Text/Isaac

As a Roguelike lover, Grape Jun has guessed many times which team will be the first to make a high-quality + differentiated multi-platform meat pigeon game. But I never expected that it would be Kuaishou's old iron.

That's right, I'm talking about Kuaishou's game label Finger Universe's self-developed "Endless Dream Back". This is a fairly rare, action pigeon game with a two-game skin, which got the version number in April this year, and has just recently opened a second test on PC and mobile.

To be honest, I didn't expect much from the game before I got my hands on it. Especially when I saw the background of the producer "Doctor of Biology", I couldn't help but wonder: does he understand the game?

But not long after actually playing it, I had a feeling: this tastes right! The producer really understands meat pigeons!

Previously, I didn't dare to look forward too much to the multi-platform "domestic meat pigeon game". Because meat pigeons, as a strong gameplay, are difficult to do well and make new, most teams are likely to copy successful products such as "Vampire Survivors" and "Legend of Bow and Arrow", and then put on the RPG development framework...... It's all a routine to talk too much; Not to mention, this gameplay has to be painlessly combined with the content framework of the second game. There are too few people who can do these two things in place.

And "Endless Dreams" not only did not copy those old routines brainlessly, but also figured out its own way to make a sufficiently solid, refreshing, and adaptable gameplay to mobile games. During the game, its content also surprised me a little from time to time. Players who have tried it have also rated this game well: it has a rating of 9.2/9.5 on TapTap/Haoyou Kuaibang respectively, and some people call it the "best domestic meat pigeon game" at this stage.

Whether it is a rare differentiated product in the domestic meat pigeon game, or as the first batch of blockbuster products in the snap universe, it is worth talking about in depth if it can do this.

01

A "second game" where gameplay is paramount,

To what extent?

In a game of Eryu Skin, you rarely see a product that emphasizes the gameplay so much in "Endless Dreams", and it is really in place.

Their positioning of meat pigeons is not a sub-play to fill in the content. On the contrary, they put a lot of emphasis on the gameplay of "top-down action meat pigeon" as the core. This is also what the producer thinks, the biggest difference between "Endless Dreams" and other secondary games.

But first of all, there is one of the biggest problems in "Meat Pigeon + Second Tour": how can the gameplay and the framework of multi-character development be organically combined? Although there are many single-player games, I am afraid it is difficult to provide a reference for this.

"Endless Dream Return" gives a very ingenious solution: it breaks and crushes the skill effects of all the characters and makes them into the building elements of the meat pigeon, so that players can freely choose and match them during the game.

Specifically, no matter what character you choose, you can get the abilities of other characters through level rewards. Some of these abilities are to shoot bullets and beams, and some are summons and orbiters...... It can be triggered in various ways, such as skills, and can be further enhanced to form a build - for example, with a long-range character with a high rate of fire, to frequently trigger the output skills of melee characters.

So along the way, your character may have several different abilities at once, sometimes firing glare, sometimes sending great swords from the sky, and sometimes flying bullets...... The scene will look particularly chaotic and decompressing. This form and effect is very similar to "Vampire Survivors", but when you put it into the overall system, there are many systematic adjustments that are suitable for mobile games.

Of course, these characters and building elements aren't completely haphazard, but are grouped into six schools – broadly categorized into melee, barrage, laser, summoning, orbiting, and circle. This design idea is very clear, it helps players understand and choose their desired route, and it is also beneficial for induction during development and subsequent character development.

Summarized by B station up main @丸子

Many people see "Endless Dreams" for the first time and think it looks like "Hades". But after actually playing it, I realized that it was more like adopting the level structure of "Hades", plus the construction idea of "Vampire Survivor", plus the formation of the second game of the action class, and finally based on my own understanding, I added a distinct differentiated design to this large framework, as well as various subdivision systems and content. This set has formed a different experience from most meat pigeons on the market.

As for where it is distinctive, why it can be different from the meat pigeon and the second tour, there are three points worth talking about:

First, each character in "Endless Dreams" only has basic attacks and two basic active skills, but basically has its own positioning and combat mechanism. For example, the mechanism of "Dream of Exam" is to hit markers and stack surrounds through general attacks, and then release surrounds through skills to hit a wave of concentrated bursts; "Dream of War" triggers a perfect block by opening the shield, and hits the output while making a tank.

It looks complicated, but the operation is simple, which is a bit like the design of a simplified MOBA, which not only allows you to have room for operation, but also makes it easy to get started.

Second, on the basis of the first point, "Endless Dream Echo" has done a very solid job of building mechanics at all levels, in addition to the trigger echoes that can obtain the abilities of other characters, and the advanced echoes that improve attributes, each character also has several exclusive echoes, which can change the characteristics to varying degrees, and even change the way you operate.

For example, the third basic attack of "Furry Dream" will roll to attack the enemy, and there is an exclusive echo that will make his basic attack mod continue to roll when you press it, which is very interesting.

Coupled with the brilliant echoes of the additional active support skills and targeted enhancement skills, as well as the reverberations triggered between two or even three characters, the building space in the game of "Endless Dreams" is quite considerable.

It is not difficult to see that the above design is also very conducive to guiding players to try different character combinations - because a three-person team only needs to cultivate two core output characters, so even if some low-star cards are not so strong as the main force, they can also be used as a "pendant", and from time to time use the skills of special mechanisms to assist. For example, the summon of "Dream of the Meat Pigeon" does not have strong attack power, but after turning the CD, you can release it on the field and trigger the mechanism of teammates with a huge amount.

This also means that as long as players are willing to understand the mechanics and think about the lineup, there are almost no waste cards in the game, and everyone can be an "R card warrior".

Third, there are a lot of levels in the game, and the replay is very strong. Just like many classic pigeon games, many of the levels in Endless Dreams have different core combat mechanics, with a variety of different room types and hundreds of combinations.

