A dream and a nightmare and a TV set walk into a bar…
We’ve become fans of developer/publisher Odencat’s work. Fishing Paradiso was delightful, and their last project, Meg’s Monster, threw us towards an emotional loop. Now the company have announced their newest project alongside developer Fuming, Dream Channel Zero. Zero stars a young man named Akita who gets inexplicably zapped into a video game, and his only escape is to befriend a strange girl, Rumiko, and traverse a strange world. Or, worlds, rather.
The hook of this new project is that it’s an adventure game that allows players to “change the channel” when they’ve hit a point in any of the game’s worlds that has them racking their brains. That not only changes the setting, but also seems to make things even more bizarre, as NPCs go from strange to wicked and environments seem to become more surreal, sliding across genres.
Hmmm!
Each NPC, no matter how minor, has a story to tell that can end up deep and enthralling. Every battle has a very specific way of completing it, with each foe being a unique experience. This isn’t a repetitive turn-based grind, it seems, as some battles can even be won with a single punch of certain conditions are met.
Right now Dream Channel Zero is planned for a Winter 2024 release for PC, Mac and Linux, so get those Steamdecks ready and those Kleenex at the ready — Odencat is promising another heartfelt, emotional story.
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