By Nathan Grayson on May 31st, 2012 at 9:00 am.
Dreams are weird. When you’re in them, everything makes perfect sense: eyeball monsters, people with praying mantis bodies, random celebrities just hanging out in your living room – who are, in turn, also eyeball-coated praying mantis demons. It’s all just so matter-of-fact. And then you wake up, chuckle dryly at the ridiculousness of it all, and drive to your therapy session. That’s more or less the feeling Back To Bed attempts to capture, and it does so shockingly well in the grand scheme of trippy dream sequence games.
You play as the “subconscious protector” of a man named Bob who can’t stop sleepwalking to his untimely demise. And yeah, there are melting clocks everywhere and tophat birds that I wish were real so I could have one as a pet, but the real stars here are the little things. The vaguely unsettling, word-slurring narrator, for instance, won’t be mistaken for Rucks from Bastion any time soon. Puzzles, meanwhile, give your spatial reasoning brain biceps quite a workout – though the perspective caused me to put objects in the wrong places a few times. Beyond minor frustrations, however, it’s a fun, semi-demented little puzzler with a bizarre sense of style. Give it a try hereabouts.
31/05/2012 at 09:21 Hanban says:
Reminds me of Little Big Adventure for some reason. Neat!
31/05/2012 at 10:19 empyrion says:
I had the exact same thing. I suppose it’s the isometric perspective and colorful palette that does it.
31/05/2012 at 09:44 caddyB says:
I like it! Although bob died quite a few times since I’m sleepy, but he didn’t complain too much.
31/05/2012 at 10:38 maninahat says:
I spent more time wrestling with the movement system than the actual puzzles. Good though. Very nice atmosphere.
31/05/2012 at 10:05 Jamesworkshop says:
That’s a very nice idea for the post-lemmings era
I designate 2012 as P.L. 1
31/05/2012 at 10:09 ribobura osserotto says:
Looks like it was heavily inspired by this old game. Dog and all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepwalker_%28video_game%29
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45AmyC-kSIM
31/05/2012 at 10:12 rustybroomhandle says:
Was just about to ask if anyone remembered that.
31/05/2012 at 10:16 The Lord of Leisure says:
Indeed, that was the first thing that came into my head as well, the old Amiga game. that was actually not bad as I recall too.
31/05/2012 at 10:43 Eclipse says:
I loved Sleepwalker! great game :) And yes I thought the same
31/05/2012 at 12:37 DrScuttles says:
I distinctly remember Vic Reeves playing Sleepwalker on an old episode of Gamesmaster. If I recall correctly, he wasn’t very good at it, which made my young self disproportionately sad.
31/05/2012 at 12:42 rustybroomhandle says:
Perhaps it made him Dizzy.
31/05/2012 at 12:45 DrScuttles says:
What, you mean like a whirlpool?
31/05/2012 at 15:36 rustybroomhandle says:
Exactly, can’t play like that, it never ends.
31/05/2012 at 14:25 jonfitt says:
That’s the first thing I thought of too.
31/05/2012 at 11:35 TechnicalBen says:
Wow. Amazing how they got that working so smoothly in a browser. Not the graphics, but the load times. It loaded quicker than most flash games.
31/05/2012 at 12:27 ribobura osserotto says:
That’s Unity for you.
31/05/2012 at 12:28 Ridnarhtim says:
That was awesome! The levels are weird, the sound design is awesome, and that narrator is just hilarious. Loved it.
31/05/2012 at 13:03 AwesomeOwl says:
I think someone involved with that game likes Twin Peaks.
31/05/2012 at 14:22 Calabi says:
Awesome game, I love wierd stuff like this.
I think the narrators voice is reversed somehow.