Just the other week, a demo arrived on Steam for an intriguing psychedelic sci-fi horror game. That game is SLEEP AWAKE, which was also an official selection for the Tribeca Festival. Developed by EYES OUT, the brainchild of Cory Davis of Spec Ops: The Line and Robin Finck of Nine Inch Nails, SLEEP AWAKE deals with a world in which going to sleep often means you don’t wake up. We got to learn more about this eerie world at a Blumhouse hands-on preview event, with Finck and lead game designer Clay Westing on hand.
The Set Up for SLEEP AWAKE
While the Steam demo for SLEEP AWAKE starts near the beginning, with protagonist Katja making an infusion to help stay awake, the section for this preview takes place a bit later. Chapter 4 opens with Katja on route to deliver a fresh infusion to Amma, a loved one. But she faces a few problems. “Tectonic movement changes her route; she has to find a new way,” Finck tells me.
Katja is also in enemy territory. Finck provides a bit of the background. One character we’ll hear about is Xavier, once a leading mind at the Somnological Institute, a center for sleep study. He now leads the Delta Transport Ministry, or DTM, one of many cults vying for power in Katja’s city. And Katja is right in their path. The mission for this chapter? “Evade the DTM, get to the other side, deliver the infusion to Amma.”
Staying out of Sight in SLEEP AWAKE
As such, the preview kicks off with a stealth section. Immediately this is different from the previous demo, which teases stealth at the very end but mostly involves exploring and gathering information. The stealth in SLEEP AWAKE proves intuitive. Hiding under a table conceals you, unless an enemy sees you go under it. Once you hide, a little eye icon with a strike through it confirms your concealment.
I make my way through the DTM base, watching enemy patrols and timing my cover-to-cover movements just right. There are no waypoints tell me where to go, but I can infer based on the environmental design. I drop from one floor to another. At one point I find a door that needs a keycard, located in an adjacent room concealed by a cabinet I can push.
Continuing to drop down, I reach the ground—and more guards. There aren’t any tables here but there are various structures for me to crouch behind as I attempt to outmaneuver my foes. The stealth here proves slightly more challenging, and I get caught. But I’m glad I do.
Getting caught leads to a game over, but not a traditional game over screen. Instead the screen churns and swirls, placing me somewhere dark with a light at the end of the tunnel. Walking towards it materializes me back into the game, just before the spot where I bit it. Westing is particularly proud of this as it creates a seamless path back into playing—no waiting for the game to load.
This time around I sneak past the guards, who seem oddly distracted by one place where they briefly spot me. I don’t know if this is a feature or a bug, but I take advantage regardless. I book it to my next destination—a dilapidated theater.
Picking Up the Pieces
There are no enemies in the theater, but I’ll have to solve some puzzles to get through. Finck explains how the theater became abandoned. It previously housed treatments that would stave off sleep—but people became immune. I learn more about this myself as I investigate behind the front desk. The phone rings. A woman on the other ends begs for an appointment. But I, uh, don’t actually work here.
I keep moving and almost succumb to sleep, which creates a trippy section of various shelves in the old treatment room shuttering rapidly. I locate a few buttons to stabilize this and make my way out. I’ll confess, I’m not sure if the buttons had to be pressed in a certain sequence or if I just kept pressing them until I got to leave. Some sections in SLEEP AWAKE feel like proper puzzles while others involve doing an activity until you can progress.
Escaping the theater, I make my way to an apartment building—the home of Amma. Katja’s electrical defenses have worked; I find a fried DTM soldier by them. But they perhaps worked too well. I’m able to get past the defenses by timing my movements, but Katja can’t get past the still-electrified body. I’ll have to disable the electrical panel.
Making my way through the apartment building by crossing creaky boards and pushing over appliances, I find the panel and disable it. Now, time to get to Amma’s apartment. The ladder falls over so I’ll have to manually release the counterweight on the elevator.
Unfortunately I don’t realize the elevator is above me so it crushes me in the process. But I get back into the game through that revival tunnel, smooth as butter. This time I step out of the way in time and take the lift up.
