Sleep Paralysis: The Uncanny Valley

[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #207 [/url]<-- [i]New review every week[/i][/code] [h1]"DOING THE UNSPEAKABLE & UNTHINKABLE-!!"[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898983879 [u] Here's The Thing:[/u] You are Thomas Chan, an average joe happily married to Zoey, who's away vacationing for reasons open to interpretation. During her absence, you develop enormous discomfort and misery. Your whole body immobilized and your eyes dart to movement in the corner. Like a waking dream, yet you’re 100% conscious as sinister beings approach your bed. What happens from there rests on you~ [h1]! DISCLAIMER ![/h1] Let it be known that I was heavily involved when in comes to the proofreading, playtesting and feedbacking of the game, in the months leading to its release! However, I’m more than capable of reviewing it fairly, and I hope you'll be able to tell as much~ [h1][u][+] PROS;[/u][/h1] [h1]:) THAT DOZE IT! NOW I’M WOKE~[/h1] Gameplay is straight up your routine horror walking simulator where you get a flashlight, interact with a few things, locate keys, and pretty much get through the ordeal that may or may not leave you tossing and turning. Recent examples that bear this same formula include [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1705930/]Born Into Fear[/url], [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1831870/] The Hotel,[/url] and [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1714920/] Charon’s Staircase[/url]! However, two exceptional characteristics to Sleep Paralysis (SP) have it stand out from its peers. Firstly, the limelight never strays away from the well-meaning story it conveys through narrations, recollections, and notes. So much so that the scares almost feel secondary… Secondly, its emphasis on choice, and of making the [i]right[/i] call, yet it doesn’t come off that way? Instead, each feel like they do nothing but they contribute and correspond to the end you’ll arrive at! For instance, passing out when you’re exposed to too many stressors or making do with 1 light source! Unless I’m mid-REM, in which case please pinch me, I would say that SP has about 2.5 hours’ worth of playtime with two outcomes. Both can be quickly attained too, thanks to the flexible save system. But I found that playing it from scratch a second time gave me insights and I noticed an immaculate amount of details that I hadn’t the first time around~ [h1]:) TO SLEEP INTO SOMETHING NICER?[/h1] Brushing aside the fact that the assets were store-bought, if not we’d be at this all day… And just focus on how imaginatively utilized everything was! The independent levels didn’t appear as such, as each had a mini arc to shed light on with some overlapping fragments.. of what? You tell me! There’s the dingy warehouse with many sets of eyes from a movie that Thomas watched; the butt sore of a plane ride with its bumpiness and dipping brightness, which changed his outlook on life; a dungeon with “subjugation” written all over its brick walls and pockets of darkness, and then some more I’m not gonna spoil. Point is, each area stood for something decisive! I envied Thomas’ home, which acted as the anchor point and place of solace, when conscious anyway… Not much to elaborate on the scoring, for it sounded like standard filler music which was arranged to PS’ advantage. Selected tracks mainly oscillated between three contrasting but supplementing moods, namely the untroubled calming lullaby. Then the unnervingly mysterious and relaxing or as I like to call it “research phase” music sets in! Before finally, a full-on ominous ensemble filled with strings and hisses encroaching the foot of your bed~ [h1]:) WHEN THE THREAT COUNTS ARE OF NO HELP…[/h1] The half-educational and fully horrifying plot easily takes the cake if you're assessing its hottest selling point. Why? Well, horror games that revolve entirely around “sleep paralyses” are few and far between, with it being more of an established thing acted out in films. Regardless of being explicitly cited in [b]Mara (2018)[/b] or loosely hinted at à la [b]A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)[/b]. Tons of said films go wrong in the ceaseless shifts in perspective, something SP never breaks character and therefore more personal, as it should be. The rate in which the events progressed was remarkable, with the protagonist first utterly foreign to the affliction before proceeding to dread when the next one triggers. It’s imperative to note that SP movies typically resolve themselves by going the one route (I won’t reveal what). But SP explores all equally believable and plausible options, with a wickedly inspirational moral that’s more often than not sappy when said aloud, but not this time~ [h1]:) YOU ARE IN GRAVE JANE-GER[/h1] My first ever SP episode befell me when I was overseas in the UK. I was riddled with anxiety as it’s the only other country I’ve ever visited much less lived alone for the first time. Twas a night like any other and funnily enough, I didn’t have any dreams in the 4 months I was there… Then it came to me one night- So sure that I was awake, since my eyes were wide open, but something was off. I couldn’t budge, my body tighter than usual and it hit me- someone’s(?) arms had been wrapped around me, hugging me and I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t turn to see who it was, but I could feel them excitedly and heavily panting down my neck! By that point, I was even sure that an intruder had broken in my room and was [spoiler]violating[/spoiler] a drugged & helpless me. I cried until I came to, and I woke up screaming bloody murder. Why I went to the trouble of painstakingly recounting my personal experience, is precisely because SP captured that “trapped between two states” so effectively; was it a dream or reality? Was I awake or asleep!? Since the environment you’re forced to witness is 100% identical to your bedroom, you won’t be able to tell… apart from the extra animate being lurking. What’s most traumatizing is that the developer really hit the books in order to give the scares real weight by including actual symptoms as prevalently seen and documented amongst SP sufferers! It’s still a question mark as to why SPs occur in real life, but they’ve been associated with underlying mental illnesses, stress, and taking certain substances; which, once again, persuasively inserted into SP as well! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898984913 [h1][u][-] CONS;[/u][/h1] [h1]:( IN THE BLINK OF. AN. EYE.[/h1] The most visible flaw would have to be its non-mainstream approach to horror, and by that, I’m referring to the dev’s insurmountable exercising of self-restraint in scaring the bejesus out of you! With moments where you have to "read into" stuff yourself, instead of having your work cut out! In the spirit of capturing the way we dream; you navigate this vague world while not wholly lucid of what you encounter and whether your actions even matter... They're part of SP’s intellectual charms but also hint at the skill level of a still fresh-faced developer. The latter of which encompasses examples like stuttering objects, lack of animations, and mobility qualms. Which too could work in its favor by giving off restless vibes, so I’m wavering~ [h1]BUGS:[/h1] x New ones emerge; I’ve caught & relayed most! [h1]NITPICKS:[/h1] ~ Mistimed sounds or overshot audible range. ~ Many things misinterpreted as bugs... [h1]"SHOULD I STAY, OR SHUT-EYE GO~"[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2898986417 [u]Last Words?[/u] A sleeper hit of a “health horror” debut! It may not conventionally rattle your bones, and some of it’s underwhelming… But the concept, disorder in which it is based on, suffices in enfeebling you~ [h1]9.2 / 10[/h1] [code]Thanks for the key [b]Limited Insight Studios![/b] Here’s to no more SP episodes for the both of us~[/code]

