Download Neverending Nightmares for iPhone and iPad (App Store)
Download Neverending Nightmares for Mac (Mac App Store)

You have to play as Thomas Smith – a young man suffering from an endless series of nightmares, in which the main character is his younger sister Gaby. In fact, it is not exactly clear whether Thomas is an adult or a child. It is not known how Gabrielle relates to a man – wife, daughter, sister, or is she still the attending physician? What binds these people in general: family ties, long therapy sessions, suicide, accident, murder or suicide? You will have to find the answer to these questions yourself.

Waking up, Thomas leaves the bedroom and finds himself in a terrible mansion, where mannequins and living dolls with knives lie in wait for him in the rooms, where he finds his own corpse in one of the bedrooms and where the lifeless body of a black-haired girl hangs in the attic, whom he once knew. Is this reality, or has Thomas become a hostage to his own extraordinarily real nightmares?

Time after time, Thomas wanders through the same corridors of the same mansion, wanders aimlessly through the cemetery, the forest and the mental hospital – everything is like in a real nightmare. Neverending Nightmares doesn’t offer a particularly complex plot, and there’s not much to do here other than accompany the protagonist on a journey through his sick mind.

The game is based on the personal experience of its developer Matt Gildenbach, who himself has constantly battled with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neverending Nightmares is minimalist in every way, from design to mechanics. You can’t run for long, your asthma makes it hard to breathe, and shadows pulsate around you, giving you the feeling that evil is lurking in the darkness. The atmosphere of the game adds an interesting hand-drawn visual style, made in black and white. Only plot items are highlighted in color. Basically, these are warm shades – orange, yellow, brown and red, lots and lots of red.

In this ongoing nightmare, you can never be sure what is around you. With every step, things begin to change around you – blood stains and inscriptions appear on the walls of an ordinary room, portraits begin to distort, and previously lit areas plunge into darkness or the light becomes more subdued. All this, along with an ominous soundtrack and sounds, draws you into a game that is both predictable and not.

Another aspect that adds adrenaline to the game is the items and creatures that inhabit Neverending Nightmares. They are all alive in one way or another, from the paintings that are eyeing you, to the mutilated monsters that lie in wait in different parts of the game, and the dolls scattered on the floor. If the rest of the “characters” appear suddenly or rush towards you, then the puppets approach very, very slowly, causing a growing sense of panic. Although the dolls are slow, there are a lot of them, and if they get to you, it’s game over.

While the visual, audio, and horror elements of the game are brought to near perfection, the gameplay itself becomes boring as you progress. When you can barely walk a few meters without getting short of breath, it takes a lot of patience to reach your goal. While this only adds to the sense of helplessness, wandering endlessly around locations ends up being annoying, and having an unfortunate encounter with an enemy that sends you to the nearest save point makes you want to end the game.

However, despite the slow progress, Neverending Nightmares is a game filled with abstract ideas and naked depiction of psychological trauma, which in one way or another are familiar to all players. Not so much in terms of killing your own sister, but in the feeling of fear in its primal form, either from paralyzing nightmares, or from the feeling that someone is watching you.

Neverending Nightmares offers three endings that allow you to ultimately understand who Thomas is and what unites him with the girl: whether he is a killer, tormented by guilt, or a man with an unstable psyche, trying to cope with the loss of his family. However, the game leaves a feeling of understatement. Neverending Nightmares is based on a not-so-understandable plot that forces the player to ask endless “why?” And How?” and scroll through various theories in my head in an attempt to understand where is reality and where is a dream.

Download Neverending Nightmares for iPhone and iPad (App Store)
Download Neverending Nightmares for Mac (Mac App Store)

See also:

Download Neverending Nightmares for iPhone and iPad (App Store)
Download Neverending Nightmares for Mac (Mac App Store)

You play as Thomas Smith – a young man suffering from an endless series of nightmares, in which his younger sister Gaby is the main character. In fact, it is not exactly clear whether Thomas is an adult or a child. It is not known how Gabrielle relates to the man – wife, daughter, sister, or is she the attending physician? What binds these people in general: family ties, long therapy sessions, suicide, accident, murder or suicide? You will have to find the answer to these questions yourself.

Waking up, Thomas leaves the bedroom and finds himself in a creepy mansion, where mannequins and living dolls with knives lie in wait in his rooms, where he discovers his own corpse in one of the bedrooms and where the lifeless body of a black-haired girl he once knew hangs in the attic. Is this reality or is Thomas a hostage to his own extraordinarily real nightmares?

Over and over again, Thomas wanders the same corridors of the same mansion, wandering aimlessly through the cemetery, forest and mental hospital – everything, like in a real nightmare. Neverending Nightmares does not offer a particularly complex plot and there is nothing to do but accompany the protagonist on a journey through his sick mind.

The game is based on the personal experience of its developer Matt Gildanbach, who himself constantly battled depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neverending Nightmares is minimalist in everything from design to mechanics. You cannot run for a long time, because of asthma you have difficulty breathing, and shadows pulsate around you, creating the feeling that evil is hiding in the darkness. The atmosphere of the game is also added by an interesting hand-drawn visual style, made in black and white. Only plot items are highlighted in color. These are mainly warm shades – orange, yellow, brown and red, a lot of red.

In this never-ending nightmare, you can never be sure of your surroundings. With each step, things around you begin to change – blood spots and inscriptions appear on the walls of an ordinary room, portraits begin to distort, and previously illuminated areas plunge into darkness or the light becomes more subdued. All this, along with an ominous soundtrack and sounds, draws you into a game that is both predictable and not at the same time.

Another aspect that adds adrenaline to the game is the items and creatures that inhabit the Neverending Nightmares. All of them are alive to one degree or another, from pictures that are looking at you, to disfigured monsters lurking in different parts of the game, and dolls scattered on the floor. If the rest of the “characters” appear suddenly or rush at you, then the dolls approach very, very slowly, causing a growing sense of panic. Although the dolls are slow, there are many of them, and if they get to you, the game is over.

While the visual, audio and horror components of the game are brought to near perfection, the gameplay itself becomes boring as you progress. When you can barely walk a few meters without being tormented by shortness of breath, it will take a lot of patience to reach your goal. While this only reinforces the feeling of helplessness, endless wandering around locations ultimately becomes annoying, and an unsuccessful encounter with an enemy that sends you to the nearest save point creates a desire to end the game.

Nevertheless, despite the slow progress, Neverending Nightmares is a game filled with abstract ideas and an overt depiction of psychological trauma that all players are familiar with in one way or another. Not so much in terms of killing your own sister, as in the feeling of fear in its primordial form, either from paralyzing nightmares, or from the feeling that someone is watching you.

Neverending Nightmares offers three endings that ultimately make it possible to understand who Thomas is and what unites him with his girlfriend: whether he is a guilt-ridden murderer, or a person with an unstable psyche trying to cope with the loss of his family. However, the game leaves a sense of understatement. Neverending Nightmares is based on an obscure plot that forces the player to ask endless “why?” And How?” and scroll various theories in my head in an attempt to understand where is reality and where is dream.

Download Neverending Nightmares for iPhone and iPad (App Store)
Download Neverending Nightmares for Mac (Mac App Store)

See also: