Review: Silence of the Sleep

Earlier this year, I spent some hands-on time with Silence of the Sleep, a moody 2D psychological horror adventure. Before I even started playing the game, I was definitely impressed by the game’s unique visual and audio style. In playing the press demo, I was won over by the game’s puzzles and overall atmosphere and now the release is finally upon us!

Silence of the Sleep starts with a man throwing himself off of a cliff. Normally that would be the end of the story, but for Jacob Reeves, it’s only the beginning. When he wakes up after his fall, he has no recollection of his life before – no memories of who he was, what caused him to want to end his life, or even if he is dead at all. The rest of the game is the journey to finding out what happened, and finding out how to escape the hell he’s woken up to. It’s a dark and disturbing trip, and if you’re a fan of horror games, it’s definitely one worth taking.

Developer Jesse Makkonen stated on the game’s Steam page that Silence of the Sleep is a one man game. One person, responsible for the coding, animation, graphics, music, everything. That fact alone is worth mentioning, because even if they aren’t bleeding edge realistic, they’re all pretty awesome. Add in that this is Makkonen’s debut title and you’ll see why Silence of the Sleep is so impressive. Many modern indie 2D horror games distinguish themselves with unique styles, and this is no exception. All characters and enemies are represented as silhouettes across a largely dark background. Light and darkness are important in Silence of the Sleep‘s visuals, often coming into play when hiding from enemies. Blood (and oh yes, there is blood) stands out exceptionally well among the rather bleak backdrop, and enemies that linger in the darkness become all the more mysterious and terrifying. The whole thing is unsettling and … oddly beautiful.

The overall power of the audio really, really cannot be understated here. It’s largely instrumental, setting it apart from much of the crowd, but it doesn’t shy away from using technical effects. Playing through the game, the audio alone really lent the game this disquieting feeling. Even in the lighter chapters, where you’re in a swanky motel or a therapist’s office, the music really tries to put you at ease. Of course this isn’t my first rodeo, and any time the game is trying to make me relax, I do the exact opposite. Combined with the dark, moody visuals, Silence of the Sleep contains one of the most disturbing in-game segments I’ve ever experienced. Blood spilling out of the walls, people screaming, babies crying and squealing, and all I could do was keep walking forward, into darkness.

There’s no combat in Silence of the Sleep, but that’s not to say that there aren’t enemies. They are veiled in darkness, themselves just silhouettes too, and they patrol the hallways of certain areas. For each chapter, there’s a different enemy, some twisted and grotesque thing ready to kill you the moment it lays eyes on you. Each of them have a unique design – one of which resembled what could have been a certain noodled deity. A certain, vengeful noodled deity that tore off my head at every opportunity.

The gameplay consists of exploration, solving puzzles, and trying to stay out of these enemies’ lines of sight. Silence of the Sleep doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to solving puzzles, and while this is a refreshing change of pace for a genre whose puzzles largely consist of take this – put it there, there could have been a little bit more instruction as to some of the puzzles. There’s a pad of paper and a pen beside my keyboard so I could solve some of these puzzles, with tons (tons) of possible solutions crossed off and angry doodles in the margins. The puzzles vary in type as well, ranging from doing things like tuning a guitar and playing notes on a piano, to coaxing a bunny out from under a bed, and picking what must be the toughest cabinet lock ever.

Story-wise, Silence of the Sleep is one of those games that makes you want to keep exploring. To keep prodding further and further into the mystery, all night and hours into the morning. It is surprisingly heady, with a few twists and turns to take you through. Where is Jacob? What’s happened to him? Will he ever get back? Who are all of these other people? You meet up with a mysterious entity known only as The Bartender, who insists that he’s your only friend in this whole ordeal, yet simultaneously convinces you that he has the power to make you do something horrible. It reminds me an awful lot of The Shining, even if it’s only because of the bright red tie he wears.

Unfortunately, there are some things about Silence of the Sleep that prevent it from being perfect in addition to the lack of guidance when it comes to puzzles. Some of the human animation could use a little refining, particularly when it comes to things such as eating (which happens more than you might think, actually). However the most frustrating thing about the game is its control scheme. Navigating the levels at times turns into a bit of a clumsy affair, especially when there are enemies about. Jacob cannot run very fast, or very far, and tighter controls scheme would have been a benefit here. When it comes right down to it though, these aren’t huge gripes. It’s not as if seeing someone look like they’re hugging themselves instead of eating just completely breaks the immersion, and you do eventually get used to turning all the way around when you want to go from one side of the hall’s door to the other’s door.

If you’re looking for something unique out of the near endless stream of indie horror titles that kind of sort of look like something else, you should definitely give Silence of the Sleep a shot. The game releases October 1, 2014 for Steam. Unfortunately, no price has been listed as of yet on the store page, so you’ll have to stay close til the release. Until then, why don’t you head over to the game’s Facebook and web page and check it out?