Imagine an intense, trippy sensory experience – that’s what Sleep Awake promises to be. It’s a whirlwind of vivid, thought-provoking, and at times disturbing visuals designed to captivate. This is the kind of horror game you might not anticipate from Cory Davis, director of Spec Ops: The Line, and Robin Finck, guitarist for Nine Inch Nails, who are collectively heading Eyes Out studio. Yet, Sleep Awake aligns perfectly with the signature style of Blumhouse Productions.
One year post its establishment, Blumhouse Games showcased at Summer Game Fest in June of last year a selection of horror projects, including Sleep Awake. This project was introduced as a first-person horror adventure that navigates the border between sleep and death. It was the initial offering from Eyes Out Studio, founded by Davis and Finck towards the end of 2021. In preparation for this year’s SGF event, Shacknews visited Blumhouse Games’ LA offices to play an early version of Sleep Awake with Davis and Finck.
In the beginning, the game offers an almost psychedelic experience for the eyes. Sleep Awake then transports players a century ahead into a haunting future where sleeping is lethal. The last vestiges of mankind are confined to a solitary metropolis called The Crush, which has been overtaken by a mysterious force called The Hush that feeds on dreams. As a result, the few survivors must struggle to stay conscious.
In this scenario, the principal character is Katja, whom players initially encounter within her sanctuary, where she assembles various items for brewing potions to stay alert. Regrettably, exhaustion soon overtakes her and she dozes off. Upon falling unconscious, Katja finds herself in the terrifying landscape of The Swell, a realm that requires her to follow a sequence of markers laid down during a prior dream in order to escape unharmed back to the real world. The visuals in The Swell are challenging to put into words, resembling a blend of scenes from a psychological horror experience and an eccentric album cover, a style that co-creative director Finck seems well-versed in due to his other professional engagements. In this realm, there’s a barren desert where a train seemingly departing without any tracks is infinite. There’s also a skyward greenhouse that hovers, supported only by a ladder along its side, where Katja must locate a light that will bring her closer to regaining consciousness. At one juncture, she even witnesses her own physical form in the real world and can only anguish as she screams for herself to awaken from her dream state before it’s too late.
In the expected scenario, severe lack of sleep has pushed a significant portion of humanity towards madness. This has resulted in the emergence of death cults, driven to insanity, and the creation of a repressive police force, The Ministry, which maintains order within The Swell. As players delve deeper into The Swell, they’ll come across fragments of history hidden in letters and recordings that narrate the tales of those who have vanished. They will also encounter chilling relics of victims of The Hush, a mysterious entity that claimed the lives of humans during their sleep, leaving only a ghostly, 2D imprint of their physical forms at the spot where they fell unconscious – much like something straight out of a Doctor Who episode.
During my limited playtime of the game, Sleep Awake primarily focuses on exploration and navigating through the domains of The Crush and The Swell. Essentially, it’s a game that emphasizes walking, but it boasts an exhilarating experience with its astonishing visuals. There’s a lot to discover about this intriguing universe created by Davis and Finck, so we’ll be closely watching Sleep Awake. It’s scheduled for release on PC in 2026.
I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at the work-in-progress game developed by Blumhouse Games, right at their LA headquarters. Please remember that what I experienced could still undergo changes before its official release.
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2025-06-10 18:27