Every once in a while I dream about video games. In my dream I am playing some horrific game that is deeply real and shatteringly difficult. Sinister enemies press a relentless assault with every step I take. Their eyes sparkle in the darkness. Shadows pull away from the walls and gather in the jumbled corners. Their mocking laughter echoes around me even as my sword bites into them. My guns drill holes through their misshapen bodies and spraying blood settles around me like a warm mist. The rotted air is split with electricity. I am lost, running through a decaying cathedral as it collapses into a dark and swirling void. Confining tunnels and broken halls spiral endlessly downward toward some titanic confrontation. My situation is desparate. There is no turning back and no possibility of salvation. Calm and resolute, I take grim satisfaction in the infinite fight ahead of me.
When I awake I am momentarily confused. Does this video game really exist? Have I played it before? Perhaps I read about it somewhere? Could it have been one of the Castlevania games? No, that’s not it…
…years ago I think I saw it in a bargain bin and neglected to purchase it. Now I am haunted by its unattainability. I imagine that it must have been some hyper-obscure import, created by a developer whose founder died under mysterious circumstances and whose company is now long out of business. This strange dream game is completely out of print and very rarely seen. Collectors obsess in secret over its fading memory. No…
Now that I am more awake I am sure that it was just a dream. I guess the game was never real after all. Still, the thought of it lingers. Maybe this evening I will play Devil May Cry.
Devil May Cry
Sony Playstation 2
Capcom
2001
game review by J.B. Fleming, 3-15-04
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