A Pleasant Dream at Last
I find Amma and give her the infusion. And I find myself transported out of the grimy city and into a lush paradise of trees with pink petals. Coming from a dark and dreary atmosphere with the occasional neon sign, this place really pops with its bright colors and stunning nature.
Finck informs me that this is The Fathom, “a space between sleep and death.” It’s unique each time Katja goes through but “always vibrant.”
Westing adds that these “moments of bliss” were really important to the team, to break up the dour atmosphere. But also to surprise players. You’ll be “having a moment where you’re expecting a jumpscare but instead you find a moment of bliss.”
Dreaming Up SLEEP AWAKE
After finishing the demo, I speak with Robin Finck who tells me a bit about the vision he and co-director Cory Davis have for the game, as well as Clay Westing who informs me about the design and the mechanics. I’m particularly curious about the research they did into dreams, especially after playing the first demo, which highlights the trippy dream segments. Why dreams?
“Cory and I discussed dreams early on. We discussed, ‘Where do we go when we sleep and why is it different from death? And how might it be similar?” Finck explains. “This thing is fueled by our dreams.” Finck and Davis spent a lot of time researching sleep deprivation studies, especially the effects of staying awake “days and days on end.”
Lynchian Influences
While playing the eerie yet beautiful game, I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite shows, Twin Peaks. So I had to ask Finck about that influence. For context, Nine Inch Nails performed in an episode of the show, with Finck on guitar. And not just any episode, but episode eight of Twin Peaks: The Return, one of the most outlandish and well-received. The FMV sequences in SLEEP AWAKE reminded me of the visuals of that episode in particular.
“What an episode!” Finck gushes. When he performed for the show he didn’t know which episode would feature NIN, so as a big fan of Twin Peaks and David Lynch he was thrilled. Is there an influence? “Deeply influenced by David Lynch and Twin Peaks,” he nods.
Finck compares SLEEP AWAKE to Twin Peaks developmentally as well as aesthetically. He thinks about the creation of experimental works like these. It’s “letting go of contrived formula and really allowing a purely intuitive experience to emerge. It’s a dangerous space to sit in. But I do find strength in knowing that others have been so successful in that they’ve provided great joy,” Finck explains. “That’s the magic. The unknown force that emerges when we’re able to become honest and truly open.”
“Any idea could come from any team member, an artist for a gameplay moment [for example],” Clay adds. In developing the game, the team took an “improvisational” approach to building the world of SLEEP AWAKE.
Scares, Sights, and Sounds
Finck stresses that it was important for the team to balance horror with vibrant aspects of SLEEP AWAKE as well. “Vibrant by way of color, tone of the narrative, and music.” The team wanted to make sure “the feeling for the player is not merely one of a cyclical dread loop.” The player should “also propel into bliss, before unease, before starting again.”
While this given preview didn’t have many of the eerie FMV sequences I saw in the Steam demo, these will also be a big part of the full game. Finck is “very excited about the FMV.” And SLEEP AWAKE won’t just have these snippets but also moments in which FMV will integrate with the environment and gameplay in surprising ways. “Sometimes you’ll have to look twice, think twice.”
And, of course, I would be remiss to not mention the music, courtesy of Finck himself. “I’ll be releasing the soundtrack,” Finck assures me.
SLEEP AWAKE Preview Impressions
As for my own impressions, the Steam demo had intrigued me but this preview gave me a much better sense of SLEEP AWAKE. After I played the first demo, I expected more of a dark narrative game with some light exploration. Not that that’s a bad thing. The FMV scenes drew me into the world. I just didn’t get a sense of heavy gameplay or variety, with the stealth at the end merely hinting it.
But with this preview, the gameplay, mechanics, and tonal shifts came to the forefront. I appreciate Finck and Westing stressing the balance between gloom and vibrancy. SLEEP AWAKE hasn’t shown much in the way of major scares just yet, but the vibrancy of The Fathom was a big surprise. I trust there may be more of them in store in the full game.
SLEEP AWAKE will arrive in the near future for PlayStation 5 and PC. In the meantime, you can check out the Steam demo and wishlist the game here.
