Platform: PlayStation 4
Developer: Krillbite Studio
Publisher: Krillbite Studio
Release Date (WW): December 10th, 2015
Nerd Rating: 7 out of 10
Things have changed quite a bit for console gaming in the last few generations. Before, the only games that reached console gamers were AAA titles or something that had gained so much popularity that a big publisher wanted to turn it into the big leagues. Now that big publishers are dumping onto us gamers heaps of unfinished, bug ridden, broken, and otherwise thoughtless pieces of trash, it’s only natural to consider what’s on the other side of the fence. Independent developers are here with a force, bringing new experiences and stories that aren’t simply the same old games that have been milked to death. After getting through the cesspool of lazy game design that is Dragon Age II again, I contacted independent developer, Krillbite Studios to try their recently (kind of) released title that I’d been hearing quite a lot about, Among the Sleep.
Among the Sleep is an interesting little game, lasting only about five hours, but weaving a better narrative in that allotted time than many AAA titles do in fifty hours. Its claim to fame is the inclusion of a 2-year old protagonist, something that never happens in survival horror games, which only compliments the narrative even more.
The game starts with our young protagonist on his second birthday. All appears fine as his mother puts the finishing touches on his birthday cake, but when someone comes to the door and what accounts to an off-screen argument with his mother and someone else, things start to get strange. It isn’t long before Mom is carrying our little tot up to his bedroom with the unopened birthday gift before running off to answer the phone. There we meet our companion for the coming strange goings on, a small talking stuffed teddy bear, appropriately named Teddy. After the two of you explore the room for some bit, Teddy has you carry him to the room’s closet which turns into the first of may strange nightmarish areas in the game until Mom puts you to sleep and the first of the game’s four stages starts.
When our protagonist awakens, it’s the middle of the night, the house is dark, and Teddy’s gone. While being retrieved from the washer, Teddy urges us that something isn’t right and that we must find the mother, but alas, she’s gone yet her ghostly humming remains. While following the sound, our duo wanders into a strange realm with a large playhouse with an equally strange door where her humming emits from. By following Teddy’s suggestion, the protagonist and stuffed animal pair begin their search for the keys to open the door, which is the bulk of the game.
Although Among the Sleep is usually touted as a “survival horror” game, a majority of the gameplay revolves around exploration and puzzle solving. Each of the game’s chapters takes place in a thematically different, large area where the player usually must collect one the fore-mentioned keys by completing an area-centric puzzle. Interestingly, these areas also become progressively darker and more dangerous by chapter, with the two earlier chapters in the House and Cave being much more open-ended and less linear and the two later areas, which introduce the monsters as a gameplay element, more linear, and more about proceeding with the growing danger than solving puzzles.
Among the Sleep provides a rather interesting control scheme into the mix, utilizing as little UI as possible, focusing more on attempting to integrate as much of our young protagonist’s behaviors into gameplay mechanics as possible. Therefore, most of the actions our young protagonist performs are modeled after the behavior of an actual two year old child. Our young protagonist can’t fight back, he can’t run for long without falling into a crawl, all he can do is hide under and inside of things and hold his teddy bear companion.
Where Among the Sleep truly shines though, is the atmosphere and imagery contained in its levels. As you progress through the game you’ll slowly realize that there’s something larger going on than just a child with an overactive imagination, and every inch of this game provides clues as to what that is. Without going into spoilers, let’s just say that Among the Sleep takes great care in handling the very adult issues brought up, especially in regards to how our young protagonist perceives them. In fact, the symbolism hidden in plain sight during each level, the scattered collectable drawings, the seemingly harmless decorative objects, the strange sounds collected into the atmospheric chapter tracks, and the tiniest details sprinkled even during the game’s opening, all add to the narrative. Without even a line of phony exposition or a voiced over explanation, Among the Sleep provides the player with one of the most thought-out and compelling stories that I’ve heard in a long time.
Since Among the Sleep has its own trophy list, it’s worth spending a minute to discuss them, for any fellow trophy hunters out there. With only ten achievements, its about the average size of a PSN title. Six of Among the Sleep‘s trophies regard the in-game drawing collectables, with five for finding all drawings per chapter and one for finding all of the drawings in the game. The are also three interesting achievements for finding and interacting with objects that are rather off the beaten path, such as knocking down the bowling pins and playing certain musical items. Then, there’s a final achievement for finishing the main game. Overall, not a difficult stack of trophies, as you’ll likely be exploring just about every nook and cranny while playing through Among the Sleep in the first place.
Included in the PS4 version of Among the Sleep is the bonus DLC chapter, the Prologue, which stars the same protagonist from the regular game, sans our stuffed ally, Teddy. In it, the player is tasked with rescuing five talking stuffed animals while avoiding a red-eyed monster that stalks several of the halls and rooms.
Unlike the levels in the main game, the Prologue area is really open, allowing the player a little more freedom with which order to collect the stuffed animals in, for the most part. During which the player will see white figures flicker around the different rooms, acting out what essentially is the catalyst for the main game’s plot. While many seem to think that this cheapens the drama of the main game, I feel like it provides a more rounded understanding of some of the strangeness in it. The Prologue, like the main game, also contains its share of symbolism, I think the most telling being the snowstorm outside of the cabin where the chapter takes place.
Also like the main game, the Prologue is a pretty short chapter, lasting roughly a half-hour to an hour in length (depending on how much you decide to explore). My first time playing through, the game actually crashed during the ending cutscene, but I think it was more of an issue with my system and not something that many people will run into.
Overall, I believe Among the Sleep is a pretty good play from the PlayStation 4’s indie scene. While it was rather short, I enjoyed exploring the strange, and at times frightening world of the two year old protagonist. It was a nice, short, but not too sweet title that would be right at home for those who’ve enjoyed the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, or simply enjoy a good spook. An interesting fact for any horror fans is that Roger L Jackson, usually remembered for the Scream series (although I best recall him as Mr. Bates from Clock Tower II), voiced our seemingly creepy but cuddly companion Teddy. Again, I’d like to thank Krillbite Studios for the chance to check out their sophomore title and I look forward to checking out their next game, Mosaic, for Nerd Bacon.
