Dreamy Goat Review

Having “played” it pretty extensively over the past few days, I’m still not quite sure what to make of Arthur Lysenko’s totally out there App Store debut, Dreamy Goat (Out Now, $0.99). Before launching into my review, I guess the most important thing to note about this one is that it’s a game in the loosest possible sense of the word, and actually feels more like a piece of experimental interactive art than anything.

As such, Dreamy Goat is likely to divide opinion: players accustomed to traditional gameplay mechanics and clean-cut objectives may find this title’s free-flowing style more than a little baffling and perhaps even somewhat boring; while those prepared to embrace the avant-gardness of it all will enjoy soaking up the whimsical, ethereal atmosphere, catchy tunes and continual barrage of outlandish eye-candy on offer here.

Dreamy Goat features two modes: ‘Sun’ and ‘Zen’, each of which involve guiding a crudely doodled goat through the surreal depths of his own subconscious. See? Told you this one was pretty weird. ‘Sun’ mode lacks an in-game tutorial, but as near as I can figure, the idea here is to outrun the sun and stay asleep for as long as possible. In order to do so, you tap the touchscreen to hop around environments, dispatching phantasmagorical creatures, collecting items, and even occasionally hitching a ride atop a humongous flying whale! ‘Zen’, as the name implies, is an even more laid-back affair. Here Dreamy Goat shrugs off any semblance of traditional gameplay and simply lets you kick back and enjoy the sublime audio-visual experience at your own leisure.

All in all, Dreamy Goat’s certainly not lacking in imagination and creativity, but once the initial wow factor of traversing its trippy dreamscapes wears off, the rudimentary gameplay soon gets tiresome and isn’t challenging or exciting enough to keep you coming back for more.

iFanzine Verdict: Dreamy Goat is an often baffling, always beautiful dose of genre-bending, psychedelia infused weirdness. It most definitely won’t appeal to everyone’s tastes, but if you fancy trying something completely out of the ordinary, it’s worth giving a whirl.