Scott Watson reviews Nightmare Boy…
Take a strong pinch of Terry Gilliam’s unique storytelling, a healthy does of Guillermo del Toro’s at times extraordinary fantasia, and chuck it in the mixing pot with a metroidvania style old-school influenced 2D scroller come platformer and you may think you’re on to a winner with Nightmare Boy on the Switch.
In truth, the game comes across as a muddle of ideas that sometimes hits the mark, but more often than not misses.
Nightmare Boy, by indie dev team The Vanir Project, feels a bit lost in translation. Perhaps the storyline is more cohesive in the team’s native Spanish, but in English I feel we may perhaps be missing key elements that would bind the adventure together a bit better and explain a little of just what is going on.
When we are sleeping, dreams are where we go for shelter. But what if your worst dreams change your perspective of the world. This is our introduction to Billy, bookish youngster and primary antagonist of the game. A boy who is kidnapped by a flying pillow wizard called Balder from Donorok, the land of nightmares, to gain favour and love of the Lady Klormania. Read that again, please as I’m still trying to make sense of it myself!
Transforming Billy into Prince Rolok (the said Nightmare Boy of the game), Balder hopes to dupe those from Donork into believing this is the prince for his nefarious deeds. Naturally Billy isn’t very happy with this, nor is Balder when he realises the transformation hasn’t fully worked. The game’s adventure sees Billy travel throughout the world of Donorok, hunting down Balder in his quest to get back home and be a normal boy again.
His journey, and your travels as him, take place throughout a 2D sprawling land filled with traps, platforms, enemies and more as you find yourself meeting and defeating bosses ranging from the small and flighty, to the full screen behemoths. It all gets a bit bullet-hell like at times and those with a penchant for this tough as nails type adventure will feel right at home. But on you must go, unlocking new powers, spells etc as you go. You know the drill. It’s tough, unforgiving and a real mix of trial and error at times as you unlock new areas of the huge map.
Now so far, those of you who love this kind of game are thinking right now, “sounds up my street”, “sounds like a great challenge” and I suppose it is, but I find the art style is both a blessing and a curse. The animation, art style and design of the nightmare world is wonderfully eccentric but it all gets a bit too much when you’re trying to dodge bullets, jump platforms, take out enemies and always be on the move. These kinds of games live and die by visibility under pressure and its looks sadly work against it here. It also loses a lot when you switch from big screen to on the go. Those clashes of colours and designs get even more confusing and muddy on the small screen which is a real shame as it at times renders the game unplayable because of it.
Nightmare Boy has some nice touches and ideas, but at the end of the day it’s riffing on a tried and tested formula. It’s a shame it’s let down greatly by an art style that, while uniquely imaginative, hinders rather than helps the game.
Pros:
+ Unique and bizarre art and design style
+ Tough as nails boss fights
Cons:
– Confusing and hard to follow narrative
– Doesn’t translate well to portable gaming
– Brings nothing new to the table
Rating: 7/10
Platform reviewed on Nintendo Switch
Scott Watson
