Dread Delusion Reviews
Dread Delusion brims with an exhilarating sense of discovery that starts to wobble in the final act.
Dread Delusion is an homage to the open world RPGs of the past, in which many times intuition and correct interpretation of texts were worth as much as skill with swords, bows and fireballs. A question arises, however: does this still apply today? Certainly not for everyone. Low-resolution textures and models with very few polygons certainly work well in boomer shooters, slightly less in games in which the environments are key components of the experience. Still, the story is very interesting to follow, and if you get past the overly basic combat system it can engage you for a fair amount of hours.
Review in Italian | Read full review
After a while, I forgot I was sick of pixels. I look at Dread Delusion and I don’t see part of a trend. I see a game that set out to capture a particular tone and succeeded wildly. It’s not that playing Dread Delusion is like going back and playing those old games. Dread Delusion allows us to delude ourselves into remembering those games through magenta colored glasses.
While the throwback graphics and simplistic combat won't appeal to many, the authentic and original story and endlessly fascinating world make Dread Delusion feel like a long-lost cult classic.
Dread Delusion sets out to create a haunting open world, evoking RPGs of the past - and succeeds.
Dread Delusion is a fun romp in a fleshed-out world, definitely worth undertaking for the meagre price of admission.
There’s a very easy way to tell if Dread Delusion will appeal to you. Does the phrase, “Like a trippy, PS1 version of Morrowind” make your heart all a-flutter? Then you need to play Dread Delusion. Immediately.
I highly recommend this title; it is a pleasant breath of fresh air that aims to experiment a lot on the aesthetic side, offering an extremely pleasant world-building in which to immerse yourself.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The world is intriguing, the dialogue surprisingly funny, and the sights something to behold. The game may end up a little too soft and mushy to wholly come together, but its ease can allow for a wider audience to come check out just how zany everything else is.
Dread Delusion is a game with a rich, beautiful world and a deep, interactive gameplay system. It offers a lot of freedom and customization to the player, but it also has some areas that could be improved, such as the lock-picking mechanic and the lack of guidance in the world. Despite these drawbacks, the game’s strengths make it a memorable and engaging experience.
I have no idea how Dread Delusion would strike newcomers, but retro throwbacks like these aren’t appealing to that audience first. This is a game built for people like me; people who loved being lost in Morrowind; people who still think Stilt Striders are the superior form of fast travel; and people who were addicted to Skooma before they were old enough to drink. If you grew up on Morrowind, I think you’ll love Dread Delusion just as much as I do.
If you come to Dread Delusion to soak in the Lovecraftian fever dream inspired lore, you’ll find a lot to like. Just be prepared to contend with clumsy combat and periods of aimless wandering across barren landscapes.
If you're looking for an indie game that will introduce you to a living world, with plots that range from personal dramas to political and social commentary and a right dose of nostalgia that nowadays is difficult to match with quality, then Dread Delusion might be the one. game for you.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Not flawless, but nevertheless a masterpiece. Dread Delusion is a best hits compilation of all that 2000s RPGs had to offer and then some, creating one of the best video game worlds of this decade.
Dread Delusion offers an interesting universe and a gorgeous art style, but both are thoroughly wrapped up in a mechanically thin and ultimately unsatisfying RPG experience. The Oneiric Isles capture the spirit of the RPG worlds of the past, and there’s a wide breadth of content and characters to learn more about throughout them, but Dread Delusion’s decided lack of difficulty, one-note combat, and widespread balancing issues actively distract from its highly enjoyable world.
Dread Delusion is a visual feast (at least from a distance), but its philosophical dilemmas and wickedly cool world do not make up for its total lack of depth in combat, exploration, and questing that make the otherwise-beautiful game a chore.
Dread Delusion fills a specific niche that hasn’t been touched in decades. While I wouldn’t recommend this game to just anyone, Dread Delusion sets a high bar for adventure RPGs and utilizes its art style to perfectly capture the era of gaming it draws inspiration from.
Though some aspects of the game may be polarizing, Dread Delusion is undoubtedly a unique and exciting title, built for fans of classic RPGs to enjoy. Some will love it, and some will hate the game’s retro aesthetic, but no RPG enthusiast can deny the game’s excellent world-building and engaging stories.