If you don’t already suffer from insomnia, developer King Dinosaur Games’ upcoming 2D turn-based strategy game, That Which Sleeps, may prevent you from ever sleeping again. That Which Sleeps is a unique strategy game that was funded through Kickstarter last year. It takes clear inspiration from Cthulu, fantasy, steampunk, and medieval settings. It is not a game for those who are opposed to taking part in nefarious actions against the innocent peoples of digital worlds or for those who have issues taking on an evil role in general. If you don’t have a strong opinion or even cackle with delight when you get a chance to manipulate digital empires, then this is certainly one to watch if you’re a fan of deep and thematic strategy games.
That Which Sleeps is a game that is difficult to describe due to the fact that it veers far off the well-beaten path and appears to be a rather complex and involved simulation. It is in some respects a grand strategy game, a god game, and an RPG all in one. You take on the role of an ancient evil, a long dormant god looking to return and impose your will upon the people. There are a plethora of activities that you’ll take part in to increase your strength at the expense of others. For example, a few things you’ll be able to do are deploy and advance agents, infiltrate and manipulate empires and their rulers, disrupt trade routes, bring about wars, kill meddlesome heroes, and introduce plagues.
While this may sound like an easy task for an ancient evil, you are weak and vulnerable when you first awake. You must pace yourself as some still remember you from the stories they’ve heard of your past deeds. If they uncover your plot to return too soon, your mission may end before you can complete it. Yet, you can’t wait forever to complete your mission or the people will become too strong. As the developer himself states, “you can almost always succeed at something, it just takes longer. Time is your enemy.”
There are currently plans for 3 uniquely different core scenarios, and each of these also includes 2 supplementary scenarios. Mod support is also planned. Each scenario includes a complete history of factions, their rivalries, their likes and dislikes, their armies, governments, and traits that control their overall AI. These scenarios contain far more than just humans, and you can expect to come across minotaurs, gnomes, orcs, mages, and other unusual races. There are also 8 ancient evils (aka old ones) to choose from and each has their own unique powers and goals, some of which are easier than others, and this helps determine the game length and difficulty you’ll have winning the game.
As a game with what seems like a potential for near limitless replayability, we can only hope it succeeds in delivering a well polished and user friendly experience when it releases. As for the current “state of the game”, the devs said in a recent update to have been “making great progress every week” but they are also still “very hesitant to set a date” for the Beta at this moment.
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I missed the Kickstarter for this game. It looks interesting.
Me too, but luckily the game got funded and we get a second chance :-)
Any ‘let’s play’ sort of video that requires THAT MUCH EXPLAINING… it’s not a good sign.
But it does appear to be a new thing.
Didn’t know the existence of this game thanks Keith.
Looks like it has half-decent depth at least. Let’s examine some more…
You’re most welcome. I only recently learned of it myself and had a feeling it had flown under the radar for many others as well. I will certainly be keeping a close eye on it.
This is probably my most anticipated game at the moment. A truly original game concept is a rare thing but they also appear to be approaching it in a deep, detailed, multi-layered strategic way. Definitely a far cry from the modern trend of dumbing everything down to “angry birds” level.
Its nice to see that some devs still have some respect for our intelligence. I really hope this game is successful and they get the recognition they deserve for daring to do something different and original. I didn’t know whether this sort of thing was up Space Sector’s alley, but I’m glad it is. Thanks Keith.
Being an ancient evil has never looked so enticing. I cant wait to get my hands on the release.
Oh, it is most definitely up my alley. I am fascinated with the design of this game and I’m very excited to see how it progresses. I do wish we saw interesting concepts like this one come along more often. If I can, in some small way, help that happen, I’ll certainly try.
Love the concept. The crowd that likes grand strategy, board game aesthetic AND cathulu can’t be that large so best of luck to the devs.
I’ll definitely keep an eye on this one.
Thank Space Sector for bring attention to this one.
I think the game’s epic fantasy setting is channeling Sauron more than Cthulhu, so it might also attract Lord of the Rings fans too, but yes I agree its still a pretty narrow niche.
Always interested in new Strategy games, especially turn based ones. This seems like it’s trying to create it’s own personality , which is a good thing. Looking forward to seeing it progress. Thanks for the heads up.
One thing I have noticed in recent years is that far too many strategy games have omitted putting in any type of Hall of Fame/High Score record to their games. Since the vast majority are mostly played in single player mode, I find this strange. It does give more re-playability to games that might otherwise not have much or any. I like to know if I did better this time than the last time I played it.. :D
Hall of Fames was, at least for me, taken for granted after 90’s classics like Civ2, MOO2, Heroes of Might and Magic, Alpha Centuari etc. all had a Hall of Fame.. Even Galactive Civ 2 when it came out had none till lot of us complained in their forum. Their expansion added it in. Just a thought…
After seeing youtube videos of it, I’m even more enthused. It seems to be in part inspired by the old “Dominion” strategy series, with a dash of Warlords type battles thrown in. :D
I really like the look of this. I’ll definitely be checking it out.