TRAUMA is a point-and-click exploration game situated in a woman's post-traumatic dreams. There are four dreams, each with its own secrets, that the player views as a world of photographed images and interacts with through mouse-drawn gestures.
In addition to the four surreal endings, each dream contains nine Polaroid photographs that display gestures for basic movement, clues to the endings in other dreams, or a part of the protagonist's life that she goes on to describe. While the lattermost do not bear directly on solutions to the game's puzzles, they do provide context that helps the player understand what each situation is supposed to represent in the woman's subconscious. Photographs can be tricky to find, sometimes relying on an about-face at unremarkable junctions or an eagle-eye examination of scenes, but the player's task is made easier with a proximity sensor that is unlocked when all of a dream's endings have been revealed.
Sam's Protip: The proximity sensor can be misleading. Rather than spatial proximity per se, it refers to the number of gestures necessary to reach the view that contains the specified photograph.
Pros
- A truly unique experience that can be understood on multiple levels
- Much is hidden in a seemingly small space
Cons
- Finding the right vantage point can be a frustrating endeavor