Plum Road Tea Dream is an adventure game with eccentric themes, beautiful scenery, and art that takes your breath away. Here are our impressions of the game and how to play it.
Set to release on July 27, developer Reveal describes Plum Road Tea as an autobiographical adventure game. It’s short, simple, and will leave many players feeling moved. The game is set around a character named S., who starts on a journey to put together creations dubbed “Gods” and ends up healing mummies set around different locations.
Plum Road Tea Dream can be completed in 7-8 hours of continuous play, though much of that time is shaped by the character’s slow walking pace. That slowness is likely purposeful, forcing a more contemplative approach.
How to play Plum Road Tea Dream, release date
Plum Road Tea Dream will be available to play on Steam as soon as its release date of July 27 hits.
Plum Road Tea Dream is truly as unique a game as you’re ever likely to play. Right off the bat, players are spawned into an empty space made of what seems like clay or some other malleable substannce. After being introduced to the creator of the game, players are left alone in a deserted space with a giant staircase.
That staircase leads to an even bigger computer system that is used to craft creations dubbed Gods. To create these Gods, players need to collect clay cards scattered across the location. Portals keep opening as you complete small tasks that you must figure out for yourself. There’s no map, and little in the way of guidance.
In total, six cards are required to create a God, and players must keep collecting them to create more Gods. Each creation leaves you with a message that you can also type out and save in your in-game diary.
The game quickly switches from creating Gods to saving stationary mummies that sometimes help complete tasks, and that’s where the “healing” part of the game comes in. Players must choose appropriate actions to help an oracle that’s in pain, a traitor hiding behind a mischievous mask, and an anger-struck black mage. All of this is done through the game’s Sword of Sadness.
There’s no final boss or big enemy to encounter in this game. It’s an adventure game, and players are meant to come away from it with a meaningful message rather than a tight gameplay experience.
Is Plum Road Tea Dream worth playing?
Plum Road Tea Dream is worth playing for those looking to slow down at the end of the day with a more contemplative experience. It’s a simple game that centers around themes of grief, identity, crying, human touch and rituals.
The writing in the game is quite good, and some of the Oracle’s quotations may strike a nerve for players. The creator has shared painful and bittersweet stories through characters like the plant caretaker, the kind that leaves you with something to think about.
In terms of its actual gameplay, Plum Road Tea Dream is nothing to write home about. The character’s walking pace is likely the worst part of the game, as it takes seemingly forever to reach each next destination. Early on, the scenery is also quite dull, which makes the slow walking feel like even more of a grind even as it does inspire some contemplation.
However, as players get farther into areas like the dream garden and the colorful collage inside the mausoleum, the game starts to really come alive, and the visuals finally give you a good reason to slow down and take it all in.
