Krillbite Studios is just about to release a kid-sized horror and it’s looking very, very creepy so far. Awww yea. I love me a little scream fest.
The story
Among the Sleep is categorised is a first person horror where you play a two-year-old boy who must scamper (in his onesies no less) through the darkness of his own house to find his mother. The game also seems to double as a bit of a mystery (not unlike Gone Home) where you must figure out what happened to your mother, and whether the increasing occurrence of totally freaky things is real, or just in your toddler imagination. You also have the company of your teddy bear who acts as a kind of guide, talking you through the whole eerie adventure. Which in itself is also pretty unsettling, given that teddy’s voice has a kinda gravelly New York twang. The experience is heightened by your limitations as a small child. You’re short and can’t reach door handles – and a whole bunch of other things. You can’t run very fast and don’t have the best balance. Oh, and you’re completely defenseless.
Childhood is creepy
Let’s face it, childhood fears can be terrifying and this is what the game plays up on. Remember the little things that freaked you out as a kid? Is it a shadow or a monster? Is that a coat hanging up or a troll in a jacket? Have mom and dad abandoned you? Since when did that door creak like that and is the lightening and thunder coming to get you? All that, and the fact that in a toddler’s mind darkness alone is a nightmare waiting to happen, makes for butt clenching game play. Along with using your own imagination against you, there is also a supernatural element that might take this game truly into the realm of horror, rather than just a tense mystery, based firmly in the real world.
A PC/Mac game this joint was launched through Kickstarter and has been a couple years in the making, but it’s looking like it could be a success. You can actually download a demo of the game from the developer website at krillbite.com I highly recommend you give it a go. It’s set to be released in Q2 2014, so anytime now.
Written by: Blakniss
