Review for Asleep – Ato 1

The team at Black Hole Games and publisher Nuuvem Inc have successfully turned a nightmare into a point-and-click adventure called Asleep – Ato 1. It's the first episode in an anticipated series that features hauntingly enticing pixel art and great voice acting, immersing players in the life of the protagonist, Ana Lúcia, who must unravel the strange circumstances in which she suddenly finds herself.

After a dreamlike opening sequence, Ana awakens to find her house eerily empty, indicating that something is different and needs to be investigated. The neighborhood around Ana’s house appears similar to real-world locations, yet also feels strangely empty, intensifying the sense that something is wrong. Captivating pixel art adds to the tense atmosphere. The cutscenes are fantastic, resembling animated paintings. Watching them feels like a rewarding achievement after overcoming the story's varied challenges.

Superior sound design endows Asleep – Ato I with frightening power. Spectacular voice acting bestows a soul upon Ana Lúcia. She doesn’t speak often, but when she does the voice-overs help you empathize with her plight. I found that I cared deeply about solving her dangerous predicament. This interactive spine-chilling game also has a terror-enhancing soundscape. There’s a slow, relentless track on the title screen that primes players’ minds with fear. Spooky, reverberating musical accompaniment glides on and off in the background and footsteps echo alongside creaks and groans. Ana encounters enemies which sound like they come from the underworld’s darkest pit. Their frightening growls and roars magnify the gradually increasing atmosphere of dread.

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Throughout the game, our protagonist must carefully observe her surroundings and manipulate different items. Conversations are initiated between Ana Lúcia and other characters. But unlike in other adventure games where you direct the dialogs by selecting topics, here you watch passively as discussions unfold. The point-and-click interface is simple, involving left-clicking on areas of interest or using the A key to move left and the D key to move right. Ana’s actions are smoothly animated, whether she is walking, running, or gathering objects. Left-clicking on the item of choice activates a menu that contains the verbs: “Use” “Combine” and “Examine.” Left-clicking on a verb carries out the maneuver it describes. There’s also a helpful list of commands in the options menu.

Players guide Ana through fetch quests and code-breaking puzzles. (It's not possible to simultaneously reveal all the hotspots on-screen together.) At times it will be necessary to pick locks. Once the player selects the lockpick and clicks “Use” they must move the mouse so that white squares encircle the lock on the screen. It was quite difficult to know how to move the mouse to activate the white squares. Besides lock-picking and searching for keys, it is also necessary to restart circuit breakers by clicking on a series of numbered switches. There are no pertinent instructions for this, and I succeeded only through random clicking.

In addition to solving traditional adventure conundrums, players must use light and reflexes to triumph over enemies. Perseverance is key to overcoming these challenges. When Ana Lúcia arrives at school, she learns that it's overrun with enemies who want to take her life and sanity. These two important attributes are represented by icons in the lower-left corner of the screen. When Ana is attacked by a monster her health decreases; using items like medicine increases it. The health meter encircles a light bulb that represents her sanity. The longer she spends in the dark, the quicker her sanity deteriorates. If it deteriorates completely, it will be harder to dodge monsters. Items like sedatives improve Ana’s sanity. Fortunately, if she is caught by the monsters, Ana keeps any items she hasn’t used. 

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Dodging monsters could frustrate certain players because their reflexes will be sorely tested. I played on the PC with a mouse and keyboard. These enemies complicate Ana’s search for a missing girl. She can attract them or repel them using specific items. Some are attracted by light and sedated by darkness. If they discover her, Ana must move quickly. If they catch her, she awakens in her bedroom. After finding a certain item in the school, she can use a similar item in her room to return immediately to the scene of her failure and try again. Left-clicking the journal in the bedroom activates the save and load system. Clicking on the journal presents the player with a choice to “Read” or “Write.” Selecting “Write” compels Ana to record her experiences in the journal, which saves the game. Choosing “Read” allows her to recall her last experience, which loads the game. There’s only one save slot, so backtracking is impossible. 

Once all the puzzles are solved, Ana Lúcia must dash through a terrifying gauntlet – a satisfying though difficult climax that suits this horror tale well. While being chased by monsters, Ana can instantly hide in lockers to try and avoid them. Perseverance and hoarding healing items helped me reach the end despite struggling to enter the lockers with sufficient speed. Altogether, this was a satisfying finale to this first chapter of the story.

Asleep – Ato I succeeds in scaring the pants off players. Imaginatively stylized graphics and darkly beguiling sound design flood players’ minds with terror. The gameplay is sometimes frustrating – the lock-picking and circuit breaker puzzles would benefit from clear instructions, and reaching the ending requires either lightning-quick reflexes or perseverance combined with a bit of luck. Still, hardcore players who enjoy spine-chillers will revel in Asleep – Ato I.