I’ll just be blunt about it; Dyad is a fucking trip of a game. But, it’s also much more than that. Developed by indie developer RSBLSB for the PlayStation Network, Dyad offers players an opportunity to experience literal, interactive art in the form of a racing/rhythm simulator, though that may be its downfall, as well, due to replayability being limited by the player’s desire to be a completionist. That may be a tad bit confusing to comprehend, so bear with me. Imagine that you are a single organism in a never-ending tunnel of changing lights and floating enemies. Your goal is to hook yourself from one enemy to the next, generating boosts and combinations to propel yourself even faster. In the beginning, it’s simple: press X to hook yourself onto one of the spherical enemies in front of you. This will give you a slight boost in speed until you hit the next swirling target. From there, Dyad becomes progressively more complex, adding more mechanics with each new level (total of 26-27, depending on how you count the final level). While the addition of new mechanics elevates the game’s complexity, it does so at a fairly easy pace. In fact, the game can be completed rather quickly (trophy levels aside). Some of the tasteful new mechanics that are added to each level in Dyad that help in satisfying your urge to race down seizure-inducing tunnels include speed strips that propel you forward and the ability to ‘lance’ enemies, essentially destroying them on impact. These mechanics are added at just the right pace to make your progress feeling meaningful and rewarded, especially when you feel a profound “Oh, I get it now” moment. Upon achieving a high enough score to earn a three star rank in any level, a trophy level will become available to play. These levels are where the nitty-gritty arcade gameplay comes in for these are the levels that you will retry over and over, failing many times before victory (well, if you’re me, anyway). For example, the first trophy level tasked me with hooking 22 pairs of enemies without pressing the hook button more than 50 times. The difficulty, here, lied in being quick enough and being continually aware of the next pair I was going to hook. Other trophy levels will challenge your senses, sometimes removing the distinct coloration of the enemies, leaving it up to your sense of hearing to get your through. I still have yet to earn a trophy and I’m not sure I ever will, partially due to my lack of skill, but also because I don’t see a need to. Earning three stars will grant you entry to a completionist’s haven, but that is a guest list I will never be on. It’s odd that the early trophy levels restrict players from using mechanics that are learned later in the game, since the developers have said that they recommend players play through all of the regular levels before attempting the trophy levels,…
