What if you had to stay awake to survive? What if closing your eyes meant that you might never open them again and instead be taken by some kind of evil supernatural force? That is what it’s like in The Crush, the last known city on Earth in Sleep Awake. I couldn’t wait to dive into this crumbling dystopian city and venture into the psychedelic visuals. I had seen on viewing to buy this game, and the fact that Robin Finck from Nine Inch Nails composed the music and also co-created the game along with Cory Davis, made me super excited! You play as Katja, a young girl who makes herbal based stimulant eyedrops, originally created by her scientist father, to fend off the tiredness to avoid getting dematerialized in her sleep by The Hush.
Beginning The Journey
That is exactly how you start off, in your flat, in the middle of the apocalyptic city. You realise Katja has been left on her own as her father and brother are missing and presumed taken by The Hush. You begin your journey by searching for ingredients to make a little tincture of eyedrops to deliver to Amma, Katjas grandmother, who for some reason still lives on the other side of the decaying town. Cue a game of hide and seek across the ruined city, avoiding the factions and experiencing some psychedelic hallucinations along the way!
Just Another Walking Sim?
Although the game is a narrative driven walking sim, it has some ominous horror scenes, heavy intense atmosphere, amazing visuals and short stealth sections all tied together with an amazing soundtrack to add to the experience of a really interesting story concept. Sleep Awake really makes you want to uncover exactly what’s been happening here and through Katjas monologue and collecting microfiche sheets and tape players around the city, you learn more about what happened to the world, and more about the lore of The Hush and other factions within the city. I do love a game that has great lore and has taken the time to think about all aspects of life from different people’s perspectives.
The Hush
The most feared enemy in the game by all is a mysterious, malevolent phenomenon that takes people in their sleep, and leaves behind imprints of the person called void shadows. Katja can interact with these silhouettes by using some kind of vocal harmony that her father taught her and can find out the persons last moments. No-one knows what happens when The Hush takes you, they only know the echoes of the people taken are left behind exactly where they slept, leaving everyone terrified of ever falling asleep again and resorting to various barbaric methods of wakefulness. We see The Hush in-game manifest itself as a humanoid entity which has teleporting abilities. You need to avoid looking at them because they can lock on to your gaze, and if they get too close, it’s curtains.
The Factions
I love the idea of having the end of the world divided into different factions of people, following their own rules, it felt almost Fallout-like but darker. Firstly, we have The Pain Eaters, fanatics who use pain to stay awake. They inflict torturous methods onto themselves to avoid being taken by The Hush. Then there’s The Mechanists, who utilise electricity to shock their nervous systems to prevent them from drifting off. The Sonological Institute, which evolved from the former government, basically thugs who run wild experiments on survivors they recruit and lastly The DTM ( Delta Transport Ministry), a militant police faction who govern over The Crush. They don’t tolerate any other methods of staying awake apart from their own, so they take away anyone they find who isn’t following their rule. Unfortunately the only one of these factions you need to escape from is it DTM. I can’t help but think how terrifying this game could have been had they delved into each faction being a threat to you, it would’ve made the game longer too which I definitely wouldn’t have minded!
Game mechanics
There is no combat in Sleep Awake, instead you are mostly avoiding or evading the DTM or other nightmarish creatures. There will be times where you are being stealthy, hiding among shadows, running for your life or holding your breath from blind creatures. There are plenty of puzzles along the way but nothing too hard. I think what’s missing for me is the ability for the player to keep Katja awake themselves. Even though, you take the drops at certain points in the game to follow the narrative and induce hallucinations. I feel that a little bit more added pressure from the actual player having to continuously make, ration and administer the drops, could’ve added more terror to the already dire situation, but being the type of game that it is, it may not have been possible to implement such a thing and still keep the narrative progressing accordingly.
Final thoughts
I can’t class this game as a traditional horror, it was really trippy but not really that scary to be honest. The visuals and audio are unreal, and very engaging. The lore is fantastic and the whole concept of the game I absolutely loved. Games like this feel like an interactive movie that I want to find out absolutely everything about. Unfortunately, I felt like the story was just getting started as the game was coming to an end so I hope there will be a second one in the making soon, as that’s the way it feels its been left. A stunning heavy atmospheric, trippy and visually impressive play through, with a fantastic concept and brilliant story. Definitely worth experiencing!
Details:
Available on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5