Welcome to The Attic, where nightmares never end.

This week I’d like to talk about Neverending Nightmares. This is another Steam game that I recently purchased during a weekend sale, and it was well worth the cost of admission. This one is much more unique than the other games I have talked about, though. It comes from a much darker place, and it shows. You see, Neverending Nightmares was developed by a man who has struggled with depression among other mental disorders for many years, and it is quite a trip playing this game with that in mind. By trip, I mean scary as hell and bordering on disturbing.

In the beginning your character wakes with a start after a nightmare that he has killed his sister, and it just gets crazier from there. You keep wondering why he’s dreaming these things, and what it all means. Is he a killer? Is his subconscious mind damning him to suffer the consequences? Is he completely innocent and simply suffering from the dark thoughts that usually accompany mental illness? The simple art style is what really balances this all out, and yet contributes to the eerie, dreamlike atmosphere at the same time. Neverending Nightmares uses a very crude like, drawing style of animation, and its heavy black lines only allow the stark red blood to stand out further. I’m really glad they chose this design style, as it gives more emphasis on the fear of the story itself. A game like this needs a simple background, and I think if they had chosen a “realistic CG” approach, it wouldn’t have turned out nearly as scary.

The game plays out as one nightmare after another, and the trick here is to simply complete them to advance the story. There is a story arc here, but it’s a fuzzy one and you’re never quite sure what’s going on or what is the truth. It is a bit unclear sometimes if you “finished” a nightmare or if you failed and have to restart, because both lead back to the protagonist waking with a start in his bed. But you can usually tell pretty quickly, as the atmosphere changes as you advance. More cobwebs, more blood, and more creepy toys are all good signs that you’re on your way deeper into loonyville. Not to mention shifting from your very normal looking home into what looks like an abandoned old mansion and finally to a mental institution, and back again. But these can all change…

Another thing I really appreciate about this game is that it has multiple endings. With a game so disturbing and scary at times it would be easy to leave it forever, go outside into the sun and pick some flowers until you feel a bit more normal again. But the fact that there are other endings with different outcomes for your character you feel compelled to head back into this nightmare world and finish them all. I didn’t realize it wasn’t a linear game until I had already completed it, and at the time of writing this article I have only completed one of them, but I definitely want to go back and see the others.

If you’re in the mood for something scary and very unique, check out Neverending Nightmares… Oh and good luck sleeping after.

Stay scared,
Dark Princess