DreamWeb

Dreamweb is an MS-DOS and Amiga point-and-click cyberpunk top-down adventure game released in 1994, developed by Creative Reality and published by Empire Interactive Entertainment. The game features mature themes and a dark plot filled with violence and brief full frontal nudity, a rarity for games at the time.

Released: 1994
Platforms: Amiga Amiga 1200 MS-DOS
Genres: Adventure Cyberpunk Point-and-click adventure
Developers: —
Publishers: Empire Interactive
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: United Kingdom
Age ratings: USK 18 ACB MA 15+

About

Dreamweb was re-released as freeware in October 2012.

›Story

The protagonist and anti-hero is Ryan, a bartender in a futuristic dystopian city (implied to be in England, as evidenced by the use of British English terms such as "lift" and "bonnet") who has been plagued by strange dreams of an entity known as the Dreamweb. In the dream that opens the game, Ryan is asked by the master monk of the Keepers to be the deliverer and kill the seven evils, who are united to break the Dreamweb and send mankind spiraling into chaos. In Diary of a (Mad?) man, however, which precedes the start of the game, it is strongly implied that Ryan is descending into psychosis and has fabricated the whole Dreamweb scenario in his mind.

After Ryan leaves his girlfriend Eden's house for work, he learns that due to frequent lateness his boss has decided to fire him. After hearing Ryan's explanation, however, he decides to give him a two-week, fully paid vacation to recover. On the bar's TV, Ryan learns the name and location of the first evil: David Crane, a rock star who is housed in a hotel for a gig later that night. He visits his housebound friend Louis, who directs him to a place where a gun can be purchased.

After doing so, he registers himself at the same hotel, and after managing to get himself up to the penthouse, killing two bodyguards in the process, he finds Crane in bed with a woman. The woman hides under the bed and, after Crane begs for mercy, Ryan kills him and is teleported to the Dreamweb where he learns of the second evil, a general. He returns home, and while checking the news (where he finds the report of Crane's death), he learns General Sterling is the guest of a talk show being filmed at a TV station.

Keywords

cyberpunk
murder
madness
dystopian
freeware
nudity

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

Ryan is a bartender living in a futuristic dystopian city. Looking to find some peace of mind, he purchases a leather-bound journal and begins to recount the events of his life; he finds himself plagued by a series of violent and disturbing dreams revolving an entity known only as the Dreamweb, the spiritual threads controlling reality, and a group of seven individuals tampering with it. The volume and brutality of the dreams place strain on both his mental health and relationship with his higher-class girlfriend, Eden. As his mental health continues to deteriorate, he finds himself cutting the words 'Diary of a (Mad?)

Man' onto the cover his journal. Wishing for the dreams to stop, Ryan sets out to kill seven targets seen often in his dreams, proclaiming in his journal, '[It's] like killing Hitler.'

Development

The biggest influence for the game was the 1986 film Highlander. The developers applied the concept of seven deadly sins to the game in the form of Ryan's victims. The ending to the booklet Diary of a (Mad?) man was intentionally left ambiguous.

Dialog trees were never considered to be part of the game because David Dew did not particularly like the mechanic. In 1995, DreamWeb was refused classification in Australia, due to a rock star showing his penis in the game. Underpants were added to the rock star and the game was resubmitted in the same year for an M rating.

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1995 in Dragon #215 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Both reviewers gave the game 1½ out of 5 stars.

DreamWeb also received negative 2000s reviews from Austin Boosinger of Adventure Gamers (1½ out of 5 stars), Rosemary Young of the now defunct Quandaryland website gave it 1 out of 5 stars.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Platform	Released	Regions
Amiga	31 December 1994	Europe · North America 31 December 1995
MS-DOS	31 December 1994	North America · Europe 31 December 1994 · Worldwide 21 October 2012