The playing of games continues. BACKGROUND:
This is one game I remember watching from various YouTubers the year it came out. That was many years ago now, however, and I don't really recall much about it. All I can remember is that I found something about the story interesting. PLOT: In Among the Sleep, you play as a two-year-old child, who's spending their birthday with their mother at home. The humble celebration is interrupted by an unknown visitor, whom the mother has an offscreen conversation with, and afterwards, she returns to her child with a gift. The gift turns out to be a teddy bear, who comes to life and plays with the child. The two have a bit of fun until the child is put to bed by their mother. Later in the night, the child awakens to their new teddy bear friend being taken. They make their way out their room (somehow) and retrieve the bear, who senses trouble and insists that they find the child's mother. What follows is a brief, surreal adventure that reveals some truths about the child's life. Without giving too much away, the revelations paint a rather sad (if a little predictable) picture. Perhaps the most I can say is that it's a bit of a "too real" situation, and what makes it rough is that the kid doesn't have any agency to deal with it. What I found most remarkable about the story is how it is told through the lens of a very young child with a very active imagination. This is most highlighted by the more surreal moments of the game, especially with the scarier bits. The biggest example is how it seems like the child is running into actual monsters, but then you realize that those monsters they see is just how their mind interprets a real-life scenario as something terrifying. It's a novel way to present the story that gives a rough (not necessarily accurate) idea of how a toddler may process memories of complicated events happening around them. Honestly, the flow of the story itself just feels like an assortment of disconnected mini adventures randomly strung together, and it's unclear why accomplishing the objective set by the game leads to the child's main goal. This doesn't really ruin things for me, but reflecting upon it after beating the game, it does feel odd. The Enhanced Edition also includes an extra story chapter set before the events of the main game, and is a similarly sad situation. There's also a bonus "bad ending" you can look at that I don't feel like is rooted in the child's reality. PRESENTATION: The game's 3D art style is in a weird middle ground between kind of realistic and slightly cartoony. From what I observed, most models don't really boast insanely detailed textures, so a few objects did look a little odd on closer inspection. Apart from the mother's slightly unnerving facial expressions, I didn't mind the visuals, but didn't think it was remarkable in a stylistic sense, either. I will say that the more surreal dreamscapes look pretty imaginative, and the more nightmarish elements look disturbing. I must note that while I typically don't have motion sickness issues, something about this game's first person perspective did make me slightly nauseous. I'm not sure what exactly about it is causing that feeling, or if I just didn't feel that well the day I played it. When it comes to audio, the game goes for ambient sounds to add a sense of eerie isolation, but the sparing use of music there is can range from creepy to somber. I don't have much else to say here; these elements did their job adequately, but I didn't feel that it was memorable in the grand scheme. GAMEPLAY: Among the Sleep is one of them first person horror games, but I honestly wouldn't really call it a "horror" experience. Sure, some creepy stuff happens, and there are a few light jump scares, but most of the game is simply walking about dark areas trying to solve puzzles to get around. I suppose the scary part comes in when you think about how the player character is a defenseless toddler who can't really do much and has no idea what's going on, but even then, you are rarely put in harrowing situations. Compare it to other first person horror games like Outlast, where motherfuckers are constantly chasing you. Progress is quite straightforward; just keep moving around until you're stopped by some sort of barrier, figure out the puzzle or find the item required to unlock the way forward, then rinse and repeat. None of the challenges are particularly innovative or difficult; you've likely seen pretty much all the puzzle types they throw at you here in other games, and a lot of them can be resolved simply by looking around carefully and interacting with what few interactables there are (whether directly or by using the appropriate item that you have to look around for). Interacting with stuff is a little weird here. The game allows you to pick up loose objects in the same vein as Half-Life 2, but not only does this feel janky to control, there's also no point to doing so apart from exactly two puzzles in the entire game. This could have been a good, time-tested mechanic to build puzzles around, but it doesn't really see any use other than to amuse yourself. Other interactables feel similarly unnatural in terms of control; in particular, opening doors and turning valves involved actually moving the mouse, and I didn't like how that felt due to the inconsistency of how the game processes my movement. Now, you'd think something labeled as a horror game would have some kind of monster, right? Well, sure, the game does have something like that, but it's only in very few sections that such dangers are present (trust me, you are pretty safe for most of the game), and all you have to is hide from them, wait for them to pass you, then move along. Not much to write home about, but the monsters do look unsettling (especially considering they're beelining it towards a child). The game is linear all the way through, but there's actually a fair bit of room to find optional collectibles in the form of the child's drawings. Some of them are decently well-hidden, and there's actually a lot of them you can find. There's even a reward for finding them all, which is cool. What I appreciate about this game is its commitment to having you play as a toddler. You're also clearly not tall at all, and there was something amusing about having to open drawers so you can climb onto them and reach higher places or moving stools so you can reach doorknobs. You also don't walk that fast (in fact, crawling is faster than walking in this game), and trying to run occasionally causes you to trip over. This is slightly less charming given it can be an annoyance, but these aspects didn't really affect my experience substantially. VERDICT: "Horror" seems like too strong a word to describe Among the Sleep, in my view, and with how dreadfully short and sparse the game is, I can't quite say I found it engaging to play, either. With that said, however, I still really appreciate the ideas they implemented here. Having everything be in the perspective of a toddler was a neat concept; the idea of perceiving events as a child might makes stuff they don't understand look terrifying (or like a super fun dreamscape, in the case of happier events), and there was something charming about a house built for grown-ups becoming quite the platforming challenge for a tiny kid. I just wish there were more to the gameplay mechanics, and that they leaned more into the horror aspect. This is probably a game you should get on sale on the account of how short it is (I beat it in two and a half hours), and if you like more "game" with your game, it's quite possible that you won't find this one engaging in that regard. The Steam version does have a demo, though, so it's best to give that a go and assess for yourself if it's worth your time. Speaking of, here are the store links: - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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