locations that offer various special action, and with up to three free actions, you soon realize that the desired result will not be achievable in any other way.

Put your thinking cap on, the puzzling continues! At the end of the round you must discard the recently and painstakingly collected splinters if you could not use them in a dreamscape. So better place your two green and one blue piece somewhere to keep them for re-use in the next round? Some points in the rules are, unfortunately and at least in the German translation, not unambiguously formulated, but this does not distract from the fun to play, because you can sleep a night on those details!

It is not yet clear if the expansions that have been unlocked in the crowdfunding campaign will be available for regular purchase in shops. A variant for advanced players, in which the Lord of the Nightmares comes into play and destroys the arduously composed, dreamed-up landscapes, and solo rules provide long, varied fun to play already with the core game.

Dreamscape is a tactical game for experienced players, based on rounds; a game that eliminates the chance factor as well as it is possible, despite the continuously happening “blind” drawing. Beginning with the enchanting components via the ambient implementation of the topic due to the manifold action options to the final scoring, the game is harmonious and all fits well together. The age recommendation of 12+, in my opinion, is important in this game, as Dreamscape graphics might attract younger players quite easily.

Players: 1-4

Age: 12+

Time: 25+

Designer: David Ausloos

Artist: David Ausloos

Price: ca. 42 Euro

Publisher: Huch! 2020

Web: www.hutter-trade.com

Genre: Dreams, landscapes, collecting

Users: With friends

Special: 1 player

Version: de

Rules: de en fr pl

In-game text: no

Comments:

Fantastically beautiful components

Very little chance despite “drawing”

Lots of tactics

Well-implemented topic

Compares to:

Tactical games with collecting as main aim

Other editions:

Lacerta (pl), Sylex (en, fr)

My rating: 7

Martin/a Lhotzky:

Tactical game with little chance, fantastic components and a marvelously implemented topic

Chance (pink): 2

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 2

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0