LSD

LSD: Dream Emulator is an exploration game that has been described as a "playable dream" in which the player explores surrealistic environments without any overarching goals. Gameplay takes place in a first-person perspective in a 3D environment with the player's control limited to moving frontward and backward, turning, strafing, running, and looking behind. The game is played in levels or "dreams" lasting up to ten minutes. The player begins each dream in a random area where they can begin exploring.

By walking into any object or walking through certain tunnels, the player will be transported to another setting. LSD has several static and defined environments to explore including a Japanese village, a field, a city, houses, and a factory, among others. While the environments are static, the default textures are sometimes swapped and they may also be populated with random objects, animals, and characters roaming about to add variety. Each dream ends after ten minutes in which the character wakes up, or ends early if the player interacts with certain objects or dies.

LSD: Dream Emulator was conceived by Osamu Sato, a Japanese multimedia artist. Sato started his art career in photography and writing music in the 1980s, before turning to digital graphic design and computer art by the 1990s. In the 1990s, he began experimenting with CD-ROM technology, creating animated 3D videos with a dimension of interactivity. Although these projects resembled video games, Sato's intent was not to create games, but to use game platforms as a means of creating contemporary works of art.

Sato's first such project was funded by Sony Music Entertainment Japan and released in 1994, titled Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou. It was released in Japan and the United States. Because Eastern Mind was released in the United States and received some awards, Sato was able to source funding for his next project which would become LSD.

LSD: Dream Emulator quickly fell into obscurity after release due to its limited availability and the eccentric nature of its content, but it gained an avid cult following in subsequent years. The cause of its growing interest among Western audiences years after its release is a mystery to Sato. com and Let's Play video curators on YouTube who feed off the game's quirky qualities. Hardcore Gaming 101 concluded that the popularity of LSD is a testament to the consumer demand for hallucinogenic and experimental games.

Enough people contacted Sony about LSD that they re-released it on the Japanese PlayStation Network in 2010, generating even more interest. Sato has noticed young audiences visiting his art exhibits because they heard about him due to LSD's online popularity. English indie rock band Alt-J received permission from Sato directly to use a screenshot from LSD for the cover art of their studio album, Relaxer (2017). In 2011, a fan began developing an unofficial remake made in the Unity engine for personal computers, with a public alpha version being made available in 2014.