Game

Painajainen

2006 · PC (Microsoft Windows) · Platform · Indie

About this game

Inspired by Seiklus and Velella, Painajainen is a short freeware platformer created in 2 weeks for a Finnish development competition. It chronicles the story of a boy who gets trapped in his own dream. He ends up in a dream world where a monster locks him behinds a gate. To get out the boy needs 7 keys, assembled by collecting smaller orbs.

As it is an imaginary world, the boy can fly around through a world that consists of 72 screens. There are no further actions, except a few keys for certain events or to return to the gate. Pressing Return shows an overview of the visited screens, the amount of orbs and keys, and collected hearts needed to unlock certain chests. The inspiration drawn from the aforementioned games is apparent through small and clever puzzles, based on time-based actions, destructible blocks, colours, memory, and secret areas.