Sleep Awakeis a collaboration between EYES OUT and horror titanBlumhouse, creating a haunting new world from the minds ofSpec-Ops: The LineCreative Director Cory Davis and Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck. In the Crush, the last city on Earth after an unseen apocalypse, the remnants of humanity must never sleep. Otherwise, they risk exposing themselves to a dark being known as the Hush that drags them out of reality. Players step into the role of Katja, a desperate young woman who is struggling to keep herself awake while seeing visions of a different world.
It’s a purposefully trippy and unsettling game, grounded by a compelling narrative that only grows creepier and more beautiful with each passing escape or exploration. It’s also the first of manyBlumhouse horror gamesI’m excited to dive into. Screen Rant attended a hands-on demo ofSleep Awakeand sat down for a conversation with Cory Davis, which reflected the inspirations behind the game,the future of EYES OUT, and finding the “razor’s edge” between story and immersion.
Sleep Awake’s Terrifying World And Ethereal Visuals Will Keep You Up At Night
“We Pushed The Boundaries A Lot.”
One of the key elements ofSleep Awake’s unsettling horror is the visual approach that aims to be both mesmerizing and horrifying. InSleep Awake, players make their way through a post-apocalyptic setting, avoiding the physical threats of the Crush and whatever unknown monsters are moving in the unwaking world. The result is a grimy and gritty main setting that occasionally gives way to flashes of disturbing imagery and a trip into a mysterious space that is strangely ethereal.
In the demo presented to the press, players are primarily tasked with solving puzzles, sneaking past threats, or escaping enemies. In purely functional terms, it operates like any number of well-constructed horror stealth games.What makesSleep Awakeso impactful is the atmosphere and tenor of the game. There’s a palpable sense of dread and mystique built into the execution ofSleep Awake, creating a world that’s nerve-wracking to explore but hard to turn away from.
This kind of story-heavy approach to horror has been a dream project for Davis, who revealed that he’s “been seeking a new take on horror that’s just not in [gaming].” While Davis cited reference points like the films of director Panos Cosmatos and games likeOutlastas influences, he also noted that “our focus is on that vibrant experience of horror. That is a little bit rare. It’s a new kind of wave, I hope, for the horror genre in general. We pushed the boundaries a lot.”
Drawing in filmmakers, video game designers, and musicians,Davis and Robin Finck found themselves with the perfect team to construct a haunting world, which built off of their introspective conversations. “We got talking about sleep. Where do we go? What does a nightmare mean? Why do we have it? Why does death seem to be so close to sleep? Is there some connection there?“Our team came in and pushed a lot of our ideas even further than we could imagine. It’s been a great experience to go on the trip together and see where we ended up.”
Going Down The Rabbit Hole Of Sleep Awake’s Crush
“You Want To Be Fully Immersed.”
At the heart ofSleep Awakeis the Hush, a mysterious entity that has been increasingly spreading throughout the world. When people fall asleep, they become vulnerable to the invisible reach of the entity. As players explore the world, they discover evidence of the Hush’s touch — holes in reality in the shape of the sleeping victims caught by whatever the Hush is.Much of the game’s natural tension stems from Katja’s efforts to stay alive and awake, as visions of other worlds and unexplained horrors seep in.
It was crucial for Davis that players understood the full extent of the danger surrounding them, even beyond the Hush. “Katja is terrified to fall asleep, and when she does, she starts to meet this woman named Het in this place called the Fathom. But she also encounters the Sadists of the Hush.” The threats get even more imposing, with Davis teasing how “you may have heard chains and seen hooks around. When people fall asleep and they get taken by the Hush, it’s an ancient ethereal being that comes and takes them away with hooks and chains.
That all sounds very foreboding on paper, and in practice, can be absolutely terrifying. As Katja, players explore a ruined city landscape, populated by ruthless officers and dangerous sadists who believe they’ve figured it all out. As players explore the world and discover more about Katja’s past, her losses, and her future, they find themselves absorbed into a darkly compelling title unlike any other. “Little by little, you’re going down the rabbit hole. You find out where the Hush come from and how they pierce through into this reality…You got a little taste here, but there’s so much more.”
