Developer: Trass
Engine used: RPG Maker VX Ace
Genre: Adventure
Duration: About 30-60 mins
Background:
Mary is a girl who loves to dream. In fact, she loves to dream so much she can spend an entire day dreaming. One day, when she falls asleep, she finds herself in a nostalgic place very different from her other dreams. Everyone there knows her and treats her like an old friend, and they invite her to play with them or help them. When she finishes all of their tasks, she is invited deeper into the dream.
Will you lead her to fall into her dreams? Or will you bring her back to the waking world?
As the player, you have the choice in the final decision of Mary's final dream.
WARNING: GAME INCLUDES SUDDEN CHANGE OF ATMOSPHERE, CHASE EVENTS AND IMPLICATION OF SEXUAL/ CHILD ABUSE.
Difficulty rating: 7.5/10
Opinion:
The sudden change in atmosphere seriously freaked me out. I'm serious, the background music changed, there's some creepy guy following you, there's sudden flashes of your friends lying dead. It creeped me out, because the sudden transition from a happy, girly game to a stalkerish, cold one was extremely sudden. You wouldn't realise it until you notice the warning signs. However, I love those type of games, the ones where they aren't what they seem to be :) This game was one of those types, and I absolutely loved it.
The only thing I found difficult was talking to the people. You can't talk to them if you're directly in front of them, but you have to be a bit next to them in order to converse with them. Anyway, this was only a minor interruption, and did not affect the overall quality of the game.
Download here: Dreaming Mary
Walkthrough:
[Cutscene]
*Do notice that in one of the dialogues, the word key is highlighted in gold. Please take note of this hint and remember it for later.
Welcome to the Dream:
When the game starts, you will find yourself in a room with a bed, a radio, a painting and a vase with a lily in it. Although the lady in the radio asks you to adjust your volume until you can hear her, it is not necessary to listen to the radio.
Walk up to the vase and remove the lily from it; the game would require it later.
If you walk up to the door, you will find that it is locked. Now, return to the bed, and you will find a bar of chocolate.
Eat this, and you will acquire a "Gold Leaf key".
Exit the room.
Hallway:
Once you reach the hallway, there will be 3 big doors. Enter the leftmost one, and interact with the rabbit, Bunnilda. She will tell you to talk to someone called "Penn Guindel", who is in the room right beside this one.
Follow her instructions and enter the next room. Interact with the penguin, Penn Guindel, and he will tell you to speak to "Foxanne", who also happens to be in the last room of the 3.
Exit the room, approach the next door and enter to see a fox, Foxanne, sitting on a bar stool in front of the counter. Interact with her, and she will tell you to speak to Boaris, who is in the only door after hers. However, take note how she emphasized on the word "only".
???:
After Foxanne's room, if you walk a bit ahead and face the wall, Mary will hear someone calling her. Now, interact with this wall a few times, and Mary will enter a strange room. Go into the fourth room again, and interact with the fishbowl on the table at least 4 times. It will break and the "sea angel" will float out of the room.
Leave for now.
The reason why the radio at the beginning of the game asked you to adjust your volume was so that you could hear the background. Now, you may have chosen to ignore my instruction, and decided " Oh! I'll just talk to Boaris before I open the room!". However, when you interact with the door at the end of the hall, someone will whisper, "Mari! Wait, don't go there yet.". Of course, you have the option to:
1) Ignore the whisper and talk to Boaris first. Afterwards, when you return to the wall, Mary will find that it feels like it's made of cement. This would result in a "Sweet Dreams" Game Over as there was something in the room that would have helped Mary to escape later.
2) Listen to me :)
Boaris:
Walk down all the way to the end of the hallway, open the door, and interact with a boar, Boaris, who will tell you to go off and play with the others first.
1st Round of Puzzles:
Bunnilda:
Return to the first room and interact with Bunnilda, who will ask your help to put some statues.
