Psychological thriller Red Dreams to become reality in 2027

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Fusion of hard sci-fi and Māori culture unveiled by the creators of Verne: The Shape of Fantasy

People go missing all the time on good ol' terra firma, as there are lots of places to hide (or be hidden). But what about a planet consisting entirely of water, with only a few people stationed aboard an isolated research outpost on the surface? You'd think that would make a sudden disappearance a whole lot easier to investigate – but you'd be wrong when that world is the setting of Red Dreams, an upcoming Māori-themed psychological thriller from Gametopia, the indie Spanish studio that brought us 2023's Verne: The Shape of Fantasy.

Discovered in 2070 and located nine light-years from Earth, the giant exoplanet DG-3 (later renamed Kiwa after the "Polynesian mythological guardian of the ocean") is unusally solid rather than gaseous for a planet its size, but it's covered in a "vast ocean that is very similar to ours, but reddish in color." Compounding any attempts to locate signs of life are "various anomalies" and a massive gravitational pull that causes a time distortion where "one hour on the surface equals three hours in orbit." Nevertheless, the "international Kiwa Keratai mission – named after a great Māori leader from the 1800s" – was established to allow a staff of three to study the planet in person. 

When a neuroscientist named Emily suddenly disappears, however, it's up to her best friend Mere Turei, a Māori astrophysicist, to descend to the "claustrophobic station" in a frantic search where "every second counts." Strangely, after hitting her head in a troubled landing, Mere discovers a fourth member of the expedition she wasn't aware of, and she soon begins experiencing "Red Dreams," a side effect of the planet's atmosphere whose images are "so vivid they become indistinguishable from true memories." If she's to find her missing friend, Mere must "reconcile her scientific logic with the ancestral wisdom of her Māori heritage." Helping her along the way is her AI drone AFI, who provides support even when Mere can no longer "trust her own memory ... in a place where dreams rewrite reality."

As with its predecessor, this game is another side-scrolling point-and-click adventure, but Red Dreams represents an "ambitious leap forward" for the company, both narratively and technically. While the setting is another watery world, gone are Verne's fantastical fictional elements and the submersible Nautilus, replaced by hard sci-fi and a "darker, more profound narrative [that] explores loneliness and memory, deeply intertwined with the mysticism of Māori culture." Presented via a combination of pixel art and 3D environments and controlled by mouse, keyboard or gamepad, the game seeks to balance a "classic soul" with a "modern pulse." Players are tasked to solve integrated environmental and logic puzzles such as "repairing station systems and decoding data," and to make difficult choices both in dialogue and with their actions that will ultimately determine Emily's fate. It won't be easy to discern who is lying and who is telling the truth, or even what is real and not a Red Dream, so players will need to rely on AFI for assistance. Fortunately the drone proves to be "more than a simple tool: he is the voice of your conscience," and "the longer AFI spends on Kiwa, the more his relationship with Mere evolves, making him feel increasingly human." 

The characters are all voiced by professional actors, including Rebecca Ronayne, a New Zealand actress as Mere. The latter was important to Creative Director Daniel González, who was deeply inspired by Māori history and culture in designing the game, likening this story's intrepid cosmic voyage to the "greatest navigators in human history" crossing the Pacific in nothing but canoes, guided only their "intimate understanding of the natural world." Not only do many of the names in Red Dreams have Māori origins, the entire game is a "journey told through a unique cultural lens." Accompanied by an original soundtrack that "blends Māori sounds with synthetic textures," the world-building is largely "based on Māori mythology, blending ancestral wisdom with futuristic technology." As the developers themselves are not native to the area, they are working closely with a Māori culture expert in order to ensure authenticity that will "treat this cultural background with absolute respect." 

There is no firm target release date for Red Dreams, but barring any unforeseen temporal distortions of our own, we should see the game launched on Steam sometime in the second quarter of 2027 for Windows and Mac, along with a console version for the Nintendo Switch. 

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