On the surface, it may appear as if it’s intended for all audiences, with its Woody doll taken straight out of Toy Story and an art style that seemingly beckons fun and joy. However, I dream of you and ice cream is not some everyday point-and-click indie game - it’s the polar opposite.
Drenched in symbology, mainly gazing at the realities of imperialism through the lens of a simultaneously interesting and disturbing tale, I dream of you and ice cream takes players on a grueling thrill ride as a scientist in a quest to save the world from a maniacal Woody doll imposter. Do you have what it takes to overcome this child’s toy of madness, or will the world be overcome with its vile intentions?
As the scientist in I dream of you and ice cream, it is your job to solve a variety of puzzles, like the one shown above, all while undergoing a series of seemingly mundane dreams about ice cream and an ever-ticking clock counting down to the inevitable annihilation of humanity. After solving two puzzles successfully, the player is rewarded with a subtle hint to aid them in solving the next one. To imbue even more otherworldliness into the game, developers Emilios Manolidis also crafted this game with no text at all, only mere dialogue bubbles with symbols used as communication.
The game doesn’t just harken on mere puzzles, though, as the interweaving of characters and events that take place help to broaden the many messages implied within the experience. In building this machine to save the world, the player will also gain almost a surreal impression of subjugation, loss of identity, and self-sacrifice. Much like Ever Forward in its own expansion of puzzle platforming, I dream of you and ice cream does more in broadening how point-and-click adventures can be interacted with on a thematic and spiritual level.
It may not be the first point-and-click horror title for mature audiences, as evidenced by the Saw-inspired Dark Room, but I dream of you and ice cream does take it to all-new, far more compelling (and stranger) heights. While being totally original in its delivery and themes, the story underpinning this tantalizing indie is steeped in meaning, as the only Metacritic score reviewer explains:
For a mere $5 on Steam and even available on the Nintendo Switch, you would have to be a human-subjugating Woody doll to pass up this mind-numbing point-and-click adventure.
“The dreaming about eating an ice cream cone and knowing what this dream can be interpreted as meaning further shows the developer’s brilliance that brings this game to life. Two thumbs up from me to the developers for adding that extra layer to this game other than relying on what could just be the rote action of solving a bunch of puzzles.”
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