The story is based off the fight with two goddesses , Persephone (Goddess of the Underworld) and Aphrodite (Goddess of Love and Beauty), over Adonis. The statues depend on who is facing the middle, and are as follows, from left to right:
Left: The Confident (Aphrodite)
Middle: The Wounded (Adonis)
Right: The Longing (Persephone)
Interact with Bunnilda after you've finished placing the statues.
Penn Guindel:
Go to the next room and interact with Penn, he'll ask you to go search for a book written by "Williams", which was about a stuffed rabbit and describe it to him. The book can be found:
In the rightmost bookshelf in the room. The book's title is "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams. The description Penn wants is the colour, so the answer to his question would be "YELLOW".
Leave the room and enter Foxanne's room.
Foxanne:
If you interact with her, she will challenge you to a game of Hide and Seek. Interact with her again to begin the game, and you will be given 45 seconds to search for her. She can be found:
To the right of the leftmost bar stool, if you look up.
Boaris:
Go to the last room and talk to Boaris. He will tell you it's still early and ask you to go and play with your friends.
Tip: If you don't want to get creeped out, answer "Yes" when Boaris asks you if you're having fun in your dreams. Otherwise, this is where there's a slight implication of sexual abuse.
Head back towards Bunnilda's room.
2nd Round of Puzzles:
Bunnilda:
Interact with Bunnilda and she will ask for your help in placing some objects with the statues. The story of the fight is as follows:
Persephone and Aphrodite, the two goddesses, fought over Adonis, a mortal man, for years, and because of them, he was slain and taken to the underworld. To honor him, Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, mixed his blood with nectar, making flowers bloom.
And one more thing, if you approach and interact with the leftmost and rightmost statues in the room, they each give a clue to the answer.
Leftmost statue says: The red fruit is Death's temptation.
Rightmost statue says: The gold fruit is a prize for the winner.
So, according to the story, the objects are as follows:
Left: Flower (Aphrodite's dedication)
Middle: Red fruit (Adonis' death)
Right: Gold fruit (Persephone's victory)
Interact with Bunnilda once you've finished, and then exit the room.
Penn Guindel:
Interact with Penn, and he'll ask you to search for 2 more books, so this puzzle is just like the first one, just doubled. The first book he'll ask you to find is a "White book with stories that contain morals." and this book can be found:
In the leftmost bookshelf in the room. The book's title is "Aesop's Fables", however, even though the author is not specified, it can be inferred from the book's title itself. And since Penn wants the author of the book, the answer to his question is "AESOP".
The next book he'll ask you to find is a "Green book by an author whose name begins with an S." and this book can be found:
In the bookshelf next to the one where you found "Aesop's Fables". The book's title is "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein, and since Penn asked for the title, the answer to his question is "THE GIVING TREE".
Interact with Penn after you're finished. For now, you have the option to head to the next room and begin Foxanne's activity, or you can interact with Penn again to get a clue.
If you choose to get the clue, Penn will say:
"... the angel lead her to the land of bright lights and sunshine...
Exit the room and head to Foxanne's one.
Foxanne:
Interact with her and you have 25 seconds to find her this round. She will be hiding at:
The center part of the rightmost counter if you look up.
Boaris:
Go to Boaris, and interact with him. He will ask you to retrieve 3 seeds from your friends before going deeper into the dream.
WARNING: THINGS GET MUCH, MUCH DARKER BEYOND THIS POINT!
3rd Round of Puzzles:
Bunnilda:
Interact with her, and she will ask you to answer a question about the story. The correct answer would be:
"I don't know" because she never included who Adonis loved in the story!
She will hand you the seed, and the screen will flash black before she disappears.
If you stay in the room for a bit longer, there will be a black and white version image of Bunnilda falling from the roof, presumably about to crash into the ground killing herself, or already dead. There's about a 15 second interval before the flash appears again.
Penn Guindel:
Interact with Penn, and he will ask you to find "A brown journal written by someone called Ana." Please, don't waste time searching for the book in the library, it's somewhere else completely.
