Afterdream from Feardemic and Jesse Makkonen brings us a lucid dream psychological horror experience on PlayStation 5. Learn more in our Afterdream review!

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Afterdream from Feardemic and Jesse Makkonen brings us a lucid dream psychological horror experience on PlayStation 5. Indie dev Jesse Makkonen previously gave us Distraint on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, followed by the aptly titled sequel Distraint 2 on PlayStation 4, so if you’ve played either one of those games, you’ll have a good idea of what you can expect to run into during your time with Afterdream. It’s also Rated M for Mature, so do keep that in mind! You’ll start your journey in what seems like a therapy session as you discuss your weird dreams.

After closing your eyes for a moment, you’ll find yourself in a room you don’t recognize, a room that has certainly seen better days. Examining stuff in the room will make you notice a locked nightstand, a set of drawers with nothing of interest, and a container with a liquid that stinks… a lot. It’s certainly not water! All of this will happen while your character is, for some reason, wearing a suit, which is very weird. Guess you have to find a way to open that nightstand to see what it’s hiding from you!

You’ll walk around with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, pressing the X button to interact with objects and characters as needed. As you collect items that can be used to solve puzzles, you’ll be able to use them here and there by pressing up or down on the left analog stick or the D-Pad to cycle through the available options. What types of scenarios will you run into? As to not spoil things, I’ll discuss the first couple of things you can do after entering the bizarre nightmare world of Afterdream.

Walking outside of the room will take you to the main area of this location, where you’ll find an empty cardboard box and an oven that is locked and requires you to find a combination of numbers to enter. A fridge that is closed shut is also nearby. You can also find a moldy wooden basket, a locked door, and a wall that has a door frame but is missing the door. On the left side of the room is a jacket. By searching inside its pockets, you’ll find a bobby pin, which you can then use to lockpick the nightstand!

Inside is a key. By using this key, you will now be able to unlock the door that is just outside of the previous room. This door will lead into a very nasty bathroom. While inside, you can pick up a towel. By using the towel on the disgusting tub with stinky liquid in the starting room, you can get a wet towel. The wet towel can then be used to clean the bathroom mirror. A clean mirror will allow you to check out the numbers on the containers in the bottom left corner of the screen, which are now reflected there.

By using these numbers, you can now open the oven. And no, you can’t cheat your way through this particular puzzle since the three numbers will be different for each playthrough! Inside the oven? A camera. But this is a very special camera. Press the Square button to bring it out, and then take a photo with the X button once it’s focused. By taking a picture of the empty doorframe, you’ll make a door appear out of thin air! The camera can then be used to make other missing stuff appear, but I’ll let you find out about it on your own. Oh, but before I forget. The camera also has a handy flash you can use with the Triangle button to light up an area for a short period of time.

And now, let’s talk about the trophies! This one has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy waiting for you. The list is split into 6 Bronze trophies, 8 Silver trophies, and 1 Gold trophy for you to work on. While 7 of the trophies are tied to completing each of the game’s chapters and finishing the game, the remaining trophies are missable. Because of this, if you need some extra help, you can check out this Afterdream Trophy Guide.

Afterdream brings us a lucid dream psychological horror experience on PlayStation 5. If you’ve played Distraint or Distraint 2 from indie dev Jesse Makkonen, then you’ll have a good idea of what you’ll be getting yourself into for your time with this particular journey, which, due to its themes and overall presentation, is not going to be for everyone. This is, after all, a Rated M for Mature game. Afterdream is out on PlayStation 5 with a $10.99 asking price. There’s also a PlayStation 4 version of the game available as a separate purchase for the same price.

Disclaimer
This Afterdream review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Feardemic.