Earlier this year we reported on the success of an original Kickstarter project we’d backed called Among the Sleep. This amazing title was due for release in December this year but it seems as if Krillbite Studios have pushed it back to early spring 2014 (and that makes me have a sad face).
For those who don’t know what Among the Sleep is, it’s a scary first-person adventure where the protagonist is none other than a two-year-old boy. The story begins with you waking up in your cot in the middle of a thunder storm, with no lights on and no parents around. You somehow manage to climb out of your high-sided bed and start crawling around the house with your favourite teddy bear before a feeling of not-being-entirely-alone sets in. Moving shadows and strange noises become more and more the norm and this builds the suspense and tension while setting the tone for the rest of the story.
The toddler, who is exploring different environments while crawling on their hands and knees, needs get rid of the ghosts and ghouls in his house and it isn’t as simple as fighting them off with some kind of weapon; running and hiding is the only way of avoiding these paranormal predators.
This would be scary for an adult let alone a toddler.
According to the backer-only updates Krillbite Studios are working on streamlining the game and also adding detail, putting voiceovers in, localisation, optimising the Oculus Rift implementation (which I’m looking forward to so much because everything is better with a Rift), and lots of testing and bug-fixing. This is a good thing because this will be such a special game, and I’d hate it if simple bugs spoiled the experience for me.
Even though I’m disappointed that I’ll have to wait a bit longer to get my hands on this original game I believe the delay will be worth it. You can tell the enthusiastic team behind this project are totally devoted to it and they won’t let it be released in a less-than-perfect state. Among the Sleep is one of a fountain of creative titles developed by a new wave of passionate and focused developers that could one day spark a golden age of PC gaming – and that can only be a good thing.
