The Butterfly Dreams

The Butterfly Dreams is a sci-fi game introducing the next big gaming tech: a virtual reality machine that brings the whole of *you* inside the game. No more clonky accessories or heavy headsets that give you nausea, just stick some patches to your head, and off you are to Dream Land. And while this invention, appropriately named *Fantasia*, is not yet available to the masses, you along with six other brilliant individuals from various fields are one of the lucky few to not just test it, but create.

You are introduced to each individual, through a short conversation (where you discover your name, Tom/Thomas), about who they are, their personality, their view on *Fantasia*, and what they might end up creating during this workshop. Through forced proximity, relationship blossoms and thoughts turn into concrete ideas. Or so your inner thoughts tell you, as the story doesn't linger enough for you [the player] to experience it yourself.

Still, the story must continue, and you "play" through everyone's creations, each relating pretty closely to their respective identity: the chef creates a virtual restaurant to test out ideas, the children's author bring her characters to life, and the gamer revive old forgotten games.
Of course, nothing goes without a hitch, with one of the characters essentially breaking the machine (hinted at, but it didn't marinate enough to punch...). But things are swiftly swiped under the rug - there are still creations to test after all, including yours!

And this is when the "twist" appears. I use quotes here, because it really came out of the left field. This whole time *you* were playing everyone - with your identity and background never revealed, you could have been anyone, it just so happen you're a conman for some reason. The complete change of tone between your thoughts and the confrontation feels to disjointed, I kept wondering if I'd missed a whole section.
During my first playthrough, I didn't see *any* reason for Tom to be inculpated with some crime - you are so bland and boring, and no one ever ask *you* any question about yourself. So I went and checked out the other options of the few choices (only because others mentioned hints in comments), and still, the vibe felt the same. Maybe *once?* there was a whiff of you having some sort of plan? idea? but you could easily chalk it off as "well, he's just thinking of what to create for Fantasia".
The only thing I can think of is Layna being curt and distant towards you. But that's not enough to make a mystery interesting.

It's a shame, really, because simulations concepts, dream within a dream, and dystopian/cyberpunk-y takes on technologies are really fun, and you can make compelling critiques of society through those. Even conspiracies of nefarious agents using technology for evil is a tried and true trope. But you're not given enough time to explore the setting here (exploring a whole mansion and being caught touching something you really shouldn't be touching, or finding someone doing just that), to interact with the characters and learn more about them (maybe even pit them against one another?) , to have them interact with you so you learn more about yourself (*oh, why are you here, Tom? why are you special?*). And in general, give time for the mystery to settle.

Adapted from a Review-A-Thon 25 Review

Style: Visual Novel
Played : 7/15/25
Playtime: 15m demo

There were enough caveats and warnings to this work, relative its Linux readiness, that after some mental tussling I decided to start with the demo. I needn’t have worried, it seems. The engine ran just fine for me. This is a well put together visual novel that carries some super strong Wonka vibes. We are introduced to a collection of characters, most to one degree or another characterized as flawed if not selfish. They are invited by a wealthy innovator to experience the wonder and magic of his latest creation - shared, immersive VR. While the demo ended before further generalizations could crystallize, early on it feels like it is leaning into “and get some comeuppance for their narrative-imposed shortcomings.”

It has a lot to recommend it. The production value is quite high, showcasing photographic backgrounds to static cartoony character portraits animated in clever and amusing ways. The graphical interface is pleasant and engaging, and the peppy background music sets the stage quite well. The butterfly motif and animations in particular are really wonderful. It feels ungenerous to focus on how those elements failed to land for me, the more so given I only really experienced the preamble. It is true that that experience convinced me this was not going to be for me, which, ungenerous or not, is the headline for my engagement with this work.

In general, the graphical choice of cartoon-characters-on-photographic-backgrounds has an uphill climb with me. I get the cartoon character thing, those kinds of portrayals facilitate player engagement better than photographs through iconic aliasing. Contrasted to photo realism though, the effect is mildly jarring, positing a world space that requires some mental dissonance to resolve. Where used in service of making a statement about the artificiality of the characters, that works for me. As a default palette choice, I find its artificiality to carry perhaps-unwanted subtext. It also feels like a missed opportunity. You already have some dissonant graphical choices. In a story about VR worlds, the opportunity to contrast to the ‘real world’ via background graphics seems a potentially subtle and powerful possibility. Here though, at least through the demo, no such differentiation exists. Granted, maybe the point of the fictional tech is how “indistinguishable it is from everyday,” I’m just not sure how the graphical choices make a great case for that.

