• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

Atmosphere is the key

  • Laber
  • 04/20/2014 03:09 PM
  • 1526 views
Plot

When I got my hands on this game, It's not like I did expect anything over the top, but I was pleasantly surprised, disturbed and shocked at the same time. The story puts on light a little boy that now has to sleep in his room alone, which he formerly shared with his big brother. But since big bro is hitting puberty he wants to sleep in a separate room. Now our little guy sleeps alone in the top bunkbed where he has the most disturbing and horrifying nightmares a kid could have. Nice for you, little guy. I dig it because it has this Silent Hill-ish atmosphere to it.



Gameplay

It's cool and simple. You save whenever the developer has set it and your dad doesn't give a flying crap about you and your psychologically scarring nightmares that leave you fearing the bedtime. I hate it that he doesn't let you use the fridge at the beginning. You interact with stuff and the nightmares are the highlight at the end of the day, where you make your way through absurd situations that leave you pissing your pants. Kudos.



Puzzles

The puzzles were good and not hard to solve for a demo. But I have to mention that I got the puzzle at the first nightmare just randomly right because I didn't know crap about what the heck was going on. And that stupid face that would gradually appear was causing me more annoyance and hindered me to walk through that maze than it creeped me. But maybe annoying me was the function of it. Oh and something else, at the third nightmare when I suddenly flied in the sky and then stopped again and...I'm starting to think you made it just to confuse us like that on purpose, right? And that three head baby thing in the room with the boiling pot. Dude, genius.

Visuals - Music

Visually, it looks quite interesting and has that own style to it. I love how the rooms are not too big and everything happens behind the closed door of our little boy. It describes the feeling of anxiety, fear, stress and helplessness so well, I could just imagine myself in the situation where the bed was shaking, like What would I do? Scream for mommy of course!
Then we have the music. usually the silence is overpowering but in some places there will be a menacing background music that puts you under pressure and makes clear, "dude, either you do this or it'll get nasty". And damn it works just fine with me!

Characters

I care about our protagonist. I care about him too much, because he's like a little helpless victim that is jinxed and can't tell anyone about it. I love this little guy, and his mother too. They have a nice mother - child relationship, with her being the one who comforts him after the nightmares. His father is a piece of crap though. BUT the question here is, what was that thing under the bed? I think I'm enjoying this far too much.



Overall impression

Let's see. The atmosphere here is a main selling point. This game doesn't creep you out with jumpscares or the usual horror elements. It is just this eerie, uncomfortable feeling that eats you inside, always fearing that something might come. I totally love that. It has also a protagonist for whom I care and want him to be safe and is overall very well made. I surely hope that the maker releases the full version soon, because I'm gonna be the first one in line to play the crap out of it!

Posts

Pages: 1
Glad you liked the game, thanks for the review too.
You're welcome man, it was a nice experience.
Pages: 1