Or at least that's what the title and cover would make you think. Publisher Eastasiasoft created a suggestive aura around these games, probably to get more attention than they otherwise would have had, but you cannot judge a game from its cover: yes, there are a couple of gravity-defying character designs, but the pastel colours, soft lines, and clean design make these two games more charming than anything else. And their mechanics make them good shooters as well, something way more important than any graphic design choice.
Cosmo Dreamer and Like Dreamer are vertical scrolling shooters developed by Outside, a small Japanese indie team, only available Switch and PC.
The two games share many mechanics but they are presented as two separate entities. This means you'll have to set input options separately for two titles with the same base rules, something I always find irritating. Options are limited as well, and unfortunately there is no TATE mode; when played on large screens this is not a particularly big problem, but it can be tricky to master when handheld, especially at the hardest difficulty mode.
Like Dreamer makes better use of the sidebars, introducing a details window listing invincibility frames, inputs, grazed bullets, and more. This window can only be used after going through the game once, and while useless during play, it's an important tool to analyse saved replays. The Double-D Collection lacks any sort of online capability though, so there's no way to get someone else's replays.
Cosmo Dreamer only has one playable character, while Like Dreamer offers three, with different base speeds; both games allow you to customise shoot, missile, bomb, and skill. The games offer similar weapon choices, and I've found homing and lock-on weapons work better in both games' context, as bosses do not fill up the entirety of the screen.
Defeated enemies drop tokens, their worth valued by how close you were when shot down; tokens float towards the bottom of the screens, and are not collected automatically when releasing the fire buttons; instead, tokens will fly towards the player's character when on the upper side of the screen. To get the best score you need to play aggressively, and enemy patterns are designed around this, with them releasing their salvos only a second or so after entering the playable area, giving you time to adjust to incoming fire.
Skills and bombs share the same meter, called Dream Level in Cosmo Dreamer and Mental State in Like Dreamer; I'll call them State meter to make things easier. You fill this meter by attacking enemies at close range and collecting tokens, and you can fill it three times; State is reset when hit by bullets, or decreases by one with the appropriate skills. Other skills include increased firepower for either shot or missile, or both; the latter completely foregoes defence, but it's great for blazing through bosses and maximize time bonuses.
Like Dreamer introduces a fever meter, charged under the same conditions as the State meter. When fever mode activates, enemy bullets are converted into tokens, and for its duration attacks are more powerful and enemies worth more points. Fever mode deactivates when hit or when the meter runs out.
Both games have a story mode and an arcade mode. The latter is curiously called Trial mode and unlocked only after completing story mode once at any difficulty level. In story mode you can play stages in any order you want, as long as you have unlocked them, and they are independent of each other: score, lives, bombs, everything is reset at the start. You can tackle any stage, at any difficulty level, with any loadout as you wish. Trial mode instead links all stages together and you keep everything between them, but you cannot change character or loadout without quitting and restarting from scratch.
There's also Practice Mode, where you can set various parameters and, well, practice the stage you want. Both games include one secret stage, one extra stage with preset difficulty, as well as a boss rush. Difficulty ramps up nicely in both games, with patterns increasing in speed and ferocity, but not changing completely: lower difficulty settings do a great job in teaching players enemy and boss patterns, leaving no possible option out. Enemy bullets are very clear to see thanks to their bright colours that contrast well between the player's hitbox, and if enemies have lunge attacks, these are clearly marked as well and never feel cheap, even when they mix with bullet attacks. All stages have their own enemies with their own attack patterns, and everything is mixed together in a rather masterful way, though you will have some deja vu moments from other shoot'em'ups due to how some enemies and stages are laid out.
Sound effects are constant throughout both games and highlight perfectly incoming enemy bullets, boss life status, time limits on boss phases, and your own abilities.
I went into these two games thinking they wouldn't be much (Eastasiasoft has published some stinkers before), and instead I've got two quality shooters. They are not masterpieces, but the passion poured into them is palpable, and Outside clearly understand what make shooters great. The mechanics are interesting enough for veterans but aren't complex to the point of overburdening players - stage and game length is just right, and both games offer a complete package, rounded out by a training mode and an in-game manual describing all mechanics and interface.
Lack of TATE mode aside, there are only two things to report on the technical side. First, the game does slow down in handheld mode on the most intense patterns, while it remains at a rock-solid 60fps when docked; slowdowns are noticeable, but aren't severe enough to be a detriment. Second, the analog stick feels faster than digital inputs, whether that is an arcade stick or a d-pad; it is less precise when dodging bullet however, especially when coupled with a faster movement speed, but there were times I actually preferred analog input over digital.
Music is another highlight: background tracks have been composed by a number of artists, and fit their assigned stage perfectly: from the mellow and calm tones of the first stage in Like Dreamer, the tense and foreboding notes of the black hole stage in Cosmo Dreamer, the high tempo and sometimes playful tracks denoting bosses. Music is of high quality and it's a bit of a shame to have them covered by sound effects.
Graphics work well, and I've come to appreciate the character design. What really matters is that bullets are easy to read when playing, and both games accomplish it in spades. Just like mechanics and music, graphics ooze passion and they are a good blend of artistic flavour and utilitarian design. Both games offer a small gallery and in-game rewards based on your performance, with Like Dreamer adding an enemy gallery as well.
Of the two games, I enjoy Like Dreamer more: more options, more extras, and overall it feels more refined. However Cosmo Dreamer is still a good title on its own; and if I need to point something I don't like, you cannot skip Cosmo Dreamer’s intro, only fast-forward it.
The Double-D Collection is available at Play Asia and affiliated retailers in limited quantities as a physical edition; both games are available separately as a digital download. If you like shooters, I highly recommend both.
