SHE DREAMS ELSEWHERE
Fighting inner demons (and dogs) in this surreal RPG
Developer/ publisher
Studio Zevere
Format PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Origin US
Release Late 2021
Waking up in your apartment, which is dimly lit as if underwater, you step outside, following the corridor until it leads you into a dungeon. A disembodied voice guides you. You’re handed a weapon to use to defend yourself against shadowy entities, which quickly fall. Then you reach a room with a mysterious, apparently invincible figure. “Sweet dreams,” they mutter – but just as they deliver the finishing blow, you’re back in your room. Of course it was just a dream. Right?
As creator Davionne Gooden explains, all of this pseudo-8bit RPG – which has Mother in its foundations, while taking inspiration from Persona and real life – takes place within the dreams of Thalia, who’s “just your average, everyday depressed girl”. The opposite, in other words, of the archetypal RPG hero who tends to embody optimism. We get a sense of her personality through both her self-loathing-filled observations and dialogue choices. “It’s less of what would the player do and more like what would Thalia do in that situation,” Gooden explains.