Doug's Nightmare | A PS5 Review

Ready yourself for the hand drawn hijinks of EastAsiaSoft's "Doug's Nightmare". A twin stick dungeon crawler that pits you against a banana's worst nightmares. As Doug you'll face and fight off waking anxiety, panic attacks, and visits from your personal demon as you confront everything that troubles you. Punching, and blasting into oblivion all that stands between you a good night's sleep as you do so. All while sporting the latest in quirky fashions.

As Doug the banana you can attack in all directions with your fists or swing in a circular motion if you find yourself surrounded. Weapons, as such, are an alternative that can be swapped between. While said attack options help you fend off the fiendish frights of your nightmare in a room by room basis you'll also need to mind your health, and anxiety. This can be done via restoration items or dashing. Health, for example, can be healed by nabbing food items while anxiety must be remedied by either collecting teddy bears or fighting off the demon-like alter ego which will manifest when your anxiety meter is depleted. 

The end goal of each playthrough is to clear the rooms one by one looting the rooms while working towards facing off against a boss at the end of an area. In emptying rooms of it's resident nightmare fuel you will sometimes find gift boxes that hold fashion items you can wear as you deal damage to the denizens of your dreams. These may or may not come with added perks. The same goes for alternate weapons. Downing enemies will also drop food items, and teddy bears which will further aid in survivability. 

The Presentation ...

Visually 'Doug's Nightmare' is a fully hand drawn game with light animation applied. It has it's own unique art style with intermittent comic book style panels detailing Doug's ongoing fight with his nightmarish dilemma. It has humor, and a bit of darkness to it that makes it a little less kid friendly/focused. It also features a fitting soundtrack made of eerie instrumentals that play in the background as you do what needs to be done. Nothing spectacular music-wise, but notable nonetheless.

The Verdict ...

It's hard to make a hand drawn game that is functional in a way that pixel made games are. Things like hit boxes and projectiles are somewhat problematic in that they're hard to deal with. The out of sync nature of mobs also makes enemies sometimes hard to read and deal with. That being said this is a budget indie that isn't asking much from the gamer. Not only that but it does something distinctly different that other games in the genre don't. The anxiety meter, itself, really adds a level of tension to the endgame goals. Making survivability more difficult/challenging for being a part of the gameplay mechanics. If this sounds good to you 'Doug's Nightmare' is out today on the PSN store!