One of the most interesting challenges Davis and his team faced withSleep Awakewas inherent to the game’s design.Sleep Awakeis a first-person horror game, putting players into the role of Katja and showing the world through her eyes. This has the benefit of fully immersing players into her horror and wonder at the terrifying and mysterious settings she explores. In other games, this first-person perspective can be too effective, however. The cost of that immersion can be the main character, who risks becoming a cipher, someone players step into instead of embodying.
Sleep Awakeavoids that by making Katja a clear character, grappling with grief and dealing with her desperation to escape the Hush, the authorities, and anything else waiting around the corner for her. Finding that balance between a compelling lead character and an immersive experience is a “razor’s edge that we walk every day,” Davis explained, comparing it to a “dream or a hallucination of your own.” Katja’s story is presented as your own, telling a clear arc while keeping players just close enough to see the world through her eyes.
Reflecting on the challenge of making an immersive story that nevertheless retains a clear characterization, Davis noted that “You want to be fully immersed. You want to be able to let go, and you want to have things that pull you out of that reality that you’ve created for yourself. Finding the right amount of dialogue that should be in the game, finding ways to work Katja’s inner thoughts into the game, not just to show things but hint at them. We wanted to hear things more often than show them.”
“A lot of the characters that were building this depth in the narrative, there are things about her father and her brother and this other character that she’s taken care of, there’s this character of Het that becomes important. But little by little, as Katja goes down the rabbit hole, she loses grip on her day-to-day routine because the danger of the Hush gets worse and worse.” Ultimately, for Davis, the real challenge was “creating a character that we feel like you can project yourself into.”
“It’s always a challenge, and we’re always listening to dialogue and tuning it. We have to be really careful with that.It’s all about finding that balance.“Sleep Awake’s broken buildings and shattered streets lend a natural sense of urgency and tension to the real-life exploration and puzzle-solving, but the moments of strange beauty and horror caused by Katja’s physical and mental strain provide the game with some stunning imagery.
Sleep Awake Is A True Medley Of Gaming, Music, And Horror
“It Should Trigger Something Deeper Inside You.”
Sleep Awakeis a game where the sound design and musicality is crucial to the experience, where the visuals are haunting and the tension is palpable, and the world feels like it’s going to turn on you at every corner. Finding that overarching tenor was crucial to the early development ofSleep Awake, Davis explained. “It’s hard to describe in marketing terms, to be honest — it’s a feeling and a tone. We started [EYES OUT] in the desert in Joshua Tree,setting a tone for where we would go creatively on this projectand on all of our future projects.”
“We have a lot of musicians on the team —Robin is leading the composition on this project, but he’s also super collaborative. I think some of our programmers are deep into electronic music, and there’s been a lot of back and forth. It’s been a lot of utilizing music to feel the space before it’s built, before a character really exists in its final rendition. With all this beautiful technology, we can create this rough version of that space.”
Sleep Awakeleaves a haunting impression that I can’t wait to return to.
“[We can see if] it sounds the way that it should.It should trigger something deeper inside you. That’s what led us down the yellow brick road all the way here. It’s that feeling of tone. Get rid of that noise of traditional game development a little bit. We go out in nature and we attempt to feel something. That’s the thing we’re trying to put in your hands.Looking back at the biggest surprises ofSleep Awakeand to the future of EYES OUT, Davis revealed how the narrative depth of the horror genre became an unexpected thrill.
“I’ve always wanted to create a place that we could come back to again and again. Right here, we experienced a day in the life of this individual, but this is a city full of the last known remnants of humanity. This is the first chapter of several that we intend to return to. Katja, her family, and this place that exists between sleep and death… there’s an arc for Katja, but the world goes far beyond her.”
Based on what I got to see of the game,the mysterious hooks and eerie visuals ofSleep Awakeleave a haunting impressionthat I can’t wait to return to. It’s a sentiment shared by Davis, who hinted that “The more we learn about the place, about the Fathom and how it is connected to the Hush… we wanted to leave the audience with some questions. We’re really excited for people to experience that in the game, but also to see a world that calls for more. We hope you take [Sleep Awake] into your own dreams.”
