Another indie horror that's too short

[Danny_G13]

What is with this increasing trend of indie horror games which last about 2 or 3 hours in gameplay?

Daylight, Slender the Arrival and now Among the Sleep. None of these are bad games but they're charging too much for an experience which is so brief.

What's with this new breed of short-but-sweet game?

[October_Star]

I have no idea but i really hate how they left so much unexplained. If The first monster was your mother then who was the rain coat monster and the umbrella man?

[PYcutieIRIS]

Originally posted by Danny_G13:

What is with this increasing trend of indie horror games which last about 2 or 3 hours in gameplay?

Daylight, Slender the Arrival and now Among the Sleep. None of these are bad games but they're charging too much for an experience which is so brief.

What's with this new breed of short-but-sweet game?

I agree that too!! they all just too short and cost alot. they're not a bad game either. I love all of the horror games it just really...TOO SHORT!! why?

[Danny_G13]

Originally posted by Dr.Sexy M.D.:

I have no idea but i really hate how they left so much unexplained. If The first monster was your mother then who was the rain coat monster and the umbrella man?

I won't lie, I don't remember any other monster. I thought it was all your mother. Far as I could see, the first time the screen shook was your mother being upset at hubbie wanting to come in and see you on your birthday, and then the teddy was a representation of him (mother had taken your teddy away during the night because it was from your dad) protecting you from your own nightmarish dreams where mother was a horrible spectre (looking not dissimilar to Treebeard tbh) and then she got closer and closer to you as you tried to piece together good memories of her in order to wake up. Then you learn the truth and daddy comes to save you for good. Where were rain coat monster and umbrella man?

[MattyB69]

Originally posted by PYcutieIRIS:

Originally posted by Danny_G13:

What is with this increasing trend of indie horror games which last about 2 or 3 hours in gameplay?

Daylight, Slender the Arrival and now Among the Sleep. None of these are bad games but they're charging too much for an experience which is so brief.

What's with this new breed of short-but-sweet game?

I agree that too!! they all just too short and cost alot. they're not a bad game either. I love all of the horror games it just really...TOO SHORT!! why?

Maybe because the game would drag on too long and in return be way to repetitive. And the scares would get boring and less scary after awhile. (This is all speculation and not factual)

[Danny_G13]

Originally posted by PYcutieIRIS:

Originally posted by Danny_G13:

What is with this increasing trend of indie horror games which last about 2 or 3 hours in gameplay?

Daylight, Slender the Arrival and now Among the Sleep. None of these are bad games but they're charging too much for an experience which is so brief.

What's with this new breed of short-but-sweet game?

I agree that too!! they all just too short and cost alot. they're not a bad game either. I love all of the horror games it just really...TOO SHORT!! why?

They're also not terribly scary. Free Slender from 2012 nailed it and nothing has been as scary since. Although I've not fully played the Arrival version.

[Danny_G13]

Originally posted by ForklifterMatt:

Originally posted by PYcutieIRIS:

I agree that too!! they all just too short and cost alot. they're not a bad game either. I love all of the horror games it just really...TOO SHORT!! why?

Maybe because the game would drag on too long and in return be way to repetitive. And the scares would get boring and less scary after awhile. (This is all speculation and not factual)

Then it's up to them to vary the gameplay. You make a decent point, but only giving us 2 or 3 hours for about £10+ isn't really good enough.

Outlast is another. Admittedly not remotely scary and a little bit longer but still overall a bit short, albeit the DLC was a surprisingly good DLC.

[MattyB69]

Originally posted by Danny_G13:

Originally posted by ForklifterMatt:

Maybe because the game would drag on too long and in return be way to repetitive. And the scares would get boring and less scary after awhile. (This is all speculation and not factual)

Then it's up to them to vary the gameplay. You make a decent point, but only giving us 2 or 3 hours for about £10+ isn't really good enough.

Outlast is another. Admittedly not remotely scary and a little bit longer but still overall a bit short, albeit the DLC was a surprisingly good DLC.

Very true! They need to vary the gameplay and introduce multiple mechanics to keep the game longer and more interesting! (Like you said)

[R4bbit34rs]

The developer has confirmed that there would be some free DLC coming out soon.

