Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - Director's Cut

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director's Cut for XONE and PS4 is an enhanced edition of 2012's Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Originally, the game was released for PCs, later on, it received Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U releases, and eventually it came out for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This new edition does not differ much from the core versions. The visuals were slightly tweaked, and are now working in 1080p resolution. The Rise of the Owlverlord expansion is also included (previously, available for PCs only), along with the Halloween Level DLC pack. The remaining contents have not undergone any changes.

Plot & Mechanics

The player assumes the role of a girl by the name of Giana, who is lost in the dreamworld. Both the protagonist and the characters around have a double nature. At any time, the player can change the shape and appearance of the landscape, which also applies to the appearance of Giana herself. In the colorful version of the world, the protagonist is a rebellious teenager and the player listens to heavy sounds of an electric guitar. When the dream-like reality turns into a nightmare, however, Giana gets humbled and becomes a good girl again – in this kind of situation, the player can hear low key, slightly disturbing music. Changes affecting the environment are not only visual, as they significantly influence the gameplay as such. Depending on which of the two versions of reality the protagonist is experiencing, Giana uses different abilities and certain previously locked level areas become accessible as well.

On their path, the player encounters a lot of challenges combining puzzle solving with arcade elements, as well as many original enemy types, including a few bosses. The action is fast-paced and in order to complete the game, the player will oftentimes have to frequently switch between the two dimensions. The reality around the protagonist changes not only when the player presses the button assigned to transformation, but also automatically after using an ability assigned to one half of Giana's nature, which simplifies the controls.

Technical aspects

The game's 3D graphics limited to two dimensions by the camera with a perspective typical of classic platformers make a very nice impression. The in-game drawing-like maps are detailed, and in both the visual versions – grim and colorful – were designed with equal care. Crossing the border between one version of reality and the other is very fluent, as all the elements of the landscape get simultaneously tranformed in real time.

Misc.

The original edition's music theme created by Chris Hülsbeck was recorded again for this release. Its new, metal version was brought by Machine Supremacy.

Last updated on 16 November 2023