Every Day the Same Dream
| Every Day the Same Dream | |
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| Developer(s) | Molleindustria |
| Designer(s) | Paolo Pedercini |
| Platform(s) | Flash |
| Release date(s) | 2009 |
| Genre(s) | Art game |
Every Day the Same Dream is a short, 2D art game that puts the player in the role of a man whose life is about to change. Developed for the Experimental Gameplay Project in 2009, the game has been described as "a beautiful game with a very bleak outlook." The creator, Paolo Pedercini, claims it is "a short existential game about alienation and refusal of labor." It has been compared to Passage by Jason Rohrer and Don't Look Back by Terry Cavanagh in that it is "an interesting, potentially fascinating experience."
While the game lacks a traditional storyline, the course of events has the player control a white collar worker and guide this avatar through the daily grind. If the avatar gets dressed, drives to work, and sits at his cubicle, the dream will restart from the initial bedroom scene. An old woman in the elevator offers the cryptic message: "5 more steps and you will be a new person." Once the player deviates from the predetermined path and initiates five specific interactions, the dream restarts in a new state with the player's avatar as the only person in the game world. When the player next returns to the office and passes the empty cubicles, the avatar stops to watch an identical character leap from the rooftop, and the game ends.
The game gives the player simple controls, only enough to walk left or right using the arrow keys and interact using the spacebar. Using these limited controls, the gameplay encourages the player to "subvert the limitations of the world" however possible until the narrative changes.
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Wikipedia