Frankly I was fascinated by the premise of Dreamkiller, because a shooter revolving around a concept as resourceful as the subconscious presents huge potential. You play as Alice Drake, a psychologist with the surreal ability of entering the patient's mind and confront his deepest fears. This may sound pretty glamorous, but what you'd actually wind up doing is shooting legions of demons in a confined space, at lightning speed.

High expectations lead to crushing disillusions, and even in the first stages I couldn't make my mind adjust to the reality that the alluring premise is nothing more than an excuse to blast demons with weird weapons. As you progress with the campaign, any hope of witnessing the revival of the storyline is trampled, as the repetitive nature of Dreamkiller takes over. Levels look different, but the action is pretty much the same, with demon infested rooms to be cleared before moving forward, and tedious boss fights before completing each mission.

Cutscenes precede each scenario, briefly presenting the patient's phobia, but you're pretty much kept in the dark about their condition, while the monsters populating these dreams make virtually no sense. It's a shame that the developers didn't consider a more subtle approach on this title, because simply wiping out various demons won't help the gamer immerse into the narrative. Furthermore, most of these fiends somehow manage to transcend levels and you'll be frequently killing monsters with no apparent connection to a specific phobia.

Since the storyline is underdeveloped, one would expect the actual shooting to be fun and appealing, at least challenging enough to keep players interested. Unfortunately this is not the case here, due to the repetitive nature of the gameplay, weak AI and tricky controls. Basically you are running through a maze, directed by a green arrow which turns red when bad guys enter the scene. Like in those second hand horror movies, a door closes behind you and demons swarm the room, giving you no other option but annihilating every single one.

Confronting dozens of fiends in these confined spaces is not an easy task, but as long as you keep moving the outcome of the battle is easy to predict. Put any tactics aside and simply focus on outrunning the enemies, shooting a haze of bullets and rockets, or incinerate them with your bare hands. They will inflict a lot of damage if they get the chance, but each successful kill can result the demon to drop a dream catcher that will replace health or energy. Once the area is cleared another door unlocks and you are allowed to move further to the next room, where a nearly identical challenge awaits.

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The arsenal is not as diverse as in most shooters, but given the original setting there is little to complain about lacking many weapons. On the other side, there's no excuse for the existing guns to malfunction, inflict more damage on you than on the enemy, or switch in the inappropriate moment. When all these factors concur, the result is downright frustration and the more temperamental players might be tempted to take matters into their own hands. Alice has the ability of igniting nearby enemies or produce a shockwave that will hit multiple targets at close range, as long as she has enough energy.

It's a welcomed distraction to shift into melee mode, but when the room is brimming with monsters or a boss fight is taking place, weapons are the only option. Arguably the most effective one is the minigun, who has a rocket launcher attached and a cooldown short enough to inflict a lot of damage. Sadly the rocket has a huge blast area, so you should be extra careful when dealing with incoming enemies because a nearby explosion will usually cause an untimely death.

Some rooms are bigger and allow the player to run a lot, avoiding demons while constantly shooting at the boss, but even when you are cornered by a pack of enemies, you can easily warp past them thanks to a special teleport talent.  Don't rely too much on this feature though, because the best tactic remains the obvious one: being constantly on the move and exploiting the weak AI. If you kill a lot of demons that inhabit a patient's dream in a short period, Alice will enter a berserk mode which allows her to run even faster and inflict extra damage.

There is no option of preserving rage and entering the berserk mode when you need it more, but the worse thing that can happen is to do it while you are in subconscious mode. Some monsters have a red glow, making them immune to all damage unless you enter a portal to the subconscious. The problem resides in the way these two modes impede your view, by applying some sort of grey filters that make objects difficult to spot. The result is a character who moves with blazing speed in a blurry environment, trying to kill demons sharing similar shades of red.

To make things even worse, weapons are being picked up by entering some kind of transparent spawn points, that are impossible to spot when both the berserking and subconscious mode are active. Trading the potent minigun with a cool looking but ineffective electricity gun, while being chanced by a pack of demons means certain death. Your demise can come at a slower pace, by simply lingering into subconscious mode for too long; no bar is indicating the time left, the only hint being the fast depleting health.

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Conclusion:

For those FPS enthusiasts who hoped for a quality shooter revolving around a compelling narrative, this title is indeed a dream killer. You don't have to be an expert or complete the entire campaign to discover that Dreamkiller is nothing more than a cheap rip-off, crippled by repetitive gameplay, abundant monsters driven by incompetent AI and featuring dated visual effects.

Gameplay: 59

One would really have to hate deeply those puny monsters that populate the dreams of these patients, to find the energy of entering a new room after clearing the previous 99.  The repetitive gameplay is bound to weed off even the most tenacious players, and the fast paced action can't make up for the lack of variety.

Graphics: 68

Dreamkiller is of course a low budget game and the way it looks like is the best proof, failing to deliver environments worthy of the dream realm. Monsters are nicely designed, but unfortunately you have to get very close to really appreciate this, while the shortcomings presented by the berserking and subconscious modes are evident.

Sounds: 70

Alice is not a very talkative person and when she opens her mouth to deliver a silly one-liner, its mostly a dumb reflection of a though she would have better kept silent. Otherwise the music is dynamic and fits in nicely, heating up when a boss fight starts or when the door slams behind you and monsters pour in the undersized room.

Multiplayer: 57

There are plenty or monsters to be killed in the multiplayer via Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Conquest modes, but unfortunately nobody seems interested in joining the game. If you are hungry to slaughter demons feeding on dreams, it may take a while before an online community will be born for Dreamkiller.

Hardware: 73

Set the visual effects on the highest details and lower the volume of both music and sound effects, because Dreamkiller runs just fine on nowadays computers,but the risk of going deaf is real. Another hint would be to check the mouse sensitivity before starting the game, because even the medium level set by default can prove to be too high for most people.