Blumhouse first-person horror game is a Silent Hill dystopia where nobody sleeps, and you need to stealth around like it's Alien: Isolation – which I might be better at if I weren't so scared

A screenshot shows a woman wearing a dress concealed by shadow.

Of course it's raining on my way to play Sleep Awake, the upcoming first-person horror game from Spec Ops: The Line designer Cory Davis and Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck at their new studio Eyes Out. Set to be published by scary movie sanctuary Blumhouse, Sleep Awake offers the kind of subtle psychological horror that's only accentuated by something like the irregular tapping of raindrops.

When I first previewed the game at the Tribeca Festival 2025 – the demo I saw then is now available to download on Steam – I was particularly unsettled by the bleary FMV sequences Sleep Awake uses to explain its world where no one can sleep, unless they want to get sick with something worse than Freddy Krueger. But the new gameplay I experience on this gray day in New York teaches me Sleep Awake's intimidating visuals are only rivaled by its heart-pounding action.