D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die Reviews
Fans of Deadly Premonition will love this bizarre, offbeat murder mystery.
A strange, intangible experience, with style that transcends its own rubbishness.
A worthy follow-up to Deadly Premonition, although whether it earns the same classic status will depend largely on the subsequent episodes.
This episodic adventure succeeds in its storytelling and character development. The gameplay offering is all over the place, and often feels disconnected from the narrative flow
D4 is so weird, strange and different that it's hard to pass up
D4 is all kinds of crazy, and you may not take to its unique brand of humor. But if you do, there's no forgetting it.
Access Games' episodic follow-up to Deadly Premonition is a tremendously strange trip.
Once again, SWERY injects a detective story with his patented brand of weirdness, though this time he's finally free of the technical limitations that hampered his past work. D4 isn't a flawless experience, but, as with Deadly Premonition, it offers a world and set of characters you won't want to leave behind.
Swery's been compared to David Lynch before for good reason and I still believe the comparison to be a valid one. His style is very abstract and his stories are often tangled webs of mismatched storytelling that seem to go off the rails right when everything comes together to deliver a valid, oddly satisfying conclusion and I can not wait to see how this one ends.
It ends on a cliffhanger, but D4 has me intrigued, mostly because I felt a genuine attachment to the characters. I want to see this journey through to the end, and the classic Swery wackiness kept me interested throughout the relatively familiar adventure genre gameplay.
A clear demonstration that a Kinect experience, if designed well, can be a lot of fun.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
This is just the beginning for D4, as more episodes are forthcoming. But for now, it's a solid package. Swery's latest is off to a good start.
A police adventure like no other, with limits and flaws. But also personality and good ideas.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The strange world Swery has brought to life is definitely worth exploring, though. There is a real richness of content and back-story that has been invented, and despite the feeling that you don't really make much progress in solving the case in question, I really wanted to press on and find out what was going on. Even though the atrocious voice acting and questionable conversation topics may make you laugh when you should be crying, there are few points when D4 isn't entertaining or emotionally engaging in one form or another – which is a far cry from the cookie-cutter titles that so often fill the shelves and make it something worth celebrating.
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die is a unique and surreal experience from start to finish, but its episodic nature leaves players feeling unsatisfied. Open-minded gamers will enjoy the experience, but those seeking traditional story and gameplay should avoid.
I'm thrilled it's on PC, and I'm delighted we'll finally get to see the series continued – this prologue and two full-fledged episodes are great, but I really need to know what happens next!
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die may just be the beginning, but it is easily one of the most delightfully bizarre trips of the year. It won't always make sense, but there is a consistent earnestness to its oddity that somehow makes it all work in harmony of '80s saxophone riffs and overly-affected Boston accents.
D4 is ridiculous. It's weird, and silly, and makes very little sense. It's also hilarious, and packed with some of the most engaging motion-controlled sequences I've ever played. Coming from someone who generally doesn't like the Kinect, that's a damn big achievement!
Swery does Telltale, by way of an obsessed, time-travelling detective and lots of references to Boston. D4 is as unique and strange as you'd hope; and (unlike Deadly Premonition,) a decent enough PC version.
Arrived on the Xbox One digital store almost on the sly, D4 proves to be one of the best surprises of this beginning of the videogame season. It is in fact a pity that Microsoft's abandonment of Kinect has partially denied the limelight to an exclusive that lovers of the most action-oriented graphic adventures will not fail to appreciate: what D4 grants on the technical and on the precision in the reading of the player's movements, he is in fact rewarded by a fascinating story, full of surreal situations and characters but with a convincing design, capable of thrilling the player for all its (unfortunately) short duration.
Review in Italian | Read full review