I do hate games that are too short and end right as I'm really getting into it, but the promise of free DLC does pique my intrest. :3

[bone token]

I don't think there's a particular "thing" about these games being short. For Among the Sleep, it's simply the fact that this is our first big game. We wanted to make it a bit longer, but some structural changes in order to make the experience as good as it could be resulted in the playtime that we currently have.

There will be a free DLC coming though, which we hope will provide you with some interesting content. We will create it with the input and help from our kind kickstarter backers, so I'm sure we'll come up with something awesome!

[Ulven Bjørn]

I don't think it's that short. It's taking me a while to get through. The only reason I haven't beaten it yet though is because of a broken loading screen after Teddy's arm gets ripped off and you fall. I really do love this game though because it really switches up the horror genre in the fact that you play as a 2 year old resulting in more interesting challenges and perspectives.

[Danny_G13]

Originally posted by kvmphvre:

I don't think there's a particular "thing" about these games being short. For Among the Sleep, it's simply the fact that this is our first big game. We wanted to make it a bit longer, but some structural changes in order to make the experience as good as it could be resulted in the playtime that we currently have.

There will be a free DLC coming though, which we hope will provide you with some interesting content. We will create it with the input and help from our kind kickstarter backers, so I'm sure we'll come up with something awesome!

Very kind of you to provide your thoughts. Maybe it wasn't deliberate in your case and as a first game it's very good, but generally indie horror games are just too short and it's an increasing trend. I would like to make one observation that if you go the wrong way after picking up the final memory key (for the green door) the game bugs and glitches all over the place. I also noticed the conveyer belt taking you to the room where you pick up said key was broken and I had to reload the checkpoint

That said for a first effort it was very good, with some morally thought-provoking content and the idea of playing as a 2 year old was pretty original for horror. However I saw another thread discussing the theme of alcoholism and custody battles. This game, based on a potentially destroyed childhood, might have provided a warning about aforementioned sensitive content.

Thanks for the reply.

[darkesco]

That said for a first effort it was very good, with some morally thought-provoking content and the idea of playing as a 2 year old was pretty original for horror. However I saw another thread discussing the theme of alcoholism and custody battles. This game, based on a potentially destroyed childhood, might have provided a warning about aforementioned sensitive content.

To the devs,
Thank you for NOT including a warning about this. People have become way too sensitive. If you need a warning label to help you decide whether playing a horror survival game starting a toddler could in any way possible rehash childhood drama, you deserve it.

[Danny_G13]

Originally posted by darkesco:

That said for a first effort it was very good, with some morally thought-provoking content and the idea of playing as a 2 year old was pretty original for horror. However I saw another thread discussing the theme of alcoholism and custody battles. This game, based on a potentially destroyed childhood, might have provided a warning about aforementioned sensitive content.

To the devs,
Thank you for NOT including a warning about this. People have become way too sensitive. If you need a warning label to help you decide whether playing a horror survival game starting a toddler could in any way possible rehash childhood drama, you deserve it.

I agree people are too sensitive. The world has become OTT for insane PC. But that said I'm not sure what you even mean by 'deserve it'. Deserve to be traumatised if an entertainment product accidentally relives a destroyed childhood you had wrecked by alcoholic parents? Surely a warning about content isn't excessive.

I originally attacked like you have the notion of a warning, but I hadn't finished the game. And while I didn't identify with the ending, some do and for them it could well be upsetting.

A little compassion in conjunction with rightly attacking overly-PC conduct is the best balance rather than attacking anyone who wants total explicit compassion or siding with them entirely.

[Dova]

Originally posted by Danny_G13:

Originally posted by Dr.Sexy M.D.:

I have no idea but i really hate how they left so much unexplained. If The first monster was your mother then who was the rain coat monster and the umbrella man?

I won't lie, I don't remember any other monster. I thought it was all your mother. Far as I could see, the first time the screen shook was your mother being upset at hubbie wanting to come in and see you on your birthday, and then the teddy was a representation of him (mother had taken your teddy away during the night because it was from your dad) protecting you from your own nightmarish dreams where mother was a horrible spectre (looking not dissimilar to Treebeard tbh) and then she got closer and closer to you as you tried to piece together good memories of her in order to wake up. Then you learn the truth and daddy comes to save you for good. Where were rain coat monster and umbrella man?

so in the story, the mother is abusive?

[Danny_G13]

I think you're supposed to conceal spoilers (or potential spoilers) with the spoiler tag...could a mod possibly do so with said spoilers in this thread?