The Deep Sleep Trilogy from scriptwelder and Armor Games Studios is a
series of three "lo-fi" 1st person point-and-click horror
adventure games, previously released individually, and now re-released
on Steam as one package.
All three games are part of a single story, and you play them one by
one in sequential order starting with Deep Sleep, following up with
Deeper Sleep, and finally finishing with The Deepest Sleep.
The story is simple enough: you have entered a lucid dream world - a
dream world in which you know you're dreaming - and you're trapped
there, feverishly exploring around for a way out; a way to wake up. But
you're not alone. Sinister dark beings haunt your every step, and later…
even more vile creatures block your way, and devour you if you're not
careful, quick, or quiet enough. That's about it for the story. And the
character you play. It's not going to blow your mind, and it's not going
to reveal anything significant to you about life, the universe, or even…
dreams. But, I don't think that's really the point here. The point was
to create a series of very short creepy adventure puzzle games in that
now ever so popular retro low-res style. And in that, the games succeed
admirably.
The best thing going for the three games is the creep factor. For
such simplistic games, they are surprisingly effective at creeping you
out. I was genuinely on edge at certain points. And I did jump at
certain other points. So yes, there are a few jump scares, but they're
not in your face at all, and they don't feel cheap. They worked
perfectly well, and were nicely spaced out so as not to become
irritating or boring.
Puzzle wise, the games are your typical inventory puzzle fare. Pick
up an item, find the place to use it, get access to a new area, find
another item, go back to another place, use the item, find a little
note, find something else, go back, open the door, go into a new room,
open the valve, do something with the flowing water, get another key,
open another door, and… OMG WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING COMING AT
ME?!?! Back out, back out, back out, HIDE! So, basically, what I'm
saying is, the puzzles shouldn't trouble a seasoned adventurer in any
way. And actually, there are a couple of more traditional puzzle
puzzles, such as getting the aforementioned water flowing by getting all
of some lights to light up together; some simple code puzzles; and quite
a cool little section where you have to move the cursor really slowly so
as not to alert the big bad monsters. I liked that one. There's a
helpful bar across the screen that fills up and becomes redder and
redder the faster you move the cursor. And what happens if you just
can't be patient enough? Well, I'll let your imagination fill in the
rest.
Graphically the game looks really nice. I like the lo-fi style if
it's done well, and here it is done well, so no problems there.
Everything looks sufficiently dank and moody, and the use of a
flashlight keeps the tension meter at just the right level. Sound is
nice as well. Creepy noises in the dark. A creepy voice on the phone.
Drips and blobs here and there. Some scratching I think at one point.
Let's put it this way: if I was in this place, the sounds would be
making me wanna use the one bathroom that appears in game 3.
So, in conclusion, this is a really neat trilogy of games. The whole
thing took me less than 2 hours to complete, which might make it just a
tad expensive at the current standard price, but overall, I was more
than satisfied, and I definitely am interested in whatever else the
developers do. If you don't want anything too challenging, don't mind a
little scare or three, and have a couple of hours to kill, I'd suggest
giving it a go, without any hesitation.
