Neverending Nightmares

Experience a nightmare and then have some of your own. "Inspired" by mental illness.

A true proto-gothic horror piece, Neverending Nightmares feels like a hellish walk through an unpublished Edgar Allan Poe short story. The excellent sound design and unsettling, stylized visuals provide an experience that will linger with the player long after the end credits have rolled.

Neverending Nightmares is an art piece, which all horror fans have to play.

Neverending Nightmares is an emotionally resonant experience. I felt fully empathetic towards Thomas’ struggles, which is an impressive feat. The limited interactivity holds it back from taking full advantage of its medium, but I understood and was affected by Thomas’ inescapable depression.

A game that thrives on contrast, shines brightly when it comes to inspiration and impact, and rapidly goes darker as you play it. It's a must for those who love this kind of horror context, even if it doesn't offer much from a gameplay standpoint.

Anyone who digs the horror or suspense genres should absolutely pick this up. Being born out of personal torment and inner conflict makes this game a unique experience, and sometimes you can’t help but relate to Thomas’ confusion as he wanders through the dark.

Pure courage: Matt Gilgenbach confronts his fears publicly, he talks about his disease very openly. But as an interactive experience this is rather superficial.

Neverending Nightmares revels in tension and survives through conservation of its primal resource. Unfolding it exposes a weird paradox; a game that actively campaigns against a traditional desire to play it, and yet seeks to capture attention all the same.

Those who are willing to look past its flaws will find a truly gripping tale of psychological horror, and possibly a greater empathy for those suffering from psychological disorders who endure such hell on a regular basis.

Having slept on it, I find myself obsessing over the questions raised, and the imagery foisted upon me by the encroaching darkness, than I have with any game in recent memory.

Neverending Nightmare is an indie horror game that plays a lot with you logic and rationality. It has a great design and style, unfortunately it takes only few hours to complete it.

It's rough around the edges, and gameplay is really thin, but the terrifying experience ultimately works.

Despite its flaws, Neverending Nightmares offers a striking and unforgettable horror experience, combined with an uncomfortably intimate look into the true torment of mental illness. However, its lack of content and uneven pacing prevent it from being the classic it feels like it could have been.

The illusion it maintains is easily broken by the lack of interactivity and a plot that doesn't always manage to keep its hooks in you. Where and when Neverending Nightmares fails, the effects are noticeable and jarring. Still, Neverending Nightmares is an atypical horror experience and, when it succeeds, it's one you won't soon forget.

It's to the game's credit that its images are hard to shake, and are made all the more effective in an interactive medium.

The game is most frightening when it is you, the house, and whatever is in it. It feels a little like the game Gone Home’s opening hinted at, but actually inhabited by evil.

Neverending Nightmares could be an interesting horror-adventure, but fails on the most important element: the horror.

What starts as a fascinating tale of a psychological horror game, soon changes into a repetitive experience that feels like it drags on even in its short length of less than two hours.

The problem with Neverending Nightmares is that to understand it you need the developer’s sidenotes or your own experiences with depression. Otherwise it’s just a poorly designed, boring horror game. [01/2015, p.76]