Dreaming Sarah review for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Switch

Dreaming Sarah is an odd puzzle-platformer where you have to help the eponymous Sarah explore her dream world and wake up from a coma.

I?ll be honest: if that weren?t in the store description for the game, I wouldn?t have known any of that except for the part about it being an odd puzzle-platformer. Apart from a brief nod to the coma at the absolute very end of the game, Dreaming Sarah is just weirdness after weirdness, with little in the way of obvious internal logic and nothing in the way of plot.

I mean, if I were to describe my time with the game, it would sound like the unhinged rantings of a crazy person. ?First, I woke up in a meadow, then I walked until I found the abandoned elevator, which I took to the world full of eyes. I took the elevator back down, jumped off a cliff, and found myself under the sea, at which point I had to put on my magic medallion to turn myself into a fish. Good thing I was able to find the hidden toilet to flush myself into that doctor?s office! Also, the doctor was a purple duck. And its receptionist was a bleeding tooth.”

And this isn?t a case of me exaggerating certain parts of Dreaming Sarah for comedic effect, and ignoring the otherwise straightforward nature of the game. That?s literally the whole game, albeit with a couple of parts left out that only would?ve added to the weirdness.

Let me put it this way: you know how dreams are usually only interesting to the person having them? Dreaming Sarah is like that. There?s undoubtedly some fascinating ideas here that made a lot of sense to the developer, but as a game to play, it leaves a whole lot to be desired.

Ratalaika Games provided us with a Dreaming Sarah PS4 code for review purposes.

Tagline: Diova siht emag! Diova siht emag! Wait, no…avoid this game!