Games With Procedural Worlds That Play Like Dream Journals

Video games frequently use technology to build worlds that don’t follow real-world rules, creating fantastical and unpredictable environments. This technology, called procedural generation, crafts unique landscapes and situations, much like the strange logic of dreams. By using it, game developers can ensure each time you play feels fresh and different. The result is an experience that often feels like exploring a shifting, dreamlike digital world where things change unexpectedly.

‘LSD: Dream Emulator’ (1998)

Asmik Ace created this unique and beloved game to feel like a dream journal. Players explore strange, ever-changing worlds where touching things can instantly transport them to bizarre new places. The game even remembers how you’re feeling and adjusts the dreamlike visuals each time you play, making it a truly personal experience.

‘Minecraft’ (2011)

Mojang Studios created a vast, open world built from blocks that players can break down and rebuild. This world features incredible landscapes, like huge mountains and deep caves, often forming strange and unrealistic formations. You’ll find everything from floating islands to deserts that quickly turn into snowy areas. Players are free to build anything they can imagine, all while defending themselves from monsters that come out at night.

‘Proteus’ (2013)

Twisted Tree Games has crafted a unique experience where you explore a world purely through sound and visuals, without any typical goals or missions. Each time you play, the island is different, filled with hills and forests that ‘sing’ as you get closer. The seasons shift quickly as you wander and discover colorful plants and animals. It’s a relaxing, almost dreamlike journey that feels like a vivid, natural hallucination.

‘Don’t Starve’ (2013)

Klei Entertainment created this survival game with a beautiful, hand-drawn look inspired by classic gothic storybooks. You play as a character lost in a strange wilderness where technology and magic collide in frightening ways. Each time you try to survive, the game generates a new world with different resources and dangers. The ever-present risk of hallucinations and shadowy monsters makes the fight for survival a truly terrifying experience.

‘MirrorMoon EP’ (2013)

Santa Ragione’s game takes you on a journey through a strange, red galaxy filled with puzzles. You’ll explore planets created on the fly, each with its own bizarre rules based on light and how you look at things. The game isn’t easy to figure out – it’s meant to be mysterious and require some trial and error to control the planets. This creates a dreamlike feeling, like solving a puzzle while half-asleep.

‘Caves of Qud’ (2015)

Freehold Games’ new game blends science fiction and fantasy in a roguelike adventure set in a strange, retro-futuristic world populated by intelligent plants and mutants. Each game features a completely new world, with its own unique history and landscapes, ensuring a fresh story every time. As you explore ancient ruins, you can give your character powerful mutations, like extra limbs or psychic abilities. The game’s complex systems create unpredictable and surreal events, resulting in stories that feel like vivid, dreamlike tales.

‘No Man’s Sky’ (2016)

As a fan, I’m still blown away by what Hello Games created with No Man’s Sky. They built this unbelievably huge universe – seriously, we’re talking quintillions of planets! – and it’s all made using these really clever algorithms. What gets me is how smoothly you can fly from deep space right down to the surface of these alien worlds. Each planet is so different, filled with bizarre creatures and sometimes crazy weather. The colors and atmosphere are just stunning – it honestly feels like stepping into the cover of an old science fiction novel. It really nails that feeling of endless exploration, like you’re wandering through a galaxy that only exists in your dreams.

‘Astroneer’ (2016)

In System Era Softworks’ game, you explore bright, colorful planets where you can actually reshape the land itself. Each world is uniquely generated with its own gravity and plant life, meaning you’ll need different approaches to get around. You’ll connect to oxygen supplies and dig deep underground, searching for the remains of an ancient alien civilization. The game’s simple, colorful art style creates a fun and dreamlike experience while you explore space.

‘Starbound’ (2016)

Chucklefish created this open-world adventure game where you escape your home planet and journey through a universe that’s different every time you play. Each star system has planets with unique environments and weather, from peaceful forests to dangerous acid pools. The game fills these worlds with creatures and dungeons that are randomly created, so no two playthroughs are the same. It’s a 2D side-scroller that feels like stepping into a collection of storybooks.

‘Shape of the World’ (2018)

Hollow Tree Games has developed a unique exploration game played from a first-person perspective. The game world dynamically changes and expands as you move through it, with trees and rocks appearing in sync with your steps. Colors gently blend and fade, creating a peaceful and fleeting atmosphere, intentionally avoiding lasting landmarks. This mimics the way dream landscapes often form – appearing only as you focus your attention on them.

‘Risk of Rain 2’ (2019)

Hopoo Games transformed their fast-paced shooter into a 3D world where players battle across alien environments. Each level features randomly appearing monsters and items, and the challenge steadily increases as you play. The game becomes visually wild as you collect power-ups, filling the screen with exciting effects and explosions. Players keep replaying the levels, and eventually, the action becomes a whirlwind of color and constant fighting.

‘Spelunky 2’ (2020)

Mossmouth built upon the idea of exploring ever-changing underground tunnels packed with both dangers and rewards. The game uses a system that creates complex levels on the moon, demanding skillful jumping and movement to survive. Dying sends you back to the beginning with a newly generated world, pushing you to adapt and learn from each attempt. This combination of harsh difficulty and unpredictable levels is intentionally designed to feel like a repeating, unsettling dream.

‘Deep Rock Galactic’ (2020)

Okay, so in this game, you’re basically a dwarf miner. But forget cozy little mines – we’re talking huge, totally destructible cave systems that are generated randomly every time you play. It’s pitch black down there, and you’ve got to fight off swarms of creepy alien spiders! The caves aren’t just long tunnels either; they’re massive, vertical mazes, so you need tools like ziplines and drills to get around. Honestly, it’s super claustrophobic and intense being so deep underground with all this weird alien stuff growing everywhere. It really gets your heart racing!

‘Returnal’ (2021)

Housemarque created a thrilling game that mixes intense, fast-paced action with a story about a character trapped in a repeating time loop on an alien planet. The main character finds herself on a world where the landscape changes with every death. The game’s unsettling sci-fi environment, complete with old ruins and disturbing imagery, mirrors the character’s inner struggles, creating a vivid and inescapable nightmare.

‘Valheim’ (2021)

Iron Gate Studio created a game where players find themselves in a mysterious world inspired by Norse mythology. This world is constantly changing and is made up of beautiful but dangerous landscapes like foggy meadows and swamps, filled with creatures from myth. To survive and explore, players need to build both homes and ships, all while dealing with unpredictable weather. The game perfectly captures the feeling of being alone in a huge, unknown wilderness, much like a Viking’s vision of the afterlife.

Share your favorite surreal gaming experiences in the comments.

2025-12-11 01:17