An ambitious idea terribly executed, Krillbite Studio released Among The Sleep to immerse players in the hyperactive imagination of a child lost in the dark of his home.
The gameplay is similar to Amnesia at first glance-- first person, explore strange and dark settings, solve puzzles, run and hide from monsters because you are bereft of a weapon. (Yet in Amnesia you held a lantern for light; in Among The Sleep you hug a teddy bear...of all things. The former was restricted to the player's stock of oil; here you can hug the bear for unlimited time.)
What is also different from Amnesia is that the camerawork didn't leave the player's belly nauseous and their head aching. In Among The Sleep the developers were so set on making the game "realistic" they designed your toddler-character's vision to bob with every step and flail with every climb. This sounds like no big deal on paper but if you've played through this you know just how much of this story involves climbing, walking, and more climbing.
Puzzles are insulting simple-- at least in Amnesia one had to be attentive to a few notes and narrations before completing some of the intellectual obstacles; here we have mostly just "find this and bring it there" complexity in levels that could last an hour; there are deviations from this sometimes, but these deviant "puzzles" last mere seconds. (IE One of the final levels where you learn to pick up and throw things to knock a bottle down).
The animation for 2014 standards is pitiful, though this can be excused given that a portion of Among The Sleep's funding was made via Kickstarter-- then again, I know I'm not the only one repulsed by the face of your character's mother. Maybe it's just the unusual space between her eyes, but aside from that, there is a critical flaw in the game if I find her discomforting when you can tell her presence in the story is meant to be playful and comforting (at least, for a time).
The vast majority of Among The Sleep's "horror" is nothing but jump-scares -- a horror trope that's been tasteless and tiring for years now. At least the tension builds up when you begin hiding and running from the game's antagonist (a monster inspired by the Japanese witch Yokai who morphed into a black being with long legs and spiky hair after drinking from a well), but because this is the only monster in the game, most of the atmosphere is too safe, slow and easy to be scary.
Only at the story's twist ending does the game start hinting at any redemptive ambition: the revelation that the monster was the ugly mother drunk and frustrated out of her mind, taking out her rage on your player-character, a sad infant.
Such a shame then that what built up to this was mostly boring exploration and puzzle-solving; ruined further by the pretentious expository dialogue of the creepy bear you hug, Teddy, whose vague lines desperately try to make you scared in every level: "Something's not right", "We're not safe here", etc...