Exit Penn's room and return back to the room you started in. Go a bit next to the door, and get the Gold Leaf key. Go to the painting, which should now be blinking, and you have to touch it to enter it. (Now, you can travel from Dream to Nightmare.)
If you read the journal in the Nightmare, it will tell you to run all the time. I would advise you to hold "Shift" from this part of the game onwards. Exit the room, and go down the hallway and stop at the sofa. Walk up to the stuffed toy in the middle of the line and read the journal.
Good! You got your answer! Go through the hole in the wall in the previous room, and go back to Penn's room. The answer to Penn's question is:
"GLENN"
He will give you the seed and a black screen will flash before he disappears.
Again, if you stay in the room for a bit longer, a black and white version of Penn will flash with it's head decapitated.
Foxanne:
Interact with her, and she will give you 10 seconds to find her this round. She can be found:
Behind the second silhouette in the foreground, with Mary facing the player.
Interact with Foxanne after you find her and then exit the room.
Once again, if you stay in the room for a bit longer, you'll see a body of an elegant woman who looks as if she was covered in blood and had her eyes gouged out.
ENDING GUIDE:
Normal Ending: The End of a Dream, The Beginning of a Nightmare.
[For this ending, there are no requirements.]
Go to Boaris and talk to him, agree to give him the petal in exchange for the seed. Enter the door.
True Ending:
[For this ending, you will need at least 2 petals.]
Follow the Normal Ending guide. There's no difference, just that there's an "extra" cutscene in this one that gives you a little bit more background info about Mary.
??? Ending:
[For this ending, you will need at least 1 petal and 1 rusty key.]
Go to Boaris and talk to him, however, do not give him the seed. Keep on saying no, and once he lets you go, head to "The Other Side". When you reach there, the background starts swimming and "HE'S COMING" is chanted as the background music.
Go to the sofa, and collect 1 key from any of the stuffed animals. Venture a little beyond the sofa and a man will approach from the right and start chasing you.
Run as fast as you can to the left to prevent a scary "SWEET DREAMS" game over.
Continue running to the left even when you're in the first room, as the man will continue chasing you until you manage to get into the hole and back onto the "Good" side..
Go to the fourth room and you'll find that the painting in it is flashing. Touch it.
The man will be on you left and the door is open to your right. Run immediately to the right. The next room you enter should have a red painting in it. Continue running as the man follows you and get into the red painting as soon as possible.
You'll now find yourself in a dark hallway. Walk to the end, towards the light.
"You don't have enough keys to open the door."
Suddenly, the man appears, and slowly walks towards you...
??? Ending (Alternative):
[For this ending, you will need at least 1 petal and 3 rusty keys.]
Follow the previous ending guide, however, take all 3 keys from all 3 stuffed animals.
You finally escape the dream (For real) with all the keys and wake up in the real world.
You can't leave the room, however, as the door is locked. You can only go back to bed.
Good End:
[For this ending, you will need at least 1 petal, 3 rusty keys and the Gold Leaf key]
Follow the ??? Ending guide, the only difference is that you need to get the Gold Leaf key along with the other 3 rusty keys.
You finally escape the dream (For real) with all the keys and wake up in the real world.
It turns out you've brought the key with you and are able to unlock the door to your actual room.
BONUS CONTENT:
Getting all four types of endings gives you a password to unlock the .zip file included with the game. It also allows you to browse Mari's real life room and get some extra information.
The .zip file gives you a link to a bonus gallery, with lots of goodies, dev notes, and CGs.
Checking the stuffed penguin will give you a card with an odd Street Fighter reference and the password for the fishbowl: SUPERMARY.
If you check the fishbowl, and use the password for the button, this will unlock HADOUKEN MODE. Going to the "other hallway," you can now dispatch the shadowy figure who creeped you out so much in arcade fashion.
- GAME END -
Comments and feedback are greatly appreciated!!! For any problems, please send me a message via Google Hangouts :)
