can't sleep (stylized in all lowercase letters) is a Surreal Horror Interactive Fiction Twine game released on itch.io in 2021. It's a demo, though the full game has not yet been released.
It follows a person who can't sleep. They explore their home for a bit, only to go downstairs and reveal there's a figure standing outside. That's it.
Play it here
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This game provides examples of:
- Absurdly Short Level: The description on itch.io literally says the playtime is 2 to 5 minutes.
- Ambiguous Situation: A lot of this story is ambiguous, even for a demo.
- Ambiguous Ending: They see a figure outside of their door. We don't know how long it's been there, what its motives are, or what this means. But this is treated as very sinister.
- Featureless Protagonist: As with the rest of this game, not many details are revealed. The only detail we're given is that they left a pile of clothes to be cleaned up a few days ago.
- The game seems to be set in the protagonist's home, but they do not recognize it. They get weirded out by feeling like they've been in their guest room before and they don't recognize the geometries of their house. Additionally, they notably say, when referring to their parent's room, that "maybe the people in here" can help them out, implying they don't even know if their parents are there. But they recognize their room as theirs, associating a memory to a pile of clothes in their room.
- Blackground: The screen is just white and red text with a black background.
- But Thou Must!:
- If you wake up and click the option "go back to sleep", the game insists that "you can't sleep".
- When you try to choose a switch other than one that leads to The Reveal of the figure, the game makes you flip a different one.
- Interactive Fiction: It's a text based game where reading makes up most of the gameplay.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: There isn't any sound throughout the demo. This may be to add to the unnerving feeling.
- Lightswitch Surprise: Played for Horror: You flip on the switch at the bottom of the stairs to reveal a figure standing outside your window.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Everything about this game.
- The protagonist doesn't recognize their own home or parents. This raises some questions. Is this a hostage situation? Is this just a case of Unreliable Narrator? Was this game going to go into Eldritch Horror?
- The ending. You flip on the switch to reveal a figure standing outside your window. The context of what this means is never revealed, but imagine how creepy that would be.
- Press X to Die: Flip on any (or most) of the switches and your game is over.
- Primal Fear: Namely the fears of the dark and strangers.
you see a figure right outside your window.
