By Adam Smith on May 29th, 2012 at 7:00 pm.
What contains stealth, scares, a rather unique first-person perspective and surreal dreamscapes colliding with recognisable realities? The answer is Among the Sleep, in development at Krillbite Studio in Norway. It could be the most interesting horror game of next year. Here’s why:
Among The Sleep invites you into the mind and body of a two year old child. After being put to bed one evening, mysterious things start to happen.
The trailer below, spotted at Edge, is also why.
Blimey. I just hope the sense of the player’s own toddling presence in the world is anywhere near this convincing when playing.
29/05/2012 at 19:12 Drake Sigar says:
Good thing my avatar is wearing a diaper then.
29/05/2012 at 19:15 lowprices says:
That reminds me, I bought Amnesia: The Dark Thingybob in the Christmas Steam sale. I should really get round to playing that.
29/05/2012 at 22:44 PostieDoc says:
Yes, you should.
29/05/2012 at 19:18 felisc says:
that looks promising indeed.
29/05/2012 at 19:26 Maldomel says:
What’s with all those horror/scary games popping up so fast? Not that I mind, but there seem to be no shortage of them these days.
29/05/2012 at 23:31 Dances to Podcasts says:
There’s no shortage of anything these days. It’s a great time! (Though you wouldn’t say so reading commens/forums…)
29/05/2012 at 19:28 BaronVonsnakPak says:
if im not spending half the game careening down to the floor then this wont be a proper frightened 2 year-old child simulator.
29/05/2012 at 21:47 Shuck says:
The real question is if it has the important “putting blanket over head” dynamic.
29/05/2012 at 19:40 pixelpark says:
Congratulations to the talented team over at Krillbite – cool to finally see a teaser trailer for this very interesting project.
29/05/2012 at 19:48 Theory says:
That baby certainly knows how to strafe.
30/05/2012 at 07:34 JackShandy says:
I’ll need to see his rocket-jumping skills before I’ll consider hiring.
29/05/2012 at 19:49 Enzo says:
Amazing idea.
29/05/2012 at 19:53 golem09 says:
Finally a sequel to Rugrats The Game!
29/05/2012 at 19:58 Splynter says:
This has certainly got my attention. This is one game where the floor textures in particular will have to be top notch.
29/05/2012 at 20:00 Mr. Mister says:
Bullshit: A 2-year old upper-body can’t move and flex like that.
Apart from that, it looks very interesting. Makes you wonder if it was recorded on a playtester’s session.
29/05/2012 at 20:04 Defiant Badger says:
Oh those little squeaks of panic!
29/05/2012 at 22:22 lowprices says:
Oh god, I didn’t hear those first time through. Those were heartbreaking.
29/05/2012 at 20:14 CrowPath says:
Maybe this is why I repressed the memories of my first two years.
30/05/2012 at 04:05 The Thought Police says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_amnesia
30/05/2012 at 11:49 CrowPath says:
I’m sure it’s for the best, mum said I did some disgusting things.
29/05/2012 at 21:16 Stense says:
It looks a fascinating game for sure, fantastic idea for a game. Even if I do fear that motion sickness would be a real problem for poor sickly individuals like me if the camera does move like that in-game.
29/05/2012 at 21:29 Sparkasaurusmex says:
That’s one game character I can’t help but empathize with.
29/05/2012 at 21:39 Cytrom says:
I think a 2 year old is bigger than that.. but that trailer was awesome for sure. I like games that try doing something new.
29/05/2012 at 21:53 arioch says:
Jesus… this looks far to scary for me, an (almost) fully grown adult in his 30′s… I can almost guarantee I will buy it after rave reviews, play it for 30 mins and be too terrified to ever touch it again.
29/05/2012 at 23:44 WrongThinker says:
Amen.
30/05/2012 at 00:19 Sinomatic says:
Yep, me too. Only without the part about playing it at all (are you mad?).
Though I will probably watch someone else doing a playthrough of it, so that I can experience the game from a safe, semi-vicarious distance, and laugh at their terror. Exactly as I did with amnesia.
29/05/2012 at 23:15 McDan says:
Good lord that’s terrifying, I had to stop watching after 20 seconds and move to a room with better lighting to feel better. Sleep will be hard tonight, still, will probably get it and play it because IRS good to be scared. Once a year or so for me though.
29/05/2012 at 23:27 Chris D says:
Does this remind anyone else of the beginning of Neil Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book”?
If you have no idea what I’m talking about then do I have a bedtime story for you:-
http://www.mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx
29/05/2012 at 23:48 DXN says:
This looks ruddy interesting. It’s nice to see that some games are finally starting to take notice of the whole Amnesia-style emphasis on helplessness and danger.