Some levels are similar to mini-games, such as "Rapids", which requires you to quickly find a route to reach your destination under the impact of waves and tentacles; The mission "Unblocking the Channel" requires you to attack a ship and use it to break through obstacles.

Some levels will even be combined with the plot to make some unique games. For example, in the boss battle in Chapter 3, the player will enter a pixel fighting game level before entering the second stage.

Occasionally, you'll also get random "Dream Memes" from the Merchant, which are generic power-ups that are not related to your character's skills, but can also affect the outcome of the battle.

These points add up to make the core gameplay of "Endless Dreams" seem solid enough to support the gameplay-driven thinking. In addition, its expressiveness in the game is also good, especially the boss battle performance is very oppressive, on the whole, the quality of this game has not lost to many classic stand-alone meat pigeon games.

02

In addition to the core gameplay,

The same solid system and content

can do a good job in this core gameplay, which shows that "Endless Dream Back" knows meat pigeons very well; On this basis, it can also focus on the meat pigeon and do a good job in the overall system framework and content, which is even more rare.

First of all, in terms of the outer combat gameplay, "Endless Dreams" has made a lot of different modes: for example, the endless mode as a survivor like, which allows players who like to mow the grass to have a good time by throwing the switch card and running the map;

Another example is as a multiplayer PVP, that is, the winner-to-win mode of chicken gameplay, there will be up to 32 players in the game to compete in real time. Combined with the meat pigeon mechanic, the experience of this multiplayer gameplay will be quite different, and the scene will be very lively.

These modes of different experiences can not only give full play to the advantages of meat pigeons, cover those classic gameplay, but also enrich the experience dimension of players. If more can be launched in the future, then "Endless Dreams" is equivalent to becoming an integrated platform for meat pigeon gameplay.

In addition to the battles, there are even other ways to play in the game, such as business simulation. After players naturally accumulate materials through battles, they can obtain other rewards through mini-games in this gameplay, which can be regarded as another way to balance the fierce combat experience of meat pigeons.

Secondly, although "Endless Dreams" emphasizes the supremacy of gameplay, in addition to the gameplay, its content part is not bad.

On the one hand, the theme chosen by the game is fantasy dreams, and the protagonist shuttles between various dreams as a part-time worker in a dream store. In this context, there will be a lot of room for character design - after all, there is everything in the dream.

So what you will see in "Endless Dreams" is not limited to handsome men and beautiful women, but also various mechanical, extrahuman and other characters.

What's interesting is that they don't mess around with these characters, but they have some unique interpretations. For example, does "the dream of poverty" sound a little easy to dislike...... But the game will show you: poverty is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you are spiritually rich, you can also have a lot of treasures. This is the kind of character creation that makes my eyes shine.

On the other hand, the plot and narrative in the game are also very tasteful. In the main story, you can always see some clever and interesting bridges and special performances. For example, there is a plot where the protagonist is trapped in the cabin and has to find a way to get out, at this time they think that this is a dream, and they can rely on their imagination to "give themselves an identity", and the protagonist tries to become the captain, and Ta also appears on the puppet string and decoration, this kind of small thinking is really a surprise.

If there are any obvious shortcomings in "Endless Dreams", it may be the paid system. Aside from the character extraction, there weren't too many pay points in the second test. But at the same time, the balance between meat pigeons and cultivation, and the degree of payment make this part very difficult to do, plus the producer once replied that the game will strive to reduce the liver degree and "fight the business war"...... It seems that how to think about paid design in the next tests will be a key topic for the game.

But then again, it has actually solved the core gameplay and system, the foundation is hard enough, and the rest is easy to say.

03

In 2024, there should also be one

High quality domestic meat pigeon

It may be a necessity that a multi-platform meat pigeon game like Endless Dreams will appear, because the experience is so scarce.

With construction, god experience, and R card warriors, if you can combine these points, it is already a unique experience in the entire second-game circle, and it is even rare in the entire mobile game. Some classic single-player games can actually do a better job in terms of experience, but compared to Endless Dreams, they may lack the advantages of multi-character and long-term seasonal operation.

Another point that I am optimistic about this game is that as a second-game product, it also has enough potential to go out of the circle.

On the one hand, it is a rare gameplay-driven + general-oriented game, which is rare in the second game; On the other hand, it is very stalky in character building and plot copywriting, and some characters even have certain IP attributes. For example, the "Dream of Old Iron" with the Kuaishou logo, the skill is specially designed to double-click 666 and send rockets, which is really very Kuaishou...... But in this genre, it doesn't seem out of place, which is amazing.

As a new game label under Kuaishou, Snap Finger Universe has successfully exceeded the expectations of many players with this product, and has also proved their self-research strength. At least I didn't expect that as the first batch of blockbuster products, "Endless Dream Back" will be able to achieve longboard prominence, and there are no obvious shortcomings.

For the development of the meat pigeon itself, "Endless Dream Back" also has a lot of significance. This track has received the attention of many leading manufacturers, and it has always been a way for all small and medium-sized teams to continue to tackle tough problems. But it seems to be born with multi-platform, in addition to the casual approach, it seems that it is difficult to make mature products with a long-term operation + high-quality model. The failure of some products in the past has also made the industry gradually stay away from this road.

In this context, it is not easy for the universe to choose such a difficult, but very differentiated, distinctive breakthrough road, and insist on doing a good job in the product, and it is also an opportunity for the meat pigeon category to break the circle and move from the niche to the public. If "Endless Dreams" can be successful, I believe that there will be more teams that pay attention to meat pigeons, and they will be quite inspired.

What's more, for players, it's 2024 - there should also be a high-quality domestic meat pigeon game, right?

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