Among the Sleep: Review

Since the first time I saw the Kickstarter video the project captured my attention with a horror theme experience set in a child’s imagination by directing the experience through the eyes of, a recently turned 2 year old, child. The experience starts warmhearted with a birthday cake and present, till the first sharp piercing cry of an argument turns the mood unpleasant. Your find comfort in your new toy teddy who also acts as your guide throughout most of the story, lending a hand to open a door and providing some light when you most need it. The game appeals to the innocence of a big world around you and charms with the wobbling steps of the child, the buildup is wonderful, unfortunately it is not enough to carry the entire game.

THE WORLD

Once the events turn an unpleasant tone at night you find yourself in a dark twisted world trying to find your mother. The tone of the game quickly falls towards a grim, dark fantasy world reminiscent of Alice in wonderland. With your teddy being your guide, he does talk to you during the game but the simple dialogue, charming though, is nothing worth remembering or even much helpful. The team spent a lot of effort creating the world and it shows with it well-crafted effects and level of detail and environments, but exploring them is a letdown as there is nothing interesting to be found except for maybe 1 Steam achievement.

GAMEPLAY

Throughout most of the game you will be solving some very basic puzzles, similar to a toddler’s block set. The puzzle involves finding keys through crawling, climbing and pulling drawers and then moving on to the next chapter to repeat. This may be somewhat interesting, but as the only core mechanic, is not satisfying. Change arrives when the constant noises that are present in the early chapters are finally turned real and a shadowed monster tries to find you. The creature appears seldom and feels more like an annoyance more than a threat. The horror is amped up with use of all sorts of weird sound effects like growls, creaks and howls throughout. These effects are enough for a couple of jump scares the first time they play, achieving their purpose. However, sometimes they are even overused a little to force the fright.

STORY

The game focuses on a more story narrated experience. It builds up atmospheric and eerie environments, but with no off-track exploration or anything engaging to interact with, they feel like empty set pieces. There is not much to indulge into besides the main plot, the presentation of which in small chunks without context fails to engage till the fast paced conclusion and the bafflement it brings alongwith.

CONCLUSION

Among the sleep prevails on its design, theme and atmosphere. The lack of content keeps it from being anything more. With modest enjoyment, the journey through the game’s world took me mere hours, and at the end of it all there was nothing left to discover or do and with no reason to start over. This is in no way a bad game, but feels like we only experience a small chunk of what this world was capable of.

What’s ill

+ Unique perspective
+ Level design
+ Artistic fidelity
+ Sound assets

What’s not

– Very short (2hrs.)
– Lack of Gameplay and Variety
– Shallow storytelling
– Expensive