Making a successful precision platformer can’t be an easy thing – in a genre where so much depends on level design, everything needs to come together beautifully. Every challenge needs to be harsh yet fair. Every well-timed jump needs to work, and every seemingly impossible scenario requires a solution. Through the Nightmares ticks all these boxes as far as I’m concerned: its controls are tight and simple, and its mechanics are easy to learn but hard to master. As for its platforming challenges? They’re fast-paced, intense, and just as tough as they need to be – always hard, but always doable.
An obstacle at every corner
There is sort of a narrative as well, but it’s very much secondary to the real meat and potatoes that is the gameplay: you’re Sandman, the bringer of good dreams, and you’re trying to save children from the nightmares they’re trapped in. Said nightmares are the levels you need to sprint and jump through – creepy caves with boulders and spikes, school buildings overtaken by giant, lightning-fast spiders, space ships filled with deadly electric traps, and so on. I was honestly surprised by how much the game opened up after its first handful of levels – it starts off simple enough, but gradually introduces the player to more mechanics, tougher platforming, and a greater need for razor-sharp precision. Just when you think you’d seen everything, it throws a curveball at you by using its existing mechanics in new, unexpected ways. I’ve had several “oh god, how do I do this?” and “how is the level still not over?” moments of minor panic as maps became more and more elaborate and challenging, but it genuinely just left me even more impressed with the overall level design and how much care had gone into it. Also, as a side note: it’s been a while since a video game made me genuinely afraid of spiders.
Size matters
A core gameplay mechanic of Through the Nightmares is Sandman’s ability to shrink down his own body. You’d think the game would only use this to make you squeeze through small passages, right? Well, wrong. Platforms that would crumble beneath your feet can also be easily traversed if you’re small and consequently weigh less. How high you jump and how fast you fall similarly depends on your size. Pressure-based explosive platforms go kaboom the moment you step on them, but take longer to activate if you’re lighter. There are gravitational anomalies that pull you in, but only if you’re small. The list could go on. In other words, constantly switching your size is at the core of almost every aspect of Through the Nightmares – the further along you are, the more creatively the game will test your skills to make sure you’ve mastered the mechanics, which I really enjoyed.
Strategic checkpointing
Later maps do start to feel a touch longer, or at least more challenging, which is where the fairly ingenious checkpoint system comes into play. You see, when you die in Through the Nightmares, you’re teleported all the way back to the beginning of the level. However, there’s an optional item you can pick up that allows you to place down your very own manual checkpoint wherever you like. The catch? It only lasts for a few deaths before it disappears, so you really have to make it count. The idea, of course, is to put it down at the part of the level you’re having the most trouble with, but at the same time, it also presents you with a nagging dilemma: “how much more of the level can I do before I use up my checkpoint?” is a question you’ll be asking yourself a lot. It can get quite risky when you end up pushing yourself further and further without relying on the checkpoint, but this kind of personal gamble, this “risk vs. reward” mentality is what made this mechanic so exciting to me. That said, the game also includes shortcuts on certain maps, and these remain open even after repeated deaths, giving you an easy way to get back to specific parts of the level. This helps with alleviating frustration and prevents players from having to constantly re-do segments they’ve already conquered.
Final thoughts
All in all, I found Through the Nightmares to be an enjoyable and rewarding precision platformer that does a splendid job of easing you into its mechanics – it doesn’t throw you into the thick of things right away, but lets you gradually explore and master the various techniques required for survival in its unforgiving world where everything is out to get you. It also keeps things consistently surprising, always managing to reinvent itself by adding a new mechanic or two just when you start to get comfortable. Make no mistake, though: you will die in this game. Dozens upon dozens of times. However, if that alone doesn’t deter you, and you’re up for a bit of a healthy challenge, you’ll likely feel right at home in the trap-laden dream corridors of Through the Nightmares.
