Have Game, Will Play: D4 (Dark Dreams Don’t Die)

Swery, the writer and director of Deadly Premonition, is back with D4. D4 is an episodic adventure game with some point and click influences available exlusively for the Xbox One. Swery’s latest title can be played with a controller or with Kinect 2.0. Having played D4 with both, I ultimately preferred it with Kinect. I am comfortable assuming that I am very likely in the minority.

David Young is the protagonist in this quirky adventure. The former Boston Police Department detective is obsessed with solving his wife’s murder. Since her untimely death he has gained the ability to go back in time to alter the course of events and discover more about her death and other related crimes. Seemingly ordinary objects like shoes, badges or baseballs become mementos that link and send him to the past. David is the main focus despite the ability to control a younger version of his deceased wife, Little Peggy, during the episode’s prologues.

Most of gameplay consists of interacting with the environment, conversing with eccentric people and keeping an eye on your stamina. Eating food replenishes it and any activity you engage in does the opposite. You also have a life meter to monitor. This primarily comes into play during the fast action sequences that help with the game’s pace. Upon completing prologues or the episodes themselves will result in a very detailed list of metrics and stats the game gathers. The inclusion of leaderboards is a definite sign that Access Games wants to encourage multiple playthroughs. D4 is a very strange and quirky game. Characters you will come across say and do some very nonsensical things. I’d be lying if I said I understood D4 but that didn’t get in the way of me enjoying it.

Recommendation: Worth a buy – if you are not averse to quirk
Full Disclosure: This game was provided to GameEnthus by the publisher.
Genre: adventure game
Developer: Access Games
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Platform(s): Xbox One
Price: $14.99

Links
https://store.xbox.com/en-US/Xbox-One/Games/D4-Dark-Dreams-Dont-Die/6e82a9a6-b6a0-4c30-a50f-1e0ebafee8bc?cid=majornelson
http://GameEnthus.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2

Scale:
Worth a buy – paying full price for fans of the series or genre makes sense – often includes a caveat
Worth a buy on sale – not quite full price worthy but close, – often includes a caveat
No – borrow it if you must play it
Please no – Don’t waste any time and/or money on it

 

 

18 comments

  1. It’s a really good and goofy game. Even with the Kinect it’s kinda fun even though I switched back to the controller pretty quick because my lazy arms were tired. Recommended! FK is back (and I’m not kidding)!

  2. Is that supposed to be an insult from an Xbox One apologist? Not at all, I own almost every gaming device ever made… except the Xbox One. For your information, I thought the Xbox 360 was the best thing since the Dreamcast. Before that the original Xbox was my favorite after the Dreamcast died. Too bad MS screwed the pooch so badly on the Xbox One.

  3. Mattrick and MS messed up but they are trying to turn things around. Why are people swearing off a console for things that never actually got implemented?

  4. More like an individual not looking to throw $400 away on nothing.

    I’d have said 500, but really…no person with an IQ more than their shoe size would want a Kinect at this point.

  5. You do realize that MS is still implementing their bogus Activation Codes strategy on the Chinese public, right? They didn’t turn anything around… they’re still planning on boning you in the future. Not sure why anyone would want to continue to give them money.

  6. I do but piracy is also rampant in China. MS is a company with shareholders. They want to make money just like every other company. This MS is evil stuff and only about money viewpoint is silly. They are business. I never agree with everything any company does. I just like to play games regardless of the platform. I don’t understand why people spend so much time hating a platform.

  7. Here you go assuming everyone is as jaded and programmed to hate innovation like you. I will never buy another system that doesnt have a kinect like device included or sold separate. It enhances my entertainment experience… period. Whether or not you can get out of the rape van long enough to see how great it is is no concern of mine.

  8. My Kinect enhanced my amount of store credit I had at GameStop. As soon as I was able to chuck that piece of shit for 40 bucks, there was no hesitation. It did more for me in those fleeting seconds than it ever would have tethered to my Xbox One like some sort of parasite. My only concern was whether or not my conscience could handle putting a terrible device like a Kinect out there in the wild for some poor bastard to purchase.

    It may have been more humane just to have chucked the asinine camera in the garbage.

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