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Review
I had a delightful time in the Dreamhold and its surroundings. The pacing is slow and the game rewards methodical exploration. At first the geography was confusing enough that I had trouble mapping it, but then once it fell into place it made complete sense. My spoilerful map here: https://i.xkqr.org/dreamhold_map_spoilers.png
The game lets you finish once the main puzzles are solved, even with many side-puzzles left hanging. I think I must have missed a few portions of the game, because I didn't get a good grasp of the narrative. However, the puzzles and environment made up for most of the weak narrative. I am impressed by how much character the author manages to give the varied environments of the Dreamhold using rather few words. I truly feel like I've been there, explored the paths, and looked out over the mountain sides.
I'm not a huge fan of big maps (because when I get stuck, there's so much to explore) but it didn't bother me all that much in the Dreamhold, because the rooms had so much character, and the connections between rooms felt so natural. I quickly learned to type out a path from one room to any other with my eyes closed.
There are plenty of red herrings around which had the effect of slightly discouraging my explorations, but I suppose someone with more patience than I would find the uncertain reward for exploration more appealing.
In the end: fun puzzles, probably with many more hidden secrets than I uncovered, maybe a so-so narrative, but excellent environmental immersion. If you've ever wanted to explore a wizard's home in an isolated place, this is where you can do that.
