Infinitap Games announced today that Neverending Nightmares is releasing on May 3 in North America and May 4 in Europe for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, complete with cross-buy. Priced at $14.99, PlayStation Plus members will see a 20% discount for the first two weeks following launch.
A psychological horror game that draws on the experiences of Infinitap’s Matt Gilgenbach dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder and depression, you play as Thomas, who wakes up from a nightmare to discover that he’s still in an “inception-style nightmare.” Throughout Neverending Nightmares, Thomas will explore nightmares filled with his darkest demons and fears, before waking up in one of three possible realities at the end of the game.
Gilgenbach adds:
While the story isn’t autobiographical, the feelings in the game very much are. Everything in the game was designed to recreate the feelings and thoughts I experienced at my darkest point in my mental health struggles. We are expressing this through all elements of the game including the game’s story, the environments, art style, and soundscapes.
The stylized impressionistic black and white art style influenced by Edward Gorey creates a bleak, dark, dramatic atmosphere and emphasizes the feelings of hopelessness. We used animated pen shading lines constantly animating towards you, designed to make you feel as if the world is closing in — a feeling often associated with mental illness. The haunting dark ambient score amplifies the tension as you explore progressively worse nightmare-scapes as the game progresses.
With Neverending Nightmares focusing on “a creepy unnerving atmosphere and disturbing events that get under your skin and haunt you long after you finish the game,” Thomas himself is completely defenseless and unable to find a solution or a way out of his nightmares. Because of his asthma, he can’t run for very long, giving the monsters time to catch up.
“Neverending Nightmares doesn’t have an emphasis on winning or losing,” Gilgenbach said. “This is not a game you can win, just like you can’t “beat” mental illness. It’s an ongoing struggle, and I wanted the game to represent that.”
As previously announced, the PS4 version targets 1080p/60 frames-per-second, while the Vita version targets 60fps.
