00:00Hello, I'm Louise Blaine. I'm the creative lead here at Blumhouse Games, and I'm joined by the co-creative director of Sleep Awake, Robin Fink.
00:07Hello.
00:08So I'm just going to quickly set the scene here as we dive into some Sleep Awake footage.
00:13So we actually, we're playing as Cartier, and this is a little bit into the game, so this is not the beginning.
00:18And we are basically, we're questing across the last known city on Earth, which is known as the Crush, where we're delivering an anti-sleep infusion.
00:25And the reason we're doing that is because falling asleep in the world of Sleep Awake means pretty much certain doom.
00:32So Cartier's trying to stay awake, she's trying to deliver her anti-sleep infusion, and it doesn't go well, Robin, if people fall asleep.
00:45Here we are, we're in a place called the DTM HQ. Who are the DTM? Why are we so afraid of them?
00:50Right. These are the agents of the Delta Transport Ministry. We call them the DTM, and they are seeking to subjugate the remaining populace of the Crush.
01:02The DTM are a roving enemy, and they're violent.
01:06The premier minister of the DTM is Xavier Prynne, and he was once a revered leader in the study of permanent wakefulness at the Somnological Institute.
01:17Xavier has since splintered from the Institute to herald this cult of extremists who believe that those who are not living the way of the Delta Transport are attractors of the hush, and thereby a threat to the safety of all.
01:32There are many cults of extremists led by false prophets who each believe that they alone can lead the way to permanent wakefulness.
01:40How have they decided to stay awake? Let's talk about their design.
01:44They wear a cinched hood and mouthpiece, leading to a shouldered tank of hydriliox.
01:50This is a compound that produces a known effect of hydrogen narcosis, causing controlled symptoms of hallucinations, disorientation and confusion.
02:01And the DTM rely on this to provide an experience of continued wakefulness.
02:06Well, that's helpful. Good.
02:09We saw a lot of stealth gameplay there. We're at their mercy, right? There's no way that we can't take them on.
02:17That's right. Katya will be using her environment as cover as she's improvising to remain unseen and unheard as she moves forward through her world.
02:26There are traversal and stealth areas where she needs to remain undetected by intelligent enemies who are out to get her.
02:35Katya lives alone in the Crush, having lost her family when she was young.
02:39Some to the Swell, which was a torrent of acid rain that filled the basin of the walled city,
02:45driving those who remain to live in the upper reaches of this crumbling last place on Earth.
02:50And she lost others to the Hush, those who disappeared in their sleep.
02:54Katya has come up a self-reliant escapist. She's resourceful, like her father, and she's recklessly curious.
03:05And she needs to improvise in this unreliable world of shifting cityscapes, shifting from tectonic destruction and from roving, oppressive and violent ideology.
03:17But she still cares, right? She's, I mean, as we're questing here, we're actually questing to Ama.
03:22So even then the world is awful, but she's brave enough to traverse it for someone she loves?
03:27Yes, she's making a journey here to her last remaining loved one named Ama.
03:35Ama was once caretaker for Katya and her younger brother, Bo, when they were kids.
03:41And Ama, now many years later, is unable to leave her dwelling and the place where she lives is becoming further and further away from where Katya lives.
03:52Fuck it.
03:55Fuck!
03:57Katya makes this journey to deliver a anti-sleep infusion that she regularly brews and makes the journey to deliver to Ama to help her remain awake and alive.
04:10And I think as we can see from the gameplay, this just becomes far, it becomes more dangerous every time she makes it because she's having to sort of cross this sleepless world.
04:20But it's also, as you say, a great chance for us to kind of see the factions out there, see the way that the world has responded to not being able to fall asleep.
04:28I think that's one especially fascinating element is how everyone tries and these different methods that they either succeed or indeed, as we see witness of, fail.
04:37That's right.
04:39There are different cult factions who are all in disagreement with one another about who is a harbinger of the hush to the city and putting everyone in danger.
04:50There is a cult called the Pain Eaters who believe that their principle to remain awake is self-inflicted pain.
05:00They wear these clamps and they're a violent group driven to madness and wakefulness through pain, excruciating devotion.
05:14I am truly awake!
05:17There's another group called the Machinists and the Machinists are a faction that remain awake through high voltage electricity and they believe that the only way that they will truly remain awake is through this dangerous means of high voltage, which they refer to as ohm printing.
05:40I don't think Katya has reached the end of her journey or her terrifying journey through the crush, but that's where we'll stop for now.
05:51So thank you so much for sharing some of the world of Sleep Awake with us, Robin.
05:55Oh man, my pleasure.
05:56You can play Sleep Awake on December 2nd in full form.
05:59You can find out all the different ways to try and desperately stay awake and survive on the crush and join Katya on December 2nd on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X and S.
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