Unnameable
Dreamland Traveller started out much like many other Chinese escape game companies, acquiring licensed versions of established games such as The Paper Spirit’s Return, Filthy, The Girl in Red and The Witching Hour. But rather than simply reproducing the original experiences, they became known for significantly upgrading them – redesigning sets and lighting, refining the storylines and adding their own creative touches. Their versions quickly gained a strong reputation among Chinese players.
This success eventually led to their first fully original production, Corrupt Muse. The game became a major success and was awarded several Chinese industry awards in 2025, including Best Immersive Theater Game, Best Mechanisms & Effects, Best Sets of Southern China and Best Innovation of Southern China.
With Corrupt Muse setting the bar so high, expectations for Dreamland Traveller’s second original game, Unnamable, were understandably high.
Unnamable is part of a new series focusing on Asian-inspired stories and combines Thai folklore with Cthulhu-style cosmic horror.
At the heart of the story is Ganya, a Nora dancer whose life is violently taken away from her. Imprisoned and forced to bear twins, she eventually sees an opportunity to escape. But when she hears her children crying, she turns back – a decision that will condemn her to more than a decade of captivity and cruelty.
Over the years, her love for her children slowly turns into bitterness. Eventually, Ganya sacrifices her soul to an Insect Queen and places a curse on everyone who destroyed her life. What follows is a tragic chain of manipulation and obsession that reaches far beyond Ganya herself, twisting the lives of her children and ultimately drawing her daughter Nora into a disturbing devotion to the mother who once wanted her dead.
As players, you are thrown directly into this tragedy from the very beginning. Ganya herself intercepts you early on and makes it clear that you are anything but welcome.
From there, Unnamable unfolds as an intensely cinematic experience, combining Thai folklore, cosmic horror, elaborate performances and some truly spectacular large-scale mechanics. Several moments left us completely speechless.
During the game, I found myself thinking several times: “Wait… did that really just happen? OMG! WTF!” There were moments when we simply stood there trying to process what we had just witnessed. Unnamable constantly manages to surprise you, and some of its biggest moments are difficult to describe without spoiling the experience.
We played Unnamable while it was still in its testing phase, but even at this stage, the experience felt remarkably polished. The acting was phenomenal – emotional, intense and utterly committed. What impressed us most was how perfectly the lighting, sound and effects were synchronized with the actors, creating an incredibly immersive experience throughout.
Horror experiences are often ruined for me by either too little light or sound that is simply too loud – especially when the speakers aren’t really suited to the volume. Dreamland Traveller managed this balance extremely well. The lighting created exactly the right atmosphere without making it difficult to see, while the sound was intense without becoming unpleasant. I had goosebumps more than once during the game.
The performers also seemed to have a strong background in theatre, dance or professional performance. Everything felt very carefully choreographed and aesthetically presented, without ever becoming overly theatrical. Combined with the lighting and sound, this gave the whole experience a very distinctive visual and emotional quality.
After the game, I was honestly a little jealous of Alan. He had the opportunity to play Unnamable again the very next day with another group as part of the testing process. I would have loved to experience it all over again myself. Not only because of how impressive the game was, but also because I knew there were probably details and moments we had missed the first time around.
The impact of Unnamable is already reaching beyond Guangzhou. UMEPLAY has secured a license for the game and plans to open its own version at a new location in Shanghai. It will be interesting to see how another major Chinese escape game company interprets and adapts the experience.
For me personally, Guangzhou was the highlight of the six cities we visited during our China trip. A big part of that was, of course, the incredible experiences created by Dreamland Traveller – although V Factory’s DREAM, which we played in Guangzhou as well, deserves a special mention too. More on that one later.
But it wasn’t just the escape games. Despite being a huge metropolis, Guangzhou itself somehow felt surprisingly relaxed and easygoing. After the intensity of the games, that made the city an especially enjoyable stop on our journey.
