From time to time in the industry, various indie games appear that in one way or another attract our attention, either because of their history, gameplay, characters or the design of the art. This is precisely the case of Onirike, a game that, despite not being perfect for various reasons, It has many components that I found attractive and fun, to the point of hitting me for hours trying to move forward.
In this way the dystopian and fantastic world of Onirike arrives, a game that takes us to the world of dreams of Prieto, a boy who will try to find his own identity and personal growth through an open world, where through a non-linear adventure, full of platform challenges and puzzles, he will find a way to grow and believe in himself. Undoubtedly, many values that are combined in this title, which I invite you to know thanks to the Analysis of Onirike on Xbox One.
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Prieto’s world of dreams
The title has a fairly simple story on paper, but very symbolic and full of values everywhere that encourage us and introduce us into this fantastic world. Prieto, a shy, quiet and reserved young man, lacking self-confidence, begins to dream and creates a dystopian world, dreamlike and above all fantastic, where everything takes place in a circus full of deformed characters created from the imagination of our protagonist. In this world, called the Orb, Prieto must fulfill certain tasks and obligations in order to move forward and make his dreams come true.
Through this journey, something very powerful is played, since our protagonist must travel this world fulfilling objectives that will make him grow along the way, learning the values of life and gaining self-confidence, that is, his personal growth. It is very nice to see how everything comes together, since this world created by Prieto is the place where dreams go that do not come true. It will be the mission of our protagonist, illuminate this dark world and give life and hope to its inhabitants, so that in this way, he can make his reality.
Advance to grow and grow to advance
In terms of gameplay, Onirike is a game that adds great components from other titles and mixes them with its own personal touch. It is an open world game, where we will have to explore and discover the mysteries that Prieto’s dream possesses. The above, we will do it through different and diverse riddles and puzzles that, While I didn’t find them to be that innovative, they are quite fun. Together, we will have “secondary” missions, which help to complement the story in terms of the values it delivers, but which largely serve to extend the story a little longer.
One of the points that I think gives the title depth is the exploration system. The story takes place at night (due to Prieto’s dreams), which is why during the day, we will have to get the so-called gypsophila spores. These will allow us to plant the gypsophila flowers, which will take care of not make us disappear into the world. In addition, the fact that the title does not have dialogues, but rather that a narrator tells the story and makes the voices as if it were a story or fable, gives it a great distinctive and characteristic touch. Without a doubt, an excellent inclusion.
The negative aspects of Onirike’s gameplay are Prieto’s controls and actions. As you explore and travel the world doing the platforming adventures, the control and handling of the character becomes a bit rough and slow at times, which is not very intuitive. Together, the game consists of just three actions; plant the spores, jump and hide through invisibility. It would have been great and more entertaining to have had more actions to be able to interact in other ways with the world, to make it much more alive. Unfortunately, it remains to the debit.
A beautiful world poorly optimized
The technical section of Onirike is perhaps its most negative and positive side at the same time. It is a tremendous duality, let me explain. As for the graphics, sound and art design, it is simply beautiful. Everything is well justified, careful, instead, with a drawn character design that is within the idea that the game is like a story or fable, added to the settings and the dark touch, it is simply attractive. Also, it is worth saying that the game is in perfect 4K resolution, as the details look great.
Together, the sound stands out and complements the graphics excellently. It is developed in a very subtle, incidental way, with distinctive details, accompanied by simple but captivating music, which becomes the perfect dressing for this dish. But nevertheless, the biggest weakness is also how poorly optimized it is for the console (played on Xbox Series X). Barely reaching 30 fps, with very frequent drops in many parts of the title, slowdowns and bad movement of the character when jumping obstacles for example, they make everything cute and attractive that you find, is tarnished with the poor optimization you have. A shame the truth.
Onirike Analysis – Conclusions
Undoubtedly Onirike is an attractive, beautiful game with a lot of potential due to the history and values it delivers, being really an apprenticeship, a fable made into a video game. The various challenges and puzzles, while not innovative, are fun to do along the way. The idea about the dream world is really good and interesting, which mixed with art, is a pretty successful move. Unfortunately, the poor optimization that it has, along with some details of slowdown in the gameplay, make it tarnish all the good it generates, making it uncomfortable on certain occasions and looking forward to the release of an upcoming patch.
