Among the Sleep

Among the Sleep is yet another good example of a successful game made possible thanks to Kickstarter.

The richly detailed, other-worldly environments are interesting, engaging and strange, but lack the deep unheimlich queasiness of the house you inhabit at the beginning.

Among the Sleep is a very interesting offer for horror fans. A very original setup and unusual way of treating a typical "scary story" produce great results and the ending will surely stick with you for a long time. The game is fairly short, but is such a breath of fresh air that fans definitely will be satisfied.

If you allow yourself to exist in the moment, Among the Sleep will take you back to a time when a teddy bear was your shield, and you'd think twice about going to sleep without checking under the bed.

Given it’s a fairly short playthrough I wouldn’t be paying full price for it… but if you can get it on sale it is worth getting if for no other reason than to see another form of terror placed into game form. Jump scares have nothing on the impact this has.

The scares may be lacking and some of the puzzles are dull to a fault, but this studio has expertly crafted a game that lets players unravel its story in a meaningful way.

The game is kinda short but the concept and creative level designs are the pros. If you want to play a different horror game then you'll love Among the Sleep.

Among the Sleep is a horror experience that’s more interested in delivering on its premise of exploring traumatic events from the perspective of a two-year old than in shocking you with gore or employing jump scares in order to get a cheap reaction out of you, which is good.

While the setting of Among The Sleep is different, the cogs and gears underneath are a bit too familiar, and that stops Among The Sleep from being quite as scary as it could be.

Quotation forthcoming.

Its story is sparse and the impact of its conclusion isn’t fully worked through, yet it’s worth playing for the way in which it manipulates perspective and transforms everyday locations into nightmarish reflections.

Beautiful and creepy, but some missed potential means it's short and not quite as sweet as it could have been. [Sept 2014, p.75]

The revelatory finale will leave you winded, but also heartened by Krillbite’s assertion that firstperson horror needn’t be confined by crumbling walls and straitjackets.

Among the Sleep is a great addition to the horror genre, and their choice of a toddler for the main character is both inspired and well executed. With a little more polish, a better Oculus Rift kit, and the clearing out of the remaining bugs, it would be near perfect.

Considering this is their first game, Among the Sleep suggests that a bright future lies ahead for the talented developers at Krillbite.

Among the Sleep puts the player behind the eyes of a two-year old and tasks them with surviving a series of wildly traumatizing scenarios. Careful hands and compassionate minds push Among the Sleep's delicate subject matter away from abject immorality, however, not with enough guidance to pivot an honest story into a capable game.

Krillbite Studios' baby sim-cum-horror tale starts strong, but comes undone as it pushes into the supernatural at the expense of the real. It's often scary, but not always effective.

Among the Sleep isn't the horror game many are expecting. It's not Amnesia with a toddler. It's a game with a message, and while it's not always successful I think Krillbite can be reasonably proud of what they've achieved here.

I never did much beyond walking or crawling from one cool visual setpiece to the next, but these terrifying mindscapes carried Among the Sleep and transformed it into something I'm glad I experienced.

Among the Sleep is a distinctive and promising first game from new Norwegian studio Krillbite, and though the dreams it conjures might be scary, it ultimately leaves you with the feeling that you're strong enough to face your fears, in dreams or otherwise.

Among the Sleep makes us feel what it means to be a two years old kid running from a monster. It's not fear that we feel, it's panic. But there's not much more besides this. Only boring game mechanics and silly puzzles in some uninteresting environments.

A unique and interesting title, with great atmosphere and nice Oculus Rift support, but kind of lacking in terms of narration and gameplay.

Krillbite get a lot of things right in Among The Sleep. Their use of graphics, sound and level design to build tension and create a creepy atmosphere is second to none, and I was genuinely on the edge of my seat for almost all the time I spent playing. Unfortunately the tension builds to nothing, the monsters aren't involved enough and the game's over and done with in no time at all.

Among the Sleep is an adventure of terror with amazing possibilities, but its final quality isn't the best.

It becomes another horror game, where the fact of being a baby is kind of irrelevant, which is a shame taking into account this was its most distinctive aspect. It's short, but it does have some good moments though, so we think it deserves a try if you like the genre.

The ideas are great, its execution not. It's still worthwhile, given the original protagonist and a deeper meaning woven into the concept but it fails to reach higher marks. [Issue#244]

The game is short (2-3 hours) but had it been longer, babysitting the two-year-old could have become a burden instead of an adventure worth experiencing. [08/2014, p.71]

Despite tense moments and imaginative worlds, Among the Sleep doesn't quite live up to the potential of its unique concept. [Issue#251, p.74]

Among the Sleep works great as a probe into the soul of a baby. Unfortunately, immaturity of a baby afflicts mainly the gameplay because this "baby horror" is haunted by too much of unpleasant give and take.

An original and promising concept left unfulfilled by disappointing gameplay, Among the Sleep is recommended only to those who want to experience a unique take on the horror genre.

Among the Sleep sets up a very interesting premise; the player controls a two year old toddler stuck in a nightmarish world. An interesting idea that start off great, but since the game isn’t very scary nor challenging it gets a bit dull after a while. It might still worth a playthrough, especially if you want horror without gore or violence.

While Among The Sleep’s central idea is absolutely brilliant and unique, its execution in gameplay, puzzles and storytelling simply doesn’t reach the potential it could and should have.

Among the Sleep succeeds at being a creepy baby simulator, but the real monster turns out to be boring, buggy puzzles and a shallow world and story.

Cute, and sometimes unnerving, Among the Sleep draws the player to an affecting conclusion, but its banal puzzles and shallow storytelling doesn't do a lot to inspire many thrills.

Worth experiencing, but there are better-made horror games around. [Issue#150, p.127]

Among the Sleep has a starting point that's quite different of what we usually expect and wants to leave you with a powerful message, but it fails in trying to get there.

The theme of the game and the originality of playing as a child can't save this adventure-horror game that is neither scary nor moving, and whose incoherent narrative takes us into an imaginary world without great play value.

Among the Sleep is a surprisingly bad execution of a deceptively weak idea.