Horror game from the perspective of a 2 year old.

[museofdoom]

Recently my friends informed me of this horror game that's in development called Among the Sleep. It's a first person horror game that has you playing as a toddler.

To see the teaser and other info go here: http://www.krillbite.com/ats/

Personally I think this concept is really interesting and has potential to make for a rather brilliant game. As a fan of horror games, I'm super excited for this.

Although I'm worried that it will end up being something that sounds like an amazing concept but falls flat when it comes to actually applying it to the game. With only a teaser trailer and very limited information it's too soon to really form any opinions on quality.

Also I think this game has a lot of potential to spawn controversy. A lot of people flinch at "horror" and "child" being anywhere near each other. I can already hear cries of "child endangerment". But even though controversy is annoying it can be amusing as well.

Anyways, thoughts anyone?

 

[Cazza]

That looks interesting. I can't it it being a long game. I can't see your average house to be scary for every long. I don't see any controversy about this game happening. It's not like anyone will go "Hey lets leave our kid alone at night to scare them like in the game." If anything young parents would play/see the game and check on their kid.

 

[Strelok]

I have been excited for this one as well, top of my most anticipated of 2013 list, along with Everybody's Gone to The Rapture, the follow-up game from The Chineseroom, supposed to be an open world game, takes place 60 minutes before the end of the world. Is it just me, or does it seem the indie games world is producing more interesting games than big budget AAA clone factories these days?

As for Among The Sleep, I am hoping for Amnesia: The Dark Decent, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of The Earth level scares. Day one buy for me anyway.

 

[Zhukov]

Saw this earlier in the year.

Still think it looks pretty damn cool.

Also, still think that 2 year old has balls of steel.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Damn, I was hoping this thread would be news that the game had finally come out. I saw the trailer for it a while back and have been eagerly looking forward to it, looks very intriguing.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I have been excited for this one as well, top of my most anticipated of 2013 list, along with Everybody's Gone to The Rapture, the follow-up game from The Chineseroom, supposed to be an open world game, takes place 60 minutes before the end of the world. Is it just me, or does it seem the indie games world is producing more interesting games than big budget AAA clone factories these days?

It's because 'interactive experiences' don't sell as well as AAA titles and franchises.
What sells has very little to do with being interesting.

 

[museofdoom]

That looks interesting. I can't it it being a long game. I can't see your average house to be scary for every long. I don't see any controversy about this game happening. It's not like anyone will go "Hey lets leave our kid alone at night to scare them like in the game." If anything young parents would play/see the game and check on their kid.

Yeah I suppose that's true.

I'm kind of curious to see how a game over happens though, like will the toddler actually die, or will there be a sanity bar that can't drop below a certain point, or what. That will be kind of interesting to see. If the kid dies, people may flip out a little. But maybe not since maybe mainstream media won't get a hold of it and twist it into a sadism simulator or say it causes child abuse.

Controversy or not I'm still super excited about this game.

 

[museofdoom]

Snip!

Some interesting points! I agree that they really need to do well with putting the player in a child's shoes rather than just basically putting an adult mind in a child's body.

I also really like the idea of having the parents near by but having the world become more twisted as you venture further from them. That would be really cool!

I agree that there are a lot of ways this game could potentially go wrong. But I'm really hoping it ends up being really good because it has so much potential to be brilliant too.

 

[Fractral]

The link seems to be broken.
This looks... interesting, although I would imagine there would be some issues playing as a small child, such as not being able to move fast, being small, and pooing yourself every 5 minutes. Or is the child toilet trained?

 

[museofdoom]

The link seems to be broken.
This looks... interesting, although I would imagine there would be some issues playing as a small child, such as not being able to move fast, being small, and pooing yourself every 5 minutes. Or is the child toilet trained?

The link is working fine for me, so Idk.

I think being slow, clumsy and small will add to the whole defenseless aspect and make it scarier. I'm not sure what age children are potty trained. Haha maybe potty training will be part of the game xD

 

[The Funslinger]

Saw this earlier in the year.

