PEGBRJE: Dawndusk Dream Sewer and Pumpking
Pixelated thrills.
Dawndusk Dream Sewer is a bizarre acid-trip experience made by rbatistadelima, a solo game developer out of Brazil with assistance from Shallow Lagoon out of the UK. Players are a meatsack that has a soul bound to it, descending lower through a sewer system filled with pilgrims and individuals that wish to sing the praises of the system. What does any of it mean?
Honestly I’m not sure. Players have the ability to wander throughout a cube-like environment as this flesh heap, witness the sewer in all of its glory and talk to the individuals that reside on each floor. These conversations will highlight what makes the sewer the absolute pinnacle of existence while discussing how meaningless existence is. They will ask hard hitting questions, although they’re all so metaphysical that they don’t necessarily ‘hit hard’ and instead feel like they’re hitting at a core belief of some kind. To call it tough to comprehend would be doing it a disservice, for they all thrive on the splendor of the sewers and the philosophy of their world. Which also begs the question of what exactly is this sewer that causes reality to seemingly cease to exist? Where exactlyy is this place, who are we and why are we here? Why is our soul bound to this flesh heap, and why are there individuals who are bound to floors of this sewer to inform us of our mortality?
There are no answers really in Dawndusk Dream Sewer, at least not ones that are explicit. Much like the absurdity of life, the answers one seeks to explain their existence are ones that are from within, regardless of how they come about them. One may not fully comprehend the meaning of the sewers, nor their worshipped nature, but one cannot deny that they lead to a new path with every floor descended.
If this sounded like gibberish, well congratulations; it is. The only way to find out for yourself is to dive in and experience it. It’ll only take 15 minutes, or it’ll consume an afternoon of existential dread. Up to you.
On the less existential side is Pumpking, a 2D platforming adventure made by Sophie Houlden who we’ve had the privelege of seeing their work previously with DANGEROUS DUELS. This time, players will be following a curious little pumpkin in a game made for a Hallowe’en game jam, as we hop along to find the PewKing.
Now that I said PewKing out loud, I get it.
Regardless, as this pumpkin players will be utilizing any button on the bottom row of the keyboard to jump through a maze-like world full of spooky enemies. There is no attack button, instead opting for the traditional method of ‘jumping on their heads and squishing them with pumpkin might’. For most of the game this is what players will be focusing on, hopping on or around different kinds of enemies to ensure that lives are not taken away, for the pumpkin has no health and must restart at a checkpoint if injured. Some enemies, such as the Slime, are actually not really vicious and instead are more of a utility to discover new pathways to maneuver through the level or secrets to uncover such as more lives. Each enemy is visually distinct to avoid confusion, especially in their movement patterns so it becomes really difficult to confuse a ghost with a skeleton.
As one might expect with a small platformer, the game can be completed within the 10 minutes that has been allotted; failure to do so will result in a game over and players will have to try again from the start. It’s a cute little game that showcases the possibilities for polish and execution within a four day timeframe, and thanks to Pico-8 it was possible. If you’d like to see the game in a more visually updated version, Sophie also has an HD version available as well for those that have purchased the bundle, complete with cute sprites and an even cuter pumpkin to play as. If you want to get in to the silly spirit for Hallowe’en this October, try this out.
