A lovely little game that will twist your perception of reality into a hundred lovely different shapes. Psychosomnium was originally a downloadable game by cactus. Now, with its Flixel-based Flash port from Miroslav Malesevic, anyone with a browser and a keyboard can experience the body-switching weirdo-world that is the inside of cactus' mind!
Controls are pretty simple, just use the [arrow] keys to move and jump. Later the [x] key will allow you to perform special feats, such as punching or flying higher in the air, but we won't get into that, as it would spoil bits of the game! Checkpoints are marked by gray boxes at the top of the screen pointing towards small buttons on the ground below.
Psychosomnium takes place in Jimmy's dream world. It's his world, so he gets to make the rules. Shortly after he learns this, Jimmy meets an untimely spike-induced end. Well, that's a bummer. Now, you're in control of another character, wandering the strange platform world that is Psychosomnium in search of Jimmy. This character swapping is the central mechanic in the game, and depending on who you're in control of, your abilities and the puzzles you have to solve will be different.
Psychosomnium is a short experience, and there isn't a whole lot of challenge apart from figuring out the unusual methods of clearing each screen. You'll get stuck a few times, but a little experimentation will always get you through. It's a different animal than most other browser-based platformers you've played, and we always love a game that bends your perception of reality a bit.
This game's as weird as I remember it when I first played it (before it was ported to Flash).
And the ending's no less anticlimactic.
The ending is awesome!
bee levels = ridiculous, not fun, not going any further.
Note to authors: frustration DOES NOT EQUAL difficulty. Geez! Why is that so hard to understand?
I had some trouble with a few of the screens, especially the one where
you play as the bee, and must fly through all those spikes without touching them,
but that could just be because I suck at platformers.
Either way, the ending made me laugh. Great game.
Bee controls + ridiculous spike screen + six tries = no thanks.
That was amusing. Wish it were longer, though.
Tip for the bee segment:
You can get closer to the ceiling spikes without dying than you think you can.
I had no trouble with the bee. Still trying to parse out the ending...
I see the author's deeper meaning to a certain extent, and the subtle comments on our society did not escape me, but I think I'm still missing something in the middle of the castle's monologue. Perhaps a more concise treatise would not have lost me quite as much.
Overall, decent game, though.
I can't figure out the first part... I'm so ashamed...
I, too, quit on the bee level. Sad.
OK... so frustrating controls that don't always respond to quick taps, coupled with the requirement to continuously tap (rather than hold) the UP key to fly, an attrociously frustrating bee level... and not telling you that X or Z only work for ONE character... I was expecting X to make me fly, when all I got from holding the Up arrow was a jump, with the bee!
Ridiculous game, ridiculous premise, and a stupid storyline that's never fully explained.
I remember in the original you could press a key (F11, I believe) to remove the spikes. Not sure if it works in this port, and I don't have time to try it out right now, but try it out if you're absolutely stuck there.
Being weird and not explaining anything doesn't make games suddenly interesting and unique, it just makes it annoying to someone who gets through it and expects more.
i have never played a more frustrating game with such a stupidly disappointing ending.
Eh, why are people whining about it being hard? The bee level is tough, sure, but definitely not frustrating. Fun game, if a bit short.
It was interesting so far, and I'm curious to know how it ends but... Flying through spikes. Not Fun.
As mentioned above but just to clarify for the bee part:
Most of the bee's head can be put into the spikes without dying this makes it miles easier to navigate through that part...
F11 does not appear to work in the Flash version.
How the heck do I
get past the bunnies? Or get them carrots? Are there carrots?
???
Diego: Okay, I'll spoil the next bit for you.
The bee runs into GUNMAN, through a window in a castle. GUNMAN shoots him, and goes "Good thing! I'm allergic to bees. Now to go kill the magician."
Then he goes into the next room, but the magician is nowhere to be seen. Then he dies. Then the room glows and the architecture reveals itself to form a face, which then speaks:
"CASTLE: I AM THE MAGICIAN!!"
the end!
(it's a dream, you see)
(how often do dreams have interpretable narrative)
@ray9na re: bunnies and carrots.
If you hold down "up", you can walk under the bunnies as they keep jumping. Unfortunately, you're hosed on the next screen.
If you go back one screen, you can kill yourself on the spikes, activating the big dude.
He can punch by pressing x, and smash the bunnies. There may be carrots, but I couldn't find them.
In general, I think this needs more respawn points. Once you've figured out the trick to a scene, it's no fun to replay it, especially since you have to click through a bunch of dialogue boxes to do so.
But specifically: Bee Guy, for the love of Pete. I guess I was willing to solve a similar maze for the underwater mine sequence of the "Robot Wants JIG" game, but Psychosomnium doesn't build gradually to the kind of investment that makes me want to try a fiddly bit 600 times until I succeed.
If your game is short and simple, keep it short and simple. Don't make people want to ragequit 2/3 of the way through.
Thanks, Dude. ;)
I didn't even figure out the first part with the endless loop with "Jimmy."
That was... interesting. Enjoyable, though way too short.
I can't get past the part where you are the stranger. rather sad, but there it is. How can i get past the second person?
I'm with Carny Asada on this one. Bee Guy is no fun. I had to quit when it started to actually hurt my hand trying to get past that part.
hmmm... quite interesting ending! not sure if i completely understood it (of if there even was anything to understand) but nontheless i was quite amused :D
ending:
the castle is the magician
Almost quit the bee, but then once I got a feel for it it was okay. Helped a lot that there was a check point there.
-_^
The Bee Guy section wasn't THAT hard...
Eh, the flash version kinda ruined it.
It's just...
They restyled it.
Update