Still think it looks pretty damn cool.

Also, still think that 2 year old has balls of steel.

I agree on all counts.

Surely the character model for this baby is wearing blacked out sunglasses, smoking a cigar, and wearing feety pyjamas that say 'Deal With It' on the front.

 

[lechat]

the only place children have in horror is if they are a young british school girl and will fuck your shit up

 

[josemlopes]

That gameplay looks awesome, really digging the amount of details in the character control to make the player feel like an innofensive child (the little hands, the small height, the head bobbing, the animations of going "prone" and climbing objects). Thats really what immersion is all about and this games seems to get it.

 

[War Penguin]

So it's pretty much Amnesia: The Dark Descent meets Rugrats? Sold!

In all seriousness, I remember seeing this a while back and I was intrigued by the concept. But like [user]Katatori-kun[/user] said, it seemed like it would have some challenges to overcome in development and design. It's hard to really capture the fear of a child. Sure, you can have little hands and feet as well as a bit of a head wobble, but that'd only get you so far.

HOWEVER! From seeing the screenshots and looking at the particular artwork from the site, it looks like there's going to be more to this game than horror. Hell, not once on the site is the word "horror" even mentioned! Truth be told? That actually makes me even more hopeful, because there was more to being a child than fear! If anything, there was a greater sense of wonderment and the unknown, while scary, was also very humbling and rather mystifying. You only had the vaguest idea of what the world was like and you were both curious and frightened of what else was out there. And from what I could tell from one of the screenshots, as well as the art work, it looks like it's going to convey that!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to figure out how to make a Rugrats mod for Amnesia. That shit just needs to be done!

 

[The_Echo]

Hm. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Part of me feels like the toddler aspect is only cosmetic and will have very little bearing on the actual game. Almost gimmicky in a way.

I will keep an eye out for this, though. See how it turns out.

 

[Squilookle]

So it's yet another horror game involving small children.

Give me a freaking break. Having the toddler as the player character is different, sure, but it also breaks immersion instantly. Toddlers don't leave their cots in the middle of a thunderstorm at night and head towards creepy sounds. They shit themselves then cry in fear.

That said, the sound design in the video was freaking outstanding.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I don't know... from what I saw in the trailer there is a lot of adult perspective happening with the toddler eye view being largely mechanical. It seems more like what adults think children are or would be afraid of rather than what children actually see the world as and what might or might not scare them.

We teach what to fear and why to fear it - most of it anyway, it doesn't all come encoded on the DNA evolution skill set package. A little kid, for instance, is not afraid of something like a spider or a mouse until they learn to be afraid of a spider or a mouse (usually from parents, sometimes other kids, movies, wherever - or they get bit and have a personal experience that puts negative associations into play) - they are more curious about it than afraid of it until then. Same thing with the dark - why are all kids afraid of the dark? Well because we teach them to be, because we were and we assume they will be and therefore we teach them that they should be. It's a good thing to be afraid of, the unknown could be there lurking, but the fact remains we teach the behavior.

How much of that a two year old has learned would have a big impact on how a "survival horror" game from toddler POV can deliver authentically. I'm also wondering where the "throw yourself on the ground and scream and cry and pound until mommy or daddy or some other adult comes to save you" game mechanic will work in. If there isn't one... I call BS. Just saying.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Link is broken for me. Is it just a game based on the perspective of a 2 year old (and therefore just filled with distortions of existing objects), or you just control the 2 year old and it's a basic horror game filled with real monsters?

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Ooh, spooky.
I have high-hopes for this one.
It kind of made me think of Limbo in the sense that I want to protect this innocent child from harm, you know what I mean?

Give me a freaking break. Having the toddler as the player character is different, sure, but it also breaks immersion instantly. Toddlers don't leave their cots in the middle of a thunderstorm at night and head towards creepy sounds. They shit themselves then cry in fear.

Yeah, I thought that was a little weird.
I was watching the video thinking "Man, that is one tough baby."