SLEEP AWAKE

SLEEP AWAKE was provided by Blumhouse Games for review. Thank you!

I love horror games, especially when they feel largely unique in a way I have never seen before. However, most horror games tend to follow similar patterns, and while there can be new stories, it's almost never fully new experiences that make me do a double-take. However, SLEEP AWAKE does. It has a premise that I have really never seen before, while also creating a world that I found intoxicating in its crazy weirdness. It ultimately creates an experience that I fell in love with, and I can't help but recommend playing through.

The biggest hook of SLEEP AWAKE has to be its story, which almost immediately hooked me. Basically, whenever people fall asleep, this evil force, the Hush, will make you disappear. So, it’s either find ways to stay awake, which includes taking drugs and hallucinating your way through life, or letting yourself be taken. This has led to the world deteriorating, cults popping up, and an overzealous police force senselessly killing people they deem threats.

I’ve never seen a premise like this one before, and I love it. I would say most people would deem sleep as a blessing, but in this world, sleep is essentially death. That’s what our protagonist, Katja, comes in. We have to survive, basically solving puzzles to keep herself awake, while also figuring out what she will have to do next to ensure her survival, even at the cost of her own sanity.

And boy, is that sanity tested. The game is marketed as a psychedelic experience, and I’d consider that a little bit of an understatement. With how we are hallucinating and going in and out of sleep and dreams, or just putting on our sketchy eye drops, the world will morph randomly. Hands can come out of walls, lights can change on a dime, we can be walking one minute and then floating through bedframes into these hexagons to put the shadows of people who have been taken by the Hush to rest, and much more. I wouldn’t necessarily consider it a traditional horror experience, but it is thrilling, creepy, and unnerving all the same.

I also want to commend the use of real footage instead of relying only on digital. Because the game teeters on the cusp of dreams and reality, the splicing of real-life footage drives home the surrealistic aspects of SLEEP AWAKE, which only improve the overall experience.

Despite some awkward dialogue delivery from some of the voice actors from time to time, SLEEP AWAKE's story felt unique and captured its own horror-filled essence. The reliance on psychedelic scenery and vibrant changes makes sense within the context of the game, and it's implemented well enough not to get old. The scenery just oozes charm and creepiness, from the broken-down apartment we live in to the vibrant world outside, stained with the deaths of those taken by the Hush. The world is haunting and creepy, and it does exactly what it needs to create this aura of uneasiness when walking around, and is complemented perfectly by the booming soundtrack that encompasses the game.

The gameplay itself strikes a good balance between puzzles and sneaking past people. Most of the game will be us walking around, taking in the sights, completing puzzles, and witnessing some crazy events transpiring in front of us. There will be some spots where we have to sneak by people, and while the mechanics are sound, none of it felt forced or stuck around longer than it should have. It all felt nicely balanced, with the environment being entertaining enough to gaze at and take my time walking through.

However, getting caught when sneaking was the worst. If you get caught, you will go to a loading screen and then have to very slowly walk through a corridor to make it back to the real world. It feels like it takes a full 30 seconds to just revive, which is way too long. It was probably the only gameplay moment that took me completely out of the game. Still, this was a minor issue, and the bulk of the game didn't make me feel this way.

I would say the gameplay does well for this type of game. Unless it's a survival-horror game, I expect more reliance on the world-building, creepiness, and story, which I feel SLEEP AWAKE did. There were only one or two puzzles that I felt were a little too difficult to figure out as easily as the others, but it's not impossible to complete. The gorgeous, creepy world is so much fun to walk around, and there always seems to be something new to see around the corner that is just as interesting.

SLEEP AWAKE - Steam Deck Performance

When all is said and done, SLEEP AWAKE is a surprisingly optimized game. Even at the lowest settings, the game looks and performs quite well on the Steam Deck, which I wouldn’t have expected. As a horror game, this is something I’d consider essential for portable play, and I’m glad they were able to do it. However, it isn’t perfect.

The game will stick above 30 FPS almost the entire time, and will usually hang around 40-50 at the default lowest settings, but there are still a few hiccups. Specifically, when loading into a new area, the framerate will drop to the 20s, and there are some areas that have too much going on and will drop to the 20s or even the 17-18 FPS range. There aren’t many places like this, but they exist and are enough to disrupt the flow.

Since nothing can be done, and the majority of areas aren’t this draining, I actually increased the graphical quality overall. I was able to get away with increasing the resolution scale to 75%, as well as bringing textures and anti-aliasing up. Ultimately, the game stuck above 30 FPS still, and those draining areas went down from 25 FPS to 21 FPS on average. Yes, it is more taxing, but the difference in visual quality is significant and improves the experience.

Because the game doesn’t have a consistent framerate at the default settings, I wouldn’t say it deserves the verified badge. But it is still playable and very enjoyable. If you can deal with these few areas, 85% of the game that does run well will be phenomenal.

アクセシビリティ

We can change the language, subtitles, invert camera controls, hide the crosshair, change audio settings, and change camera sensitivity, but that's about it in the settings.

The game does support 16:10 resolutions, cloud saves, and controllers. There are HDR settings you can turn on, and it does recognize the Steam Deck OLED screen.

結論

SLEEP AWAKE is by far one of my favorite horror games I have played this year. The story is creative and intriguing, hooking me until the end so I could see what would happen next. The gameplay has a nice balance that I would expect a horror game like this to have, even though a couple of the puzzles are a little hard to solve, and dying takes way too long to come back. Still, this is one of the more creative horror games I have played, and it is one of my favorites that I have played this year.

While it isn't completely solid throughout, the game is still very playable on the Steam Deck. It runs decently in most areas, though there are some unavoidable drops that could go below 20 FPS. Still, it doesn't happen often, and I still recommend playing it on the Steam Deck.

このレビューはPC版に基づいています。

このレビューをお楽しみいただけたなら、SteamDeckHQ の他のコンテンツもぜひご覧ください！あなたのゲーム体験に役立つゲームレビューやニュースを幅広く取り揃えています。ニュース、ヒントやチュートリアル、ゲーム設定やレビューをお探しの方も、最新のトレンドを知りたい方も、ぜひご利用ください。