Fresnel does a wonderful job of capturing the fragmented, half-remembered nature of dreams.
Every scattered vignette begins abruptly, introducing a space with its own rules, imagery, and feeling. A lighthouse in a storm; cabinets stuffed full of wine bottles that spill out at your touch; endless spiralling staircases.
Ah yes, a visual representation of the inside of my brain
You can move around, maybe at a pace that feels just a touch too fast and out of control, or maybe at a crawl like there’s invisible treacle holding you back. You can interact with objects, trying to understand what each area is showing you. And then each space is gone as quickly as it came, fading into the next with no indication of connection or transportation.
Developer Tom Vissenkom describes the game as evoking “the feeling of being super confused,” but to me it feels like it makes sense – at least that kind of sense you think you feel in a dream until you wake up and realise that none of it was real.
Fresnel is available to download for pay what you want on itch.io.
Weekindies is Cliqist’s weekend column focusing on small indie games. You can find all of our Weekindie posts here.
