Sleep is Death in the Penal Zone -> Bunny-hat wins!

Thanks to GamerDork podcast #038 (with Leigh Alexander weighing-in as guest), I was seriously convinced into giving Sleep is Death a spin.

In a nutshell, Sleep is Death is a two player ONLY game by Jason Rohrer.  It’s kinda like the game is actually just an interface for an old school  narrative role-playing-game (think DnD without the tactical combat aspects, just the interactive story part).  One player is at the receiving part of the narrative game.

Sleep is Death Player POV

While the other acts like a DM, possibly having prepped the whole scenario beforehand, and can do adjustments on the fly.

Sleep is Death "DM" POV

Both Player and DM seems to have a 30 second interval for the next thing to happen.

Here’s a sample playthrough from RPS.  The article gives a pretty good overview of how both sides could feel.

One could argue that it’s been done before (to a degree).  Still, this version streamlines it to the core mechanics of interactive storytelling, using the game as the medium between the “players”.  Purchase of the game basically gives you two copies, very practical since it requires two players to play.  Unfortunately, I can’t think of anyone with whom I could play this (so much for so called “friends”).  Still, seriously considered getting it.

While pondering on this, Valve and Telltale Games decided to collaborate and give a Sam revolver, Max pistol, and (more importantly) a Max hat to TF2 players that buy The Devil’s Playhouse before April 23.

The Devil’s Playhouse, like the previous Sam & Max games, is an point-and-click episodic adventure game.  In this Steam iteration, you basically pay for the whole series, and you’ll get each episode as it’s done (currently scheduled at one per month).

Sam and Max looking at a rare Jan Hooksforhaans portrait

After some significant internal debate, I decided to get The Devil’s Playhouse.  I’ll consider Sleep is Death again at a later time (perhaps when I actually find a “friend” to play it with).  For now, my Engineer simply must have bunny ears.

Engie who thinks the bunny hat is a game-changing lucky-charm

sources:

• GamerDork podcast #038
• Sleep is Death official site
• Rock, Paper, Shotgun
• Team Fortress official site

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