~ As we close our eyes... theirs open ~
Background and Origins
Created by Scriptwelder a Polish developer (now that's a country that makes good games) it seems that the first game in the series Deep Sleep was made for a competition, go ahead Wikipedia:
Deep Sleep is a series of point-and-click adventure games, created by Polish indie developer Scriptwelder. (...) The first game, Deep Sleep, was designed for and won first place in the 2012 Jay Is Games Casual Gameplay Design Competition.
Now that competition seems to have the theme of "Escape!" you know your typical Escape room game, where you have to go and escape from a place, a room, or a world, of course if it doesn't have a good twist about it you can throw that game to the pile of copy games with different puzzles. You can still access the website where the competition took place right here.
So, what's the series about? As you read before it's an escape room game, point-and-click style, of a journalist who enters a lucid dream for research but some .... visitors won't let him out, i just love the description that the game has in the Jay is Games website, dark and mysterious:
You are stuck inside a nightmare dream. Something lurks in the darkness... Something in the depths of your own mind wants to pull you even deeper. Someone will escape this dream for sure. The question is - who is that going to be?
Now I encourage you to go in and see how the story unfolds, let's speak about my four points, I'll do this with all my reviews since my scoring of games is a little different so let's see; mild spoilers ahead of course:
Character and World Design
So, Scriptwelder has a very unique pixel artstyle for their games, it has like a layer of dust or distortion on top of it, you can see it in any room of the game, but the pretty good thing is how the dream world is, by the end of the first game you really see how dreamlike all of it is.
Now the only complaint I might have is that the design for the "Shadow People" the enemy of the game is simple, perhaps too simple, I know there is not much to do with Shadow People other than ... a shadow but I've seen horrific images of Shadow People on the Web, although with that said the whole game has a minimalist style so i give it a pass, plus there is a part where it really puts that design in good use.
Ps: this is not the part
Music and Ambiance
So first the music is there I guess, don't get me wrong is not bad music, is just nothing outstanding at least it didn't make me mute the game and works great for the game so that's always a plus for me, but the ambiance that this games have it's amazing as i said the music works with the game and the sense of dread and loneliness the game creates is amazing, so I recommend you play it with headphones.
Now you can still find the Soundtrack for the games, listen in the dark for mayor pleasure. 😉
Gameplay
So, this is a simple one, the games are point-and-click so the gameplay is either it works normally or it's a buggy mess, and it's not the latter so it got the point.
Also there are not numerous puzzles, your typical "Combine this with that and use it on that" and some other more complicated ones but nothing too out of your mind and impossible to achieve.
Story
And we come to the important stuff, the story is great, end of the story credits roll
Ok Ok, the Story of this game is a little convoluted, at first is your usual "escape from the monster" but then it becomes a little more deep, as our main character sleep deeper into his mind things become more real and dangerous, but the most impactful things for me were: one, the higher the stakes got with each game, and two, the ending conundrum, by the second game I figured how it was going to end but it surprised me with a ... choice at the very end.
Now, I can't go on without spoiling some stuff, so you should go and experience the simple but great story, it's a great way to spend a little time.
Final thoughts and Scoring
This games were in my honest opinion a really good treat, I always go on a rampage when I find good games, I beat all 3 games in less than a day when I found them in my little heaven of Kongregate, they gave me chills and a blast I really recommend it.
So for the scoring, out of 10 my scoring will go always like:
- 1 Point in World and Character Design
- 2 Points in Music an Ambiance
- 2 Points in Gameplay
- 5 Points in Story
Why this? I think a game is not good because is in 4K with ultra good graphics or it has the best soundtrack, if it doesn't have a good story (of course I rule out those game without story ... like minesweeper) then is going to be meh at best.
So what score does the Deep Sleep Trilogy has? for me is an 8/10 a blast, on detail 1/2/2/3 points, really really good and minimalist game.
Now, you must be asking, But Jorge where can i play these games? I don't know maybe try Google, but really in 2019 the developers got all 3 games in one on steam and It's been there for a while for 4.99$ here. If you like them the steam version is a great way of supporting the developers so they can make more games, but we can end with a last question.
Where is Scriptwelder now?
The last game they made was Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive which I haven't played (poverty and all that) but the Don't escape series is another one worth talking about, I might do it later, besides that i don't see any work in developing a new game, but I hope they are working hard right now.
That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed yourself with this review and are eager to play the game, Have a good day Hive and see you next time. Jorge signing out
Fuentes:
The Steam page
Scriptwelder's Blog
CGDC 10: Escape!