"What if you could never sleep again?" is the terrifying question asked by Sleep Awake. In this stealth horror game a mysterious calamity called The Hush has arrived, and now no one can even enjoy a nice little nap without something horrible happening to them. It's a great horror premise, A Nightmare on Every Street, and one that makes me want to down a strong cup of coffee just thinking about it.
But I think developer Eyes Out might want to lay off the coffee themselves, as Sleep Awake is relentless at throwing things at you in its opening hour alone. Weird visuals, live action interludes, too many proper nouns, dense world-building, and seemingly every horrific image the studio can think of. Work your way through all that and the game glueing it all together is actually a lot more conservative than its surreal aesthetic lets on.
