Sweet Dreams Alex - Nothing's Passing These Boxes, Girl

Clarity Games, you know how to win my heart with your game, Sweet Dreams Alex from the starting screen. A wardrobe where I can customise my character, change their barnet, eye colour and even their pyjamas (including custom sets)? That’s cheating, surely? But we measure a game on gameplay, not cosmetics, right? Right?!

Because we’re friends, I’ll level with you. At face value, this puzzle game didn’t appeal to me in the slightest. Well, based on the thumbnails and press material. However, we’re past the superficial bits, and after watching some other hack playing the game, I thought, “Actually, this looks pretty good”. And it was.

In fear of shattering your illusions on who Sweet Dream Alex’s story is about, you’re a dream builder helping to construct pathways to either block nightmares or push through dreams so that Alex sleeps well and wakes up without a single episode of the Mondays or moistening the bed. Think of yourself as a dream bouncer: if your name’s not down, you’re not coming in.

Sweet Dreams Alex Review: Fetch The Rubber Sheets

Sweet Dreams Alex is as challenging as this sandwich is delicious. What I find difficult may be easy for you. Likewise, what you might consider perplexing could be something I see as easy as stealing babies from a candy. Wait. In short, there’s no point in me saying what the difficulty is like, but… I did find it bloody challenging.

As a dream builder, you block monsters from reaching Alex’s bed while she sleeps. Each map is a dream-like sandbox that you can manipulate to reach Alex’s bed while she sleeps. In practice, this means stacking up boxes to create a labyrinth to distract any direct path to the bed. As long as they don’t reach Alex by the countdown, it’s all good.

That’s easier said than done, as some maps will give you infinite boxes (usually when a new mechanic is introduced, such as allowing dreams to reach her bed), but most of the time, there are a limited number of boxes. The beauty of Sweet Dreams Alex’s design, however, is having the ability to trial out a ‘run’ and then tinker with the placement of each obstacle. It’s fascinating how one misplaced box can cost 2-3 seconds.

Don’t Head Off To Bed Just Yet

The underlying story in Sweet Dreams Alex is about Alex moving house with her family. Adults always state what a stressful time it is for them, but it’s an interesting perspective to hear it from the kids – in this case, told through a collectable diary located on some of the levels and Alex’s bestie teddy, Theo.

Having this narrative feature adds to the game’s charm and, in some ways, is an optional extra to some degree, but you’d be a fool not to be connected to this cosy little tale. Besides, it’s almost a reward for when your brain is fried travelling over the multiple dream ‘biomes’.

I must stress again that the challenge is subjective, but irrespective of this, Sweet Dreams Alex is very much a chill game. While there’s a countdown for when the nightmares ‘invade’ her space, the turn-based element and multiple speeds you can play it out make it a bit of a slow burner for all the right reasons. Don’t be like me and judge it from a handful of images: give the demo a try, as this is an adorable indie.