It isn’t helped, I think, that the very first character we meet is described as having white hair, yet whose illustration portrays a darker coloring. Again, it is a jarring dissonance that serves to push the reader a bit. If we can’t trust the words to report the evidence of our eyes, how can we trust their later assertions? Which, boy does it make. We are then introduced to a collection of characters that will be experiencing this uber-VR world on behalf of its creator.

As a crew they are clearly delineated but all kind of one dimensional? A nervous but well-meaning banker, elderly children’s author, skeptical scientist, passionate chef (whom the narrator, apropo of no dialogue or business we have seen, characterizes as ‘gluttonous’), a tech focused prodigy and a gamer/skate boi. And the PC of course, tentatively the Charlie in this Chocolate Factory. The NPCs feel as one dimensional as their Roald Dahl counterparts, which is not NECESSARILY a bad thing. If their story function is to avatar their shortcomings for poetic comeuppance, sure. Why not? The dynamic is just a little off though, since WE are a faceless vanilla Charlie, we don’t actually have a sympathetic guide to the proceedings here. Some of the caricatured characters do generate more sympathy, but that is its own pitfall. When we understand single-note characters as unappealing, their one-dimensionality gives us permission to dismiss them. Purportedly sympathetic one-note characters on the other hand… feel kind of uncanny valley? Undeserving of our sympathy because of their one-dimensionality? And also at odds with any emerging comeuppance narrative (raising the prospect that it is a misread of the tale). Too, some of them are kind of clumsily portrayed. The narrator’s drive-by comment on the chef stands out, as does some pretty dated slang used by the gamer.

Before getting to the central conceit of the piece, there is one technical choice that further pushes at player engagement. I speak of timed text. I assert that I have a greater patience for this than many in this community, but this was too much even for me. I dialed text speed to its fastest setting, and STILL endured dramatic pauses and other artifacts that slowed the reading experience in a counter-productive way. Like the graphical choices, it never settled into a background atmospheric artifact, it continually jarred and frustrated my progress.

The plot does move pretty briskly to our first encounter with the magical VR, where the cast gets to inhabit each others’ full-sensory dreams. Once again, there is clear narrative shorthand on display. Our first dream is hosted by the elderly children’s author. Unsurprisingly, it is a whimsical tea party hosted by cartoon rabbits. It feels weirdly infantilizing. Here we have a woman whose decades of life do not give her a full inner life of which her art is only a part. No, her dreams are fully and completely summarized by her craft, by wanting to INHABIT that craft. Again, in service of a Wonka-like plot, fine. Except also, underwhelming? I mean, this amazing tech that breaths realistic life into our mind’s eye, and we get a tea party? Is that a compelling use of time and resources? How much data center water and power was consumed to deliver THAT? Fittingly, the characters focus more on the wonder of the technical achievement than the dream itself, but it can’t help but underline this as a novelty, and not the transformative innovation promised by its creator.

And there the demo ended. I reluctantly conclude this is not for me. Too many creative choices are pushing at me in too many ways. I outline them all above both as an honest reflection of my engagement (hey! It can’t be cruel if it’s honest, right?? RIGHT???), and to highlight that these choices are quite legitimate, artistically, and folks with different hot buttons than me may have a much more positive reaction. Certainly the Wonka template is a tried and true one, the setting and premise a promising spin on it. I wish the authors success in finding their audience.

(I should parenthetically note that my consistent ‘Wonka’ characterization is informed by the first 15m of the work. There is every possibility its narrative aims are different in the context of the larger piece. Please don’t take the word of a dude that bailed so early as in any way definitive of the full work.)

(I'm sorry, I had to make a Persona reference in the title. I will do it again.)

First of all, thank you to Ave Q Production for being generous enough to leave some community copies for people like me to grab. There is a demo available but I'd rather experience things in their fullest version.

I won't tag spoilers for a variety of reasons but I am warning that there are spoilers in this review, so read further at your own risk.

We’ve seen this premise many times before: a new, ultraimmersive game is made, you plug your brain into it, things start to happen – not necessarily good things at that. I’m usually not that eager to check those out because in the end, they tend to be a very similar flavor of “Escapism is bad and should be punishable with death” or “Did you know that giving your whole body and mind to a corporation is bad?”. You have masses that yearn to feel good for once in a terrible world and, y’know, end up being guinea pigs that get mercilessly slaughtered for that.

