In Dream, from indie developer Hypersloth/publisher Mastertronic, take on the role of Howard Phillips, a young graduate with no direction in life who develops an obsession with his lucid dreams. Discover dreams and nightmares filled with puzzles and secrets to help Howard find the meaning to his life.

Dream’s puzzles range from the straightforward all the way through to point-and-click adventure lateral thinking problems. There will also be horror segments and nightmares that create a strong contrast with the lovely dream worlds Howard usually inhabits.

The game opens in the house Howard inherited from his uncle. From here you can explore the house and interact with Howard’s bed to make him go to sleep. Once you’re asleep you enter a sort of hub world, a concept the developer really enjoyed in game Yume Nikki and decided to incorporate in Dream. From the hub world you can enter the first act of the game.

The narrative is split into three acts; multiple endings are possible based on how much you’ve explored. Each act is comprised of one large freely-explorable environment in which “doorways” to two to three side dreams are hidden. Completing the main “objective” of the larger dream will take you through to a nightmare segment that must be overcome to unlock the next act.

Throughout these dreams, there will be plenty of secrets, collectibles and items to find. Items play a really big part in the game and quite a few are hidden throughout all three acts.

Given the nature of Dream, it will take an estimated 4 to 9 hours to complete depending on how much you want to explore Howard’s mind and how good an ending you want.

Dream is currently in Early Access Alpha and will soon be moving to Beta. The current anticipated release date for the full game is 4Q 2014. Oculus Rift will be supported.