When it comes to games with a retro style, whether legitimate relics of older times, or trying to channel their essence, it’s always tough to figure out how to score them. In part, this is because your enjoyment of the gameplay will be heavily dependent on what you’re looking for. Many times, by more modern standards, it can be hard to go back to some of the issues of how games from back in the day play, and in the case of Psycho Dream I’d say that concept applies.

A port of a title from the Super Famicom, it’s absolutely a title with older-school sensibilities and play, but with some really unique enemies and theming thrown in. You’ll be given the choice to play as either Ry? or Maria, and to the game’s credit they both have their own distinct look and attack styles, opening the door to either replay value or at least finding the character you prefer between the two. You’ll be slashing and shooting your way through pretty traditional side-scrolling stages, taking down your enemies, and accumulating a variety of power-ups along the way. The thing is, these power-ups will make you quite formidable indeed, almost to the point of being over-powered to some degree… at least until you take some hits. Consistent with quite a number of games from that era, if you get hit too much and die, you can often consider your run to be finished since getting back to that level of power will be an uphill battle.

For the most part your enjoyment will likely hinge on whether you understand and accept that style of play being in effect, but that isn’t the only issue. Quite honestly, especially in the case of some boss fights, there were times where I wasn’t able to determine what I needed to be doing in order to be effective. There can be so much visual noise that it doesn’t feel like there’s always much room for nuance, making the experience messy and confusing at best at times. If you’re a fan of games from this era, and love either revisiting or discovering them, there may be an upside to how creative the game can be, but otherwise it’s likely not going to have as much appeal.