ENA: Dream BBQ Review (PC)

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was beaming with joy and excitement, hell-bent on venturing deep into the LSD-bred fever dream of Joel G’s ENA debut. But now — now I’m just not sure what to think, much less act, eat, talk, or even breathe. I’m down in this rabbit hole of unorthodox thinking and illogical ideas, plotting the next step, often wondering how on earth I will ever recover from this indescribable journey. I’d love to explain it to you — believe me I would. But I can’t. There’s this ninety-minute mirage that I just can’t shake, nor even attempt to translate into words, for that matter. And yet, I feel as though, by actively trying to block it out of my mind, I wouldn’t be giving this…thing…the credit that it deserves. And to be frank, ENA: Dream BBQ does deserve credit. At least, I think it does.

If you had told me that you had spent twenty minutes gawping at a camel in a latex shirt and a hockey mask, I’d have laughed at you and said, yeah — you played ENA: Dream BBQ, too, huh? For the record, such an oddity doesn’t exist in Joel G’s abomination of a walking simulator (not from my recollection, anyway) — but I’d have to hard time imagining it, given that the entire game is, with all due respect, a nightmare with one too many sleep paralysis demons showering its inner workings. But that’s Joel G, in a nutshell, and so, if you’re unfamiliar with the work, then you might have a tough time fanning the flames of this wildfire.

Still here? Oh good — I’m not alone with my thoughts. Ready to crack on and solve the riddle that is Joel G’s questionable mind? Then let’s jump into the rabbit hole.

So That Happened

ENA: Dream BBQ is, first and foremost, a walking simulator, and therefore, an excuse to relax your fingers for a while and drift off into a perplexing world of surreal fantasies and abstract horrors. It’s a lot like a painting in motion, only, the curtains don’t match the drapes, and there is no plausible explanation for just about anything that makes up its canvas. It’s a ninety-minute ordeal, with the second and third chapters of the rolling series still tightly under lock and key. The first leg of this episodic hellhole, which I’m genuinely struggling to describe without blowing a gasket, takes place in the dream world of a thousand moving pieces. There are layers to it, of course, but as for your purpose, well, you need only follow the linear path through to the bitter end and shake hands with a few eccentric characters along the way.

I’d hate to dish out one too many spoilers, so for the sake of keeping a lid on the finer details of the game, I will leave you with this: ENA: Dream BBQ isn’t so much about the destination, but the journey, and the friends you meet on the road. And these friends that I speak of, unsurprisingly, are about as ordinary as a fire extinguisher in a leotard. For instance, the initial batch of characters who you meet during your weird but wonderful descent into the rabbit warren are, shall we say, “sweet and sour” — a description that Joel G has formally given them himself. And I’m willing to agree with that; Dream BBQ does have some eccentric personalities. And when I say eccentric, I mean characters who don’t know whether they’re coming or going, or even if they’re sentient.

Just Go With It

Believe it or not, there is a bit more to the story than merely having you skip between abstract boroughs and knocking heads with strange individuals. There are goals—tasks that require you to use weird tools on, well, weird mechanisms and objects. But that isn’t to say that ENA: Dream BBQ is a perplexing game; it’s all very linear, in fact. It’s a game that you just sort of roll with and refrain to ask questions about. If something happens — then boy, just go with it and assume that it has a purpose in the world you’re traipsing around.

While ENA: Dream BBQ isn’t likely to win any awards for its visual components, it is likely to give you plenty to write home about. It’s intentionally misleading, and it does all in its power to keep you second guessing the next hurdle or location in your ongoing search to figure out what in god’s green earth is happening. But that’s where the game finds its niche: in the oddities and illogical nature of the portrait that it tries so desperately hard to capture. To put it simply, you will remember it, whether you like it or not. And yes, it looks janky — but that’s the point, I think. And if it isn’t, then hey, you could’ve fooled me.

Verdict

For the first time in my life, I don’t really have the words to describe how I feel. On the one hand, I think I’m contented with the way things planned out in ENA: Dream BBQ. But on the other hand, I’m sort of concerned about the future, and more importantly, what the second chapter in Joel G’s series will bring to the table. I’m on tenterhooks nonetheless, so while I’m on the fence about so many of its moving cogs, I am, for what it’s worth, oddly excited to see where this journey will take us next. Because let’s face it, unless you have the gift of clairvoyance, there’s honestly no telling what might sprout up from beneath the woodwork in due course. That’s a feeling I’m willing to sit with, at least until the next bus comes along to take me to the next stop.

ENA: Dream BBQ is arguably one of the strangest games you will ever play in your entire life. And no, I’m not adding a grain of salt to that statement, either. This is, with thanks to its ludicrous use of abstract logic and unorthodox designs, a game that will leave you with far more questions than answers. And guess what? You will love it. I think I love it, but at the same time I also feel as if it has me in a chokehold, and that it has some otherworldly power over me. It’s Joel G, ruffling the feathers and tugging on the strings, who’s leaving these sorts of impressions, perhaps. Whatever the case, I’m all for it. I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is — I’m all for the idea of coming back. Let’s have you, ENA.