The Butterfly Dreams gives us a slightly different approach: it’s all just a test session where experts of various fields are told to just go wild with their imagination and do whatever they want. The chosen ones include Renata (older lady who’s a beloved children’s author), Juan (a neurosurgeon who’s kinda anxious about the technology), Helena (a world-class chef), Aaron (an economy-changing banker with what’s clearly untreated anxiety and impostor syndrome), Layna (a child programming prodigy), Sean (a professional, gods forgive me for saying this, gamer), and of course, the main character, Thomas (or Tom), who’s not really specified to be anything at the beginning of the game. Our task is to make up new worlds and let everyone else test them out.

Before I get into the story and plot themselves, I need to talk about the visuals – it is a visual novel, after all. I think there was definitely a lot of care put into how the game is presented. There’s a lot of sprite and camera movement that I find, honestly, quite damn cool. The sprites themselves give a pretty good idea of who the characters might be before you even get to know them, which is obviously good, and while the backgrounds are sometimes more symbolic (for example, just two cups of coffee on the table instead of the cottage you’re in), they’re still pretty fitting. There are some really interesting details that you might miss (text and textbox slightly glitching in certain situations, butterfly “click-to-continue” and butterfly appearing when you click), and I really respect everyone who comes up with stuff like this, it’s small but it adds a lot. I also appreciate the accessibility options, especially the one where you can enable descriptions of sound, as I always take this one since my audio processing can sometimes go out of the window whenever I’m focusing on the text. I do have an issue with the fact that sometimes, the descriptions aren’t exactly informative but rather seem like an extension of the text itself (like “SFX: Music to my ears” when a scream plays. Great for me, someone who can hear that scream, terrible for someone who can’t).

Alrighty, into the game itself. We’re all in the “humble abode” (literal mansion) of Brian Singh, who’s the CEO of Asynthesis, the company behind Fantasia – the machine we’ve been chosen to test. Everyone has their own reasons to be here, from creating perfect adaptations of their works (Renata), through wanting to check how far technology progressed (Juan), to simply not willing to pay the fee that needs to be paid when you’re leaving the testing early (Aaron). Every now and then, we’re shoved into the testing chambers to check out whatever world the creator made up, with the creator’s identity usually kept secret until the transfer’s complete. It is quite an interesting concept – you have all those people who come from different backgrounds, have different kind of expertise, want different things out of the experience. Some dynamics start to form: Layna naturally clings to grandmotherly Renata, anxious Aaron nods along to anything Juan might say.

I can’t deny, I got a little attached to the characters in a way. They have their distinct ways of speaking and their personalities are definitely showing. This is why it pains me to say that I don’t think we’ve spent enough time with them. I’m not saying it because I’d love to see more of them (though I would) but rather because some things remain somewhat undercooked for my taste. We get brief descriptions of how we’re all spending time together but I’d rather see it play out on the screen. I loved the one-on-one talks we had at the very beginning of the game and I’d definitely love to see more of that, even if just to cement some bonds and explore some dynamics.

And this, honestly, is my biggest problem with this game: not enough time. The description says that it’s a psychological mystery novel but the most difficult thing about both psychological and mystery works is that they both require a build up which can take a lot of time. I feel like we didn’t get enough of it. We didn’t spend enough time with the characters and we didn’t spend enough time in the worlds created by them, we didn’t spend enough time on feelings and the state of everyone’s psyche, even after Juan seemingly triggered a Torment Nexus scenario. I didn’t feel the “mystery” part – it probably refers to the twist, in which it turns out that Tom, the MC, is a vile criminal mastermind, but… it didn’t feel earned to me, and neither did the revelation that it’s all been an Nth layer of simulation all along. Comments on Itch point out that there are hints that might be lost if you “fail perception checks” and maybe this is why I didn’t feel like it makes any sense, maybe I just failed the perception checks. I tend to write my reviews after just one playthrough, unless it’s clear that the game is meant to be replayed, so perhaps other choices show some more hints as to that and it’s all on me. I’m not infallible.

To summarize: I think the concept is pretty great, I liked the characters, the visuals are definitely a BIG highlight of it all. I just wish we could’ve spent more time getting into everyone’s heads and building everything up.

In the end, there’s only one question that matters: did I have fun reading through it? Yes. Yes, I actually did. So, you know. Maybe give it a try yourself if you feel like it.