If you're a horror fan, chance are you're going to recognize the name Jesse Makkonen; the publisher/developer responsible for both of the Distraint games, of which the first title saw a port to nearly every platform in existence. Before Distraint, however, came Silence of the Sleep, a psychological 2D puzzle horror game that revolves around Jacob Reeves; a guy who is terribly depressed for reasons unknown, and decides to end it all by hurling himself off a cliff. Jacob ends up finding himself lost, confused, and alone, in a foreign world surrounded by unfamiliar people and hostile beings.

Though it seems horribly cliche and overdone to say it at this point, there's a very strong and undeniable Silent Hill atmosphere to this title. At certain points, Jacob will be in a living, breathing world surrounded by fellow shadow people who he is able to interact with. At other points, he finds himself creeping around rusty, decrepit, blood-soaked hallways being chased by eldritch monsters. Regardless of whether or not you find the Silent Hill card overplayed in horror games, this release ends up doing the beloved franchise justice while also staying unique to its own creative 2D style and mechanics. To be quite fair, there's hardly a more unique horror release on Steam, as this game somehow manages to bring several refreshing elements to the table.

Among the numerous things that Silence of the Sleep gets right is its ability to keep the player as confused as the character that they're playing as. Confused about where to go and what to do, confused about the underlying storyline, and confused as to what is happening all around them. It's one of those games that you have to explore fully to get any real sense of what's going on, but even then all of the best kept secrets aren't revealed until the very end. Needless to say, you should expect to feel purposefully lost for the majority of the campaign in almost every regard. It's rare that a game can pull this off without it being either too frustrating or too obvious, but Jesse Makkonen really nailed this type of artistic direction.

There are many design elements at play that are reminiscent of the developer's follow-up game, Distraint; namely the backgrounds, ambient hues, and some of the gameplay style. With that said, Silence of the Sleep manages to cement itself as a unique release all on its own, in every way possible; I've never witnessed any other horror game with such an abundance of mechanics before, and I've played hundreds of them. You'll be doing everything from running and hiding from monsters, to helping tune a guitar, to lock picking, scanning the environment with a lens, and even painting. What you end up doing in this title far exceeds the boundaries of its complex puzzle solving and 2D side-scrolling.

Only a couple of things hold this title back, and they're not even that impacting. While the game excels in its visuals, it does lack in its audio; though there are moments of captivating music, a lot of the game is silent, foregoing even droning ambience. With that said, this lackluster audio experience can be overlooked due to just how fantastic the rest of the game truly is. The second thing holding Silence of the Sleep back is its rather clunky control system. It feels like it takes the main character forever to turn and face a certain direction, and there's also a stamina bar that will deplete and take a while to fill back up if you run too much. This is mostly only a hindrance during any scene that involves an enemy, and there are relatively few of those. The cumbersome movement primarily comes due to the style of the game; where the developer chose to use FMV sprites (ala Harvester, Phantasmagoria, etc) and as such, the character has to take time to physically turn.

If you're looking for a relatively short horror experience that's cheap (especially when it's on sale) and has a lot to offer, then you can't get much better than Silence of the Sleep. A big chunk of the gameplay involves a mix of solving obscure puzzles and hiding from monsters, but it's still enjoyable through and through. The story is captivating, but it won't leave you breathless or gobsmacked at the end, either. Additionally, there is an amazing range of mechanics implemented throughout the game. It's good to see where Jesse Makkonen started from, and it's safe to say that most of us are looking forward to even more captivating psychological horror releases in the future.

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If you're a horror fan, chance are you're going to recognize the name Jesse Makkonen; the publisher/developer responsible for both of the Distraint games, of which the first title saw a port to nearly every platform in existence. Before Distraint, however, came Silence of the Sleep, a psychological 2D puzzle horror game that revolves around Jacob Reeves; a guy who is terribly depressed for reasons unknown, and decides to end it all by hurling himself off a cliff. Jacob ends up finding himself lost, confused, and alone, in a foreign world surrounded by unfamiliar people and hostile beings. Though it seems horribly cliche and overdone to say it at this point, there's a very strong and undeniable Silent Hill atmosphere to this title. At certain points, Jacob will be in a living, breathing world surrounded by fellow shadow people who he is able to interact with. At other points, he finds himself creeping around rusty, decrepit, blood-soaked hallways being chased by eldritch monsters. Regardless of whether or not you find the Silent Hill card overplayed in horror games, this release ends up doing the beloved franchise justice while also staying unique to its own creative 2D style and mechanics. To be quite fair, there's hardly a more unique horror release on Steam, as this game somehow manages to bring several refreshing elements to the table. Among the numerous things that Silence of the Sleep gets right is its ability to keep the player as confused as the character that they're playing as. Confused about where to go and what to do, confused about the underlying storyline, and confused as to what is happening all around them. It's one of those games that you have to explore fully to get any real sense of what's going on, but even then all of the best kept secrets aren't revealed until the very end. Needless to say, you should expect to feel purposefully lost for the majority of the campaign in almost every regard. It's rare that a game can pull this off without it being either too frustrating or too obvious, but Jesse Makkonen really nailed this type of artistic direction. There are many design elements at play that are reminiscent of the developer's follow-up game, Distraint; namely the backgrounds, ambient hues, and some of the gameplay style. With that said, Silence of the Sleep manages to cement itself as a unique release all on its own, in every way possible; I've never witnessed any other horror game with such an abundance of mechanics before, and I've played hundreds of them. You'll be doing everything from running and hiding from monsters, to helping tune a guitar, to lock picking, scanning the environment with a lens, and even painting. What you end up doing in this title far exceeds the boundaries of its complex puzzle solving and 2D side-scrolling. Only a couple of things hold this title back, and they're not even that impacting. While the game excels in its visuals, it does lack in its audio; though there are moments of captivating music, a lot of the game is silent, foregoing even droning ambience. With that said, this lackluster audio experience can be overlooked due to just how fantastic the rest of the game truly is. The second thing holding Silence of the Sleep back is its rather clunky control system. It feels like it takes the main character forever to turn and face a certain direction, and there's also a stamina bar that will deplete and take a while to fill back up if you run too much. This is mostly only a hindrance during any scene that involves an enemy, and there are relatively few of those. The cumbersome movement primarily comes due to the style of the game; where the developer chose to use FMV sprites (ala Harvester, Phantasmagoria, etc) and as such, the character has to take time to physically turn. If you're looking for a relatively short horror experience that's cheap (especially when it's on sale) and has a lot to offer, then you can't get much better than Silence of the Sleep. A big chunk of the gameplay involves a mix of solving obscure puzzles and hiding from monsters, but it's still enjoyable through and through. The story is captivating, but it won't leave you breathless or gobsmacked at the end, either. Additionally, there is an amazing range of mechanics implemented throughout the game. It's good to see where Jesse Makkonen started from, and it's safe to say that most of us are looking forward to even more captivating psychological horror releases in the future. [h1]Rating: [b]4.5/5.0[/b] - Excellent, highly worth playing.[/h1] The Horror Network [url=http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/curator/28221963/]Curator[/url] | [url=http://steamproxy.net/groups/thehorrornetwork]Group[/url] Click for Gore