It’s always nice to start a review with, ‘I was pleasantly surprised…’, so that is how we’ll start this Deep Sleep: Labyrinth Of The Forsaken review. I was pleasantly surprised… Part point and click, part survival horror, part dreamy exposition, you play as Amy, who is doing their utmost to force a lucid dream state that allows them to manipulate it and locate their dead brother. Erm…
With a silly amount of exposition to begin with, ‘Sister this, sister that’, and those timesavers like, “Do you remember that time when we were kids and you discovered a human bone that you reimagined to use as a lever to switch off a furnace?”. It’s not that literal, though it was evident the pair were related. How the game set up the premise, however, was pretty tight.
We begin Deep Sleep: Labyrinth Of The Forsaken on a train. Amy gets off the train with their brother, Thomas, and that’s immediately when it becomes dodgy. The clocks aren’t working, there’s nobody at the station, and besides, the train is literally still at the platform. Go speak to those on board!! The scenario just seems off and like one of those dreams where you’re trying to call out or recognise something important, yet can’t interact with it. On that note… dev, scriptwelder, introduces Patrick Duffy and indicates, ‘tis all a dream.
With some nice cinematic transitions, the introduction works nicely, and we’re soon aware that Deep Sleep: Labyrinth Of The Forsaken uses a device to recreate dreams in which she can communicate with her dead brother somehow. She’s stubborn and refuses to give up on him, leading what is effectively a double life of ‘normality’ during the day, and entering an induced virtual dreamscape to uncover answers. Like Elm Street, these dreams can tipple over into reality, leaving one or two scars.
It’s from the dream sequences that you make contact with an unknown who knows a little about your predicament, and Deep Sleep: Labyrinth Of The Forsaken becomes even more existential. Puzzles are introduced, initially switch-based ones, and then turn-based combat. I was a little reluctant to experience the latter, what with being a point and click purist, however, it… works. Like the reinvention of the genre with the likes of Lacuna, or the more recent The Drifter, switching up puzzle-solving, exploration, and fisticuffs mostly pays off. Well, items have durability like BOTW, so I obviously wasn’t a fan of that.
Upon ‘dying’ in a dream, you get to revisit it, but items are now in different places, and there’s an element of instability. This further adds to the general vibe of uncertainty, as do those that help you in the game, though there are almost always consequences to your actions. Deep Sleep: Labyrinth Of The Forsaken can cause so much doubt in your decision-making that even picking up items and asking whether you want to pick it up, while having ample space, makes you think, ‘Hhmmm… will taking this affect my progress?’. It’s crafty and effective.
Another element the game introduces is the focus points. Focus points allow Amy to recreate an item they’ve had before, such as a weapon or consumable. Naturally, this would be open for abuse, so focus points are limited and are comparable to survival horror ammo supplies: scarce. That additional curiosity about whether you’re doing the right thing further adds to the appeal, and for the most part, Deep Sleep: Labyrinth Of The Forsaken is an excellent game, though unsurprisingly, the combat is the bit that makes it a little hairier than it needs to be, especially with bosses.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t take much to highlight what an interesting game this is. As seems to have been the case for a few years now, pairing up various genres (a bullet hell with an RPG, anyone?) does actually work if you find the right balance. While I sometimes loathe weapon durability, due to an element of impatience and poor skillset, it works here with the focus system, and as always, I’m an advocate for actions having consequences, and that clearly applies here.
