Whereas it might make sense to adapt psychoanalysis to the horror genre more broadly, I think that the positioning of Among the Sleep welcomes a Freudian analysis that is otherwise more meticulously displaced in other horror games. These origins of fear are often rooted in childhood, but as players, we are often positioned as adult protagonists. The game brings us back to an original site of horror, displaced from metaphors of powerlessness and horror tropes, and into something that stirs from childhood and the origins of fear and imagination. As time has gone on, however, I’ve noticed that similarities that draw the horror genre games together have become really monotonous.Īmong the Sleep is a first-person horror game developed by Krillbite studios and released in 2014. I think that the most enjoyable of these games combines engaging storylines within an environment that has more monsters and evasion as opposed to jump-scares and continuously present monsters. These games share many common elements that solidify their position in the genre such as dim lighting, monsters, disorientation, analogue disruptions, and a thematic narrative wherein the player/avatar is subsumed within a labyrinth of horror that they must navigate through in order to resolve the anxiety and unease of both their environment and the stories they occupy. I’ve played a large quantity of games in this genre including: Quake, Doom, F.E.A.R., Penumbra: Overture, Bioshock, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, The Last of Us, Cry of Fear, Nanashi no Game, Dead Space, SCP – Containment Breach, Slender: The Arrival and Slender: The Eight Pages, Clock Tower: The First Fear, Resident Evil, System Shock, and a slew of others (many that I’ve watched but am not brave enough to play). It would be safe to assume that I qualify as a horror fanatic. She has an MA in English and an MDes in Industrial Design. She has presented at conferences on digital design, horror video games, and design literacy. She has two cats, two rats, and a manatee. She currently works on independent design projects, independent games, draws comics and loves animals.
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