Review — Among The Sleep

Among The Sleep

We Sit Down And Review Among The Sleep. It Sounds Like A Different Twist On A Survival Horror Game But Does It Pay Off? Here’s Our Review Of Among The Sleep

Among The Sleep originally released back on May 29^th 2014 for Windows, Linux, and Mac but now it is time for the consoles to have a chance to give the game a good go. For those who don’t know what Among The Sleep is, it is a survival horror style game where you take on the role of a toddler instead of some bad ass cop or space marine. All developed by Krillbite Studio and now Among The Sleep has made the leap over to the PS4 and we had a chance to give the game a whirl. Hold on to your teddy bears tight as here we go with our review of Among The Sleep.

Story

It’s your birthday and things couldn’t be happier for you as you are fed your birthday cake via “air plane” from your mother. Then you get the best birthday gift you ever could in the way of sentient Teddy bear and a horribly dark adventure as you try to find your mother while being chased by some big black shadow. That is where things get tricky and trippy as you must traverse multiple strange and scary worlds as you try to reclaim your happy memories of your mother to ultimately find her in your own house. At least you have your trusty Teddy to help you along the way…

Hated

I am a horror connoisseur and when I heard about Among The Sleep and the basic premise in way back when it was still in development I was excited to see how the terror would be handled here. Sadly outside of a few small creepy environments and a jump scare or two Krillbite Studio didn’t seem to deliver on the horror side of things here in Among The Sleep. This could be based on things being built around a toddler’s vision of fear and most of us have out grown that but I know I remember things being even more terrifying when I was young and didn’t know what they were. I don’t think a toddler would imagine some horror beast as the washing machine eating his beloved Teddy is what would happen in the real world but in Among The Sleep that should have been the level of nightmare presented so we could all get back to that core feeling we had in those times.

Among The Sleep is also not a long game either. It works well for the narrative that has been set up but that wasn’t my issue with this. It boils down to the puzzles and exploration that we had in Among The Sleep and how simple or basic things were to fly right through. Due to this factor it felt like they were just placed in to make the game feel like it was longer than it is and less like a great game mechanic to explain things away. I was half way through the game before I ran into anything that felt like even a minor challenge in Among The Sleep and even that only felt the case as it would be the different between a beginner challenge and a normal challenge in most other games. I just wish things were a bit more difficult in Among The Sleep is all.

Loved

While it may not have been that scary or terrifying to me, Among The Sleep was a great twist on the basic game genre here. They were few and far between but those scenes and scares that were mixed into the game did sell themselves extremely well. We may not have been faced with horrible dismemberment but those few key times Krillbite nailed the feelings of being a scared and alone child. At least for those who have not been completely numbed to where the horror genre has been drug to. I’m not having any nightmares based on things from Among The Sleep but I can understand how a child would be mortified and if that was the full goal then it was completely sold here; even if Among The Sleep was labeled as a horror title…

Building form that, there were so many little and subtle things that Among The Sleep had mixed in that I was able to truly appreciate. Things like when you paused the game, yes you would get the usual UI to do what you needed to do but in the background you could see the child covering his eyes. That whole mentality of if I don’t see it then nothing will happen. Very subtle but also an amazing touch for the overall feel of the game.

Then you have the movement controls that did just the same. You have the walk and “crouch” options in Among The Sleep as with any other first person title; with crouch being that you are crawling instead. What was amazing here is that while you are crawling you move a lot faster than if you walk. Walking does place you up higher but you are a toddler here in Among The Sleep and barely have that basic ability yet. On top of that if you try to walk for too long in Among The Sleep you fall down and begin crawling again. Subtle again but also sold the idea and character so very well. More so than most other games do with the idea that you can run and run, stop and take a quick breath, and then run again. Just another thing I fully loved here Among The Sleep.

Last up on the list here is the replay factor of Among The Sleep. There is no real hand holding in the game once you get the basic controls down. After that Among The Sleep sets you out to explore on your own and outside of the core memories you need to find for game completion, there are hidden drawings throughout the ‘levels’ that also visually tell a story on top of the core one. It wasn’t just the completionist in me that had me spinning Among The Sleep back up but also the want to know much more than what was just basically presented to us all. I love these things in video games that are not just a bunch of random collectibles.

Overview

So Among The Sleep does have a few faults and is not the true horror title that some like myself have been led to believe. No nightmares are going to be had unless you are under the age of seven and playing this but I am not sure if that was the true goal of Krillbite Studio. Among The Sleep does have a fun story and is a great twist on what we all think we already know though. I wouldn’t say it is a “must own no matter the cost” kind of game but Among The Sleep is worth the time and low price point for those who want to try something different in the gaming industry. Hopefully it can lead to another title in the same vein from the studio that is bigger and better for us all.

Among The Sleep was developed and published by Krillbite Studio for the PS4 on December 10^th, 2015. A digital PS4 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.