While Dreams is perfect for budding game designers to conceptualize and create their own video game ideas, it’s also a fantastic tool for fans of certain game franchises to express their love for them. One Sonic the Hedgehog fan recreated entire levels from the series to form their own fan-game and, more recently, somebody has shared a test demo for their own Crash Bandicoot project.
Reddit user Darren1994stewart20 posted a short one-minute clip of their Crash Bandicoot demo. They don’t show any actual gameplay or footage of the demo in action, instead focusing on the level environment itself.
The level they created is a typical beach area seen in the Crash series, somewhat reminiscent of the introductory levels to both the very first game and the most recent Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. The level isn’t particularly long and appears to be incomplete since it lacks any enemies or obstacles.
Still, their work is impressive, managing to capture the same atmosphere and visual style of the Crash series, with the crates and Wumpa Fruit looking as if they’ve been ripped from one of the actual games. Even the model used for Crash looks exactly like how he appears in Crash 4.
A Crash Bandicoot test demo that I've produced in Dreams using the Crash 4 model. My first attempt at photo realism. from PS4
So far, their efforts have been bet with nothing but praise, with one user asking what Dreams is and how they can get a copy for themselves. Another user praises the palm trees in particular, which aren’t static and look as if they’re being moved by the wind.
One user takes issues with Darren1994stewart20 describing the demo as photorealistic. They responded by saying that they use realistic lighting and other effects, which they feel achieves a sense of photorealism, even if the graphics themselves aren’t necessarily realistic looking. They don’t clarify if they intend to expand the demo any further. But, if anyone has a hankering for a fan-made Crash Bandicoot game, there are assuredly at least a couple others available via Dreams.
At the moment, fan-made efforts like this are the closest they’ll get to having an official new Crash game. Despite Crash 4 and the N. Sane Trilogy successfully reviving the franchise, Activision appears to have put it back on a hiatus. This is because Vicarious Visions (which made the N. Sane Trilogy) and Toys for Bob (which made Crash 4) have since been moved onto other projects.
Vicarious Visions was merged with Blizzard to assist development with Diablo 2: Resurrected, while Toys for Bob is now a support studio for the Call of Duty series, alongside most of Activision’s other studios. These decisions have been less than popular with fans of Activision’s franchises that aren’t Call of Duty.
Dreams is available now for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.