Review: The Sailor's Dream

Something between an old-school adventure and a picture book, this is a game of gentle exploration and gradual discovery, impressively presented and peppered with subtle touches.

It’s a slightly abstract and appropriately dream-like experience that has you slowly uncovering fragments of a wistful and sometimes tragic story. Swiping takes you from location to location, through a wrecked ship or an abandoned lighthouse, most of which are presented as still or slowly-moving images. 

Once you drop your anchor, you’ll find that some of these dioramas contain details that reveal another piece of the puzzle, others can be toyed with in some simple way. A passing moon can be caught; a row of hanging lights rewards your attention with gleeful chimes. Distant whispers and mournful tunes follow you on your travels, giving a sense of something almost supernatural.

This is a story already written, one the player cannot change, and revealing all its secrets requires waiting for time-dependent events. Hourly broadcasts and daily songs add to the narrative, as well as being more entertaining than the comparatively prosaic paragraphs of text that tell the rest of this tale. They feel very typical of developer Simogo, too, if you’ve played Year Walk or Device 6, its previous two games.

Perhaps more an experience than a game, The Sailor’s Dream isn’t about the choices you make or your actions, but about gradually drinking in an atmosphere. As the Simogo site says, “the only objective is to satisfy your curiosity.” While some players will want more interaction, there’s no denying that it’s a curious and often very beautiful creation. And it will hook you in.

The bottom line. Slow and perhaps an acquired taste, this is nevertheless a beautifully-presented labor of love.