We’ve been tracking Krillbite Studio’s Kickstarter project for Among the Sleep since last month, and recently reported on the game reaching 86% of its funding target. Now there’s good news: the campaign ended yesterday and successfully smashed the $200,000 goal by an additional $48,358 from 8,110 backers.
Earlier this week, Krillbite Studio expressed their gratitude to all backers: “Among the Sleep is now past 100% funded! You have no idea how much this means to us, we’re soooo grateful for all your generosity, and your tireless dedication for the past month.” The team have even reached three of their stretch goals: buy an ice cream for each member of the team, implement Oculus Rift support and create a commentary track with thoughts and anecdotes from the development.
Two more stretch goals remain unlocked unfortunately, and we really hope Krillbite can still raise the money somehow and achieve them. The first is a “super secret free DLC” that could have perhaps been another world for our baby protagonist to crawl around; and the second wasn’t announced but there has been talk of it being a full console release on the PlayStation 4. In an update to backers, the developers said: “We’re glad to finally announce our dialogues with Sony, regarding a potential console release! We don’t want to promise anything yet, but we’ve been talking to them for a while, and are now in the process of ironing out the details. We have yet to nail what a quality port would demand from us as well, but things are looking bright! We want as many people as possible to be able to play Among the Sleep, so we would love to make the PS4-version possible.”
An alpha test has been made available on the Kickstarter page and we’ve been playing this over the weekend. What struck us first was how genuinely creepy it was and the dark, stormy night provides a great backdrop to scare you senseless. Visually it looks stunning already; the use of shadows in a game like this must be of the highest standard to truly give you a realistic experience, and we’re pleased to say Among the Sleep gives you this in spades. The player gets introduced to their sidekick, a tatty stuffed teddy-bear who’s found spinning around in a washing machine, but this is one cuddly toy that isn’t just for show: at the end of the alpha he opens a door for you, making it clear that he’s not just going to stand idly by.
Check out the video below for our gameplay and see if you get as engrossed as we did:
Krillbite Studio have an extremely busy – and fun – time ahead with Among the Sleep and based on how amazing their current game is looking so far, we don’t think this is the last we’ll see of them. It’s due to be released in December 2013 just in time for Christmas, and as soon as we get our hands on it we will bring you a full review.