30/05/2012 at 00:25 Caiman says:
I hope they don’t model how scared you are by the volume of your bawling, because that would be as much fun as a transatlantic flight next to a 2 year old screaming kid.
30/05/2012 at 01:21 RagingLion says:
That looks pretty amazing. And that could apply just to the feeling of moving about as a 2-year old.
30/05/2012 at 01:59 maninahat says:
Astonishing really – such a simple yet brilliant way to create a frightening yet familiar environment. We need far more domestic horror games, and less of the “rusty corridor – Japanese horror rip off”.
Reminds me of an idea I had for a game, in which you play as a Tom Waits/Rear Window voyeur who spies ‘something’ suspicious moving around his neighbour’s house. The fear comes from the risk of being spotted by outsiders (who’ll take you in for perversion), spotted by the insiders (who are horrific and dangerous) yet still figuring out what is in there.
30/05/2012 at 02:22 nykgordon says:
There’s something about horror being directed at children that unnerves me more than well, horror directed at anything else. Probably due to having so many younger brothers.
I’m actually scared to even delve further into this, and find out more about the game. I mean hearing the toddler sounds, the little panicked gasps, wow.
30/05/2012 at 02:48 kibble-n-bullets says:
Visually and conceptually interesting, but I’m feeling a bit disconnected about the fact that you’re obviously playing from an adult perspective while in the body of a child. Kids are able to roll with laws of physics defying cookware and are just about as likely to be thrilled or even bored with the goings on in the kitchen as they are to be frightened. While I can grasp the splinter celling around the house what kid actually investigates the creepy whatnot downstairs in the house? And where’s the lucid imagination that kids have?
30/05/2012 at 02:53 Splotch says:
Ok i have to ask something… where are the parents god damn!?!?!? Why didn’t they wake up from the noises, run downstairs and make everywhere a happy place once more?
30/05/2012 at 04:28 sebmojo says:
BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN STABBED
30/05/2012 at 06:15 kaabii says:
There’s no way a two-year-old would be coordinated enough to climb down stairs successfully while not looking at where he’s going.
30/05/2012 at 09:37 Heliocentric says:
And yet they do.
This better end with a bonus level about iggle piggle, racing cards and bottles of milk (stay your hand ‘breast is best’ crew, we don’t need an 18 rating).
30/05/2012 at 12:02 Mana_Garmr says:
It’d be interesting if you had to face in toward the stairs and go down one careful step at a time, not being able to keep a lookout properly while you descend.
30/05/2012 at 14:41 Urthman says:
If this makes motion sick, wait until you hit the “tumbling down the stairs because you tried to go down them too fast” mechanic in first-person.
30/05/2012 at 07:11 Jupiah says:
That was terrifying.
30/05/2012 at 07:48 Maritz says:
I find toddlers terrifying so this game is really going to shit me up.
30/05/2012 at 07:52 Sic says:
Looks brilliant.
Though, being on all fours at two?
30/05/2012 at 09:57 princec says:
Love this. Well, I “Liked” it anyway. I hope it’s as good as Amnesia! Which I must finish.
Cas :)
30/05/2012 at 11:48 Bhazor says:
“toddling presence”?
It just looks like any other first person game but at half the height. Your avatar seems to be bombing along quite happily for someone who doesn’t understand how legs work.
30/05/2012 at 13:14 princec says:
You should see the little buggers go in real life. They move like the wind, I tell you. Nothing is safe.
30/05/2012 at 11:52 Pajama says:
If you go look at the site linked in the article, you get a glimpse at a teddy bear you will either need to solve puzzles like in Forget Me Not Annie or will be some sort of sanity-potion.
Either way, looks very neat.
30/05/2012 at 13:41 Jackablade says:
Will be interesting to see how they handle the fear and threat to the child as a game mechanic. While its an extremely effective trailer, a lot of the appeal comes from the person in control acting like a panicky 2 year old while there doesn’t actually appear to be any genuine threat to him. I’m interested to see how they push the player into this mind set. What happens if you just stroll around and ignore the crashing lightning and general scariness? Will you get grabbed by nasty shadow monsters if you venture out too far? Is there a sanity mechanic like in Call of Cthulhu or Amnesia where your character starts to become incapacitated if they’re exposed to the horrors of their respective games. Will the kid turn his pop gun on himself when it all gets too much?
30/05/2012 at 15:53 JohnnyMaverik says:
Already terrified.
31/05/2012 at 07:19 Ankheg says:
If it would anything there from MGMT – Kids, then I’m already scared as shit.
27/06/2012 at 22:45 celozzip says:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz