Next path for The Sleeping Machine leads to The Gateway Trilogy
It took seven years for The Sleeping Machine (formerly Cockroach, Inc.) to finish The Dream Machine. It'll only take a matter of months for them release their next multi-part game, The Gateway Trilogy.
Okay, that's not entirely true. In some ways, it's taken even longer to complete than their claymation opus. The first two installments of Gateway were originally launched as freeware almost a decade ago. Now, however, the team has completely remastered those initial versions for commercial re-release, offering "enhancements to sound, gameplay and visuals" as well as "tweaked" puzzles, though the core game promises to remain the same. Best of all, accompanying those games is a never-before-seen third part to round out the newly-formed trilogy.
So what is The Gateway Trilogy all about? Who knows! All players really have to go on is the simple stated premise: to "guide a character through a series of rooms. Solve puzzles to advance." Quite the opposite of the elaborate hand-crafted sets of The Dream Machine, the presentation here is deliberately minimalist, with a streamlined, single-click interface to match, though the puzzles won't be nearly as simple to solve. As you progress through the "abstract minimalist void," there is only an "unsettling, barely coherent story" to provide any context for your exploits. Answers won't come easily, though an optional developer's commentary will "outline various choices behind the design."
There is no firm release date for The Gateway Trilogy just yet, but it is "coming soon" to Windows and Mac on Steam. If you'd like to get a head start and see how it all began, both Part 1 and Part 2 are still available to play for free on Kongregate.
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