Parasomnia

Parasomnia is a 2D psychological horror game with pixel-style visuals. It follows Sunny, a child who suffers from night terrors, and places the player inside her subconscious to experience her fears from her own perspective. The game presents a series of nightmare stages in which the player must find a way out while dealing with a spreading black fog and pursuers that keep following them through the dark.

Alongside the escape sections, the game frames its nightmares as a way of examining Sunny’s memories. Fragments of her waking life appear within the dreams, and the player is encouraged to gather these pieces to work out what has actually happened to her. Parasomnia includes a branching outcome system: as a nightmare draws to a close, players who are unhappy with how things have turned out can return to earlier points and make different choices, leading to alternative results.

Controls use W, A, S and D for movement and menu selection, F to confirm or interact with objects such as valves and documents, and Escape to pause or go back. The game was made by a team of six university students as a summer project and was developed over roughly two months. It has now moved from development to a full release on Steam.