I beat the game in 2 hours and I was pretty bored throughout most of it to be honest. I have played about 100 of these small indie horror games unfortunately this one just couldn't get a pass from me. Overall 4/10 - The environments are bland and uninspired, I don't mind old school but there really isn't any horror atmosphere here, basic warehouse, basic little house, basic "backrooms" level etc.... nothing interesting to look at - No real puzzles to solve, find a few keys, find door key code, hang a few pictures up on walls thats it - Some long stretches and boring backtracking for a few minutes just to add length to the game - The story is told in this Epic! and Grandiose! manner with emotional music which gets cheesy super fast because the gameplay and story is not interesting at all To be honest I forget if I got this on sale or not but for the $10 asking price there are waaaaaaay higher quality indie horror games out there on steam. PS i have had Sleep Paralysis for years as a teenager, I even was studied with electrodes on my body for a week at a sleep institute. This game really doesn't do the subject justice or come close to the feeling at all.

Just fully live streamed this! https://youtu.be/4jLKns1j9PE I thought this was excellent! The amount of research you probably went through to put this all together! I screamed a lot! Especially the warehouse bit! Fantastic work! I hope you do more projects!

A truly amazing experience and graphically rich for an indie game. Story is interesting too! Give it a try and support INDIE!!! <3

This game is amazing! Give it a try.

Sleep Paralysis: The Uncanny Valley is an attempt at a horror game, but has too many negative quirks that REALLY hurt the experience. Mainly bugs. During my 2 hour or so complete playthrough of the game, I encountered a lot of issues with the options bugging out and some parts of the game straight up becoming game breaking. For example, when I went to turn down the game volume, the slider did nothing. I even tried taking it down to 0 volume and it was still blaring in my ears. Ended up finishing the game without a headset on because it was earshatteringly loud. Other than option menu bugs, the game has several game breaking bugs that require you to reset from a previous save and pray they don't happen again. EXAMPLE: [spoiler] During the warehouse segment, there is a maze of boxes you need to go through in order to make it to the other end of the warehouse. The door at the end won't open unless you have the power off. I forgot to turn the power off but when I went to go back and fix my mistake, there were enemies blocking all of the paths. I figure this is meant to move you forward so the game can change things in the background. However, if any players make the same mistake I did, its a complete redo for them. Absolutely stupid. [/spoiler] In the end, I cannot recommend this game. Story is kind of a miss, the bugs are very frustrating, and the gameplay is a letdown with the easiest puzzles in the world.

Very nice story, really interesting, and there are even various storylines to discover and even a different end. As I played it a second time and chose other doors or made other desicions, the game unfolded a different outcome. Huge props. Nice work man.

In this game, you play as Thomas Chan, who started having sleep paralysis and begins witnessing horrific experiences night after night. Determined to find a solution to his condition, he does what we all do, search the web. You get a good ~2hr gameplay into this game, no bugs, no crashes. The voice actor and way of story-telling is efficient, and puts the player through various different environments that are able to add to the tension build-up. In many parts of Asia, superstitions places sleep paralysis not as a medical condition but believed to be a ghost sitting on you. Unfortunately, the latter is not part of this story. Full no commentary gameplay here https://youtu.be/BTpwYyPhDb8

Friend bought for me to stream and scream for them. Low budget but works with what its got quite well. It was scary and thankfully short enough for me not to do a "F(*& this I'm out" uninstall

Would recommend, as game really has some scary moments. Game carefully raises tension by great audio and then scares you with screamers at right moment. But keep in mind - it is a short game (2-3 hours), it has quite some bugs, as of now. So would also recommend to await for discount.