Game 12 of 2024 - Dread Delusion

Dread Delusion

Developer: Lovely Hellplace
Publisher: DreadXP
Platform: PC
Genre: CRPG

Difficulty: Easy-ish
Hours: 25

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8.6/10

Picture this: You are a nameless, faceless prisoner of the Inquisition, arrested long ago for crimes that are never made clear. One day you are released by the High Confessor and tasked with bringing in a fugitive for some strange reason. From then on, you are free to make your way in the world, exploring, looting, and fighting as you see fit.

Sound familiar? If you've played any of the Elder Scrolls games, it probably should. Dread Delusion takes a lot of inspiration from Morrowind in particular, but while it shares a lot of DNA with that old RPG treasure, Dread Delusion is it's own beast.

First off, this is your boss, the High Confessor:

...the fuck is this thing?

You're immediately greeted with an alien world, rendered lovingly in low-poly circa 1999 textures. Dread Delusion takes place on the Oneiric Isles, which are a bunch of floating islands orbiting something called a Neuron Star. The isles are bathed in a pink/purple light, which clashes delightfully with the more mundane elements of the world, like houses and trees invoking a mild sense of... well, dread.

While I loved Dread Delusion's visuals, they aren't going to be for everyone. After a while I didn't even clock that the graphics were low-res, that's how well they're used. Every pixel in every texture is used to maximum effect to create this exotic world.

The story is also great, I just wished there was a bit more of it. You end up getting some cool companions, but I don't think we really get to spend enough time with them to bond. They have some great backstory though, and they look awesome.

The Emberian is a badass.

Dread Delusion likes to keep things simple. There is a simple alchemy system, a simple weapon and armor upgrade system, and you can even buy property and upgrade it if you like. I found owning property was mostly pointless since there isn't a great fast travel system in the game, so I almost never visited the houses I owned.

You engage with enemies in both melee and ranged combat, but other than a few swords and bows there aren't any other weapons. You get throwing knives and shurikens as well. There isn't a wide variety of loot to be quite honest, but the game doesn't really need it.

I guess if I had some criticisms, it's that the game's too easy. You can just avoid most fights, and when your hand is forced, combat isn't that hard and health potions are plentiful. The only time I was ever in any danger is when I was outnumbered or fighting a certain endgame bullshit monster. The map, while nice, could use a little work, It would have been nice to have some labeling or even the ability to make our own notes so we could remember interesting places.

The Duchess.

Ultimately, I kind of wished there was both more and less of Dread Delusion. I could have used less wandering around and a little more interactivity and characterization of our companions, especially considering how well-written they are.

Nice.

 

Anyway, the Oneiric Isles are a captivating place and I hope RPG fans give this a try.