Can you remember what you use to do when you were 2 years old? Nope me neither. Do you remember being 2 years old in what for some may only be a short few years, but for others an eternity? No me neither. But we`re going to throw our minds back to the mind of a toddler, in Krillbite`s Studios Among the Sleep. This short Horror is something quite sweet, but is it something that`s going to make you frile in fear? Or something that is going to make you switch off after a while?
Krillbite Studio is a small team based in Norway, and are the team behind the newest ID game to the market, Among the Sleep. You are a 2-year-old toddler, playing in your pay pen and living with Mum. You are finding your own two feet in the world and starting to find your first steps. Until something mysterious happens. You meet a talking teddy bear that informs you that something is horribly wrong and isn’t right. You`re task is then fairly simple and pretty straight forward. Follow dark routes and patterns towards finding out what has happened. Among the Sleep is part of a very successful Kickstarter campaign that occurred way back in 2013, and the game now makes its way as the newest addition to the Xbox One family.
From the off, you are thrown straight into the game with no tutorial or anything to give you a sense of the controls within the game, however after 2/3 minutes of playing the game, you`ll start to get a real sense of what your main ones are. To walk and to crawl. Like many toddlers do. We see you at the table being fed by your mum, until like most after-meal times at that age, we are put back into our playpen and given the role and option to explore, and this will give you a sense of the controls you`ll need throughout the game to route your way through darkened corridors and areas. You`ll meet Teddy, who can talk to you and will guide you the way into helping solve puzzles and will also emit a beam of light when you hug him, and that`ll help you light up the way to the end.
Now, one thing that Krillbite do very, very well within the game is too create an atmosphere throughout that`ll make you shudder with ease. There`s nothing more to a horror game when walking around a darkened corner having an atmospheric feel and soundtrack underlay it, and it`s something that with a headset on, will give you a real horrific experience and indulge you into the game. You don’t know if something`s going to come around the corner and jump out at you, or whether somethings going to scream into your ear. With a headset on (and that`s something I strongly recommend playing with) it`ll give you a great experience and one that`ll put you on ease playing through.
To get through to the end you are going to have to go to places that`ll seem strange but yet fairly recognizable as you truly try to work out what has happened. Spooky setting and locations are a regular occurrence, and I go back to the point of atmosphere within the game, but for me it`s something that Krillbite have done incredibly well, and something they`ve really worked on for the game. Throughout you are also chasing from some sort of creature, something that`ll put fear into your heart (and as a 2-year-old, nearly everything will seem scary as you are vulnerable) and is something you want to avoid. It strikes fear into your heart and mind knowing that it may be behind you. It may be in front of you. It may be above you. You don’t know. You can’t see it. But you can certainly hear it. The fear is strong, and is something that will be struck into your mind as you progress through.
There are several puzzles throughout the game that you have to complete in order to progress, which for me is a very nice touch to the game, and breaks away from the complete element of the horror franchise aswell as keeping certain parts of it to keep it within the convention of the genre. For example, I had to collect 5 things to sit on the other end of a sea-saw, as I would then use it to get to where I need to get to progress the game. But I had to search around in the dark and misty park like setting, and try to find it, and combined with the soundtrack and creating the atmosphere, it`s a fearful and spooky experience. You`ll find several different puzzles from the game though and it adds another dimension to the game.
Not plagued with many noticeable issues at all, Among the Sleep is a game that offers 2-3 hours of horror, puzzling and a very good and fearful experience. It`s a game that`ll certainly make you explore, walk, crawl your way as you find yourself travelling Among the Sleep.
A huge thank you to XCN for supplying us with a Review copy.
