Best Dream Sequences in Games

How Mario, Metal Gear, and GTA all use dreams in strange and interesting ways.

Video games are dreams unto themselves. Strange, ephemeral, concocted worlds that can send us soaring into the most serene bliss, chain us to a skewed mundanity of our waking lives, or crash us far down into the depths of unfathomable nightmares. And then there are rare cases where video games, tangible dreams in their own right, deal with the very concepts of the imaginative worlds we create when we close our eyes. Here are some the most memorable, playable dream sequences in video games.

NOTE: PLENTY OF SPOILERS LIE AHEAD. IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAY A GAME, IT MIGHT BE WISE TO SKIP THE SECTION.

Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4

We probably could’ve filled this list solely with examples from Hideo Kojima games, but for the sake of fairness, we bunched together a pair of dreams from Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4. The Guy Savage nightmare sequence of Snake Eater turns the Cold War stealth-action game into a bloody hack and slash. Slicing through waves of zombies feels more like a Castlevania game than a Metal Gear Solid one. One thing to note is that this strange sequence is only available in the original PS2 version and Subsistence, not in the 360, PS3, or Vita HD collections.

And then there's the iconic sequence in Metal Gear Solid 4, where Snake nods off on a plane headed back to Shadow Moses, the setting of the original 1998 classic. In pure Kojima form, the game transforms into a 32-bit throwback to the PS1 adventure. You'll explore the same opening area and crawl around the same vents that have been etched into our gaming brains over the past 15 years. These two strange, risky, but ultimately unforgettable moments make the wait for Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain all the more agonizing.

Psychonauts

Few games embrace the history and culture of dreams as successfully as Tim Schafer’s Psychonauts. As a peppy young cadet at Whispering Rock Summer Camp, a place for the mentally gifted, your hero Raz has the ability to enter people’s heads and platform through their deepest, darkest dreams. You’ll visit PTSD depictions of war, paranoid episodes that merge the JFK assassination with an enigmatic milkman, and the velvet delusions of an artist who dreams of nothing but his long lost muse. Along your trip through these various dreamscapes, you’ll have to sweep up mental cobwebs, hunt down emotional baggage, and gather all the figments of imagination you can get your hands on.

Catherine

I'll admit that the dream sequences in Catherine hit me on a more personal level than any other example on this list. No, it wasn’t because of the talking sheep, mind-boggling box puzzles, or kaiju demon babies hell bent on devouring me whole (though all three of those helped make the game unforgettable). The reason these moments resonated with me was because they stemmed from Vincent’s insecurities surrounding the terrifying concept of adulthood. Infidelity, pregnancy scares, one too many glasses of scotch, and an overwhelming need to finally mature are themes rarely dealt with in video games, but I can’t thank Catherine enough for daring to go there.

EarthBound

Nintendo’s 1994 RPG is a trippy, wholly original take on Americana that feels like a dream throughout its entirety. But near the final act of the game, you find yourself entering the strange world of Magicant, a physical embodiment of your hero Ness’ psyche. You'll confront your fears, battle enemies you've already defeated, and wander around a field of very large produce. Also, bonus points to the Japanese version of the game – like all good dreams, Ness finds himself wandering around Magicant without a stitch of clothing on.

Bastion

Bastion, Supergiant's inaugural game in 2011, is remembered for being a gorgeous indie with incredible music, solid combat, and an unforgettable narrator. But a few months after its released, a free piece of DLC called "The Stranger's Dream" came out, and it featured the game's biggest challenge. If you so choose to have The Kid take a nap inside of the Bastion, you'll enter a dangerous world where you have to fend off waves and waves of enemies while Rucks narrates what is ostensibly his origin story. It's a tough, beautiful epilogue to one of this generation's best games.

Grand Theft Auto V

Amid the carnage and satire of Grand Theft Auto V is a sublime waking dream. Franklin is approached by a barking dog. In true Lassie tradition, Franklin can understand every word the dog says, and discerns that the animal's owner is trapped in a tree after a parachuting mishap. Franklin follows the dog, striking up a conversation on the way. The two banter back and forth on a number of topics until they locate the stranded skydiver. Franklin comments to the parachutist that he has an exceptional dog, to which the jumper replies "What dog?" Franklin looks around. The dog is no where to be seen. The incident is neither explained nor ever referenced again. It's just there, a wonderful existential prank begging questions about Franklin's sanity, angelic intervention. and supernatural house pets strolling the streets in the city of Los Santos.

Sanity Effects

While they aren't traditional dreams per se, many games have utilized strange bits of playable insanity in order to help convey the unbalanced psychological state of a character. Rocksteady's recent Arkham games have delivered short diversions into the world of the hero's nightmares. Asylum featured Batman getting gassed by The Scarecrow and having to combat an imaginary hellscape, while City showcased The Mad Hatter turning Batman's world into a twisted version of Alice in Wonderland. These two segments owe a bit of gratitude to Eternal Darkness for the GameCube, which was almost entirely built upon the foundation of making the player feel uneasy by tapping into the emotional state of a character and conveying these neurosis via fourth-wall-breaking measures.

It Was All A Dream, I Used to Read Word Up Magazine

This last one is a bit of a cheat, but for good reason. There are a handful of games that completely take place within the confines of a waking dream. Two of the more memorable ones came on the original NES in the form of Super Mario Bros. 2 and Little Nemo: The Dream Master. Nintendo revisited the idea again on the Game Boy with The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, where upon waking the majestic Wind Fish, you realized that the entire game had taken place inside Link's dream. The Silent Hill series often dabbles in the realm of dreams, with Homecoming going as far as to take place entirely in the mind of the hospitalized protagonist. And then there's Bart's Nightmare, which...you know, the less said about that game the better.

This is just a small taste of some of the iconic, playable dream sequences throughout video game history. Countless games, from Killer 7 to Max Payne to Final Fantasy VIII  include some pretty great and imaginative moments. Are you partial to something that didn't make the list? Post about it in the comments, and tell us why it stands out to you!