It’s alright. Not my cup of tea though. Seems like almost everything has no meaning due to the ending. not even worth going through a second time.
The romances are okay. The story is alright. Didn’t encounter any errors. Replayability isn’t too good. The story itself is pretty unique.
This game will be released this Thursday, February 1st!
The demo is now available to play here: Don’t Wake Me Up
Wow so soon. Looking forward to it.
That’s pretty fast. I only played the demo a little months ago last year so I don’t know much stuff but it still looks like an interesting game to try and play.
In light of Don’t Wake Me Up releasing soon, I am going to remove the testing version from the forum here! I can’t wait!
Long sappy message pending on Thursday.
I enjoyed the game. Good job!
What an absolute, enjoyable masterclass in passion intersecting with profession. Quite proud to have interacted with the mere existence of the game, let alone gregariously enjoying the sentimental flesh of the game itself. The kind of game that makes me feel…how I felt…when I played something like COG’s “Choice of Robots” or “Creatures Such as We”.
Like the aspects and the particular realities of being so immersed inside the narrative of the game itself could spin on for hours, forever, even after the game had reached its conclusion.
Shorter words simply demand:
BRAVO. BRAVO. BRAVO.
I think we all wanted for Asterius to be real
The game is finally out. These are not my characters any more, but they are now there for you to imagine them as you please. Learn from them what you want to learn. Feel for them what you want to feel.
Don’t Wake Me Up is a testament to everyone like me who grew up terminally online and lonely. Who relied on fictional characters to feel attached to and get them through social isolation. Who didn’t feel capable of being romantically attracted to anyone around them and who questioned why only fiction could make your heart flutter.
To me, finishing this game, which took 9 years, and which was started when I was still 16, has ended up being about processing many lonely teenage years spent behind a screen. I feel like all of the questions and feelings shown in this game are resolved now.
Last year, another game I worked on widely won critical awards across many fields. But somehow I consider managing to publish Don’t Wake Me Up to be the proudest achievement of my life. Even though most of the writing is from 2015, and I’ve improved a lot since. I never expected to finish it as the years went on. But I care about the ideas that are present in this game, I always will, and I think the emotions I felt as a terminally-online teenager living through escapism writing aren’t as lonely as I thought - I’ve talked to so many people because of writing this game who felt the same way, that Don’t Wake Me Up speaks to. I hope if you in any way relate to the main protagonist of Don’t Wake Me Up, that the game makes you feel less alone, too.
Thank you for all of your support. If you liked Don’t Wake Me Up, the best way to support it is by leaving a review on Steam or the platform it was purchased on - or even by sharing it with others. Thank you, thank you <3
It is here \(//∇//)\！！！
Thank you for creating this true masterpiece!!! Since I’m not really good at saying congratulations, hope you enjoy this small fanart of mine.
P/s: I can’t really figure out Asterius hairstyle through the pixel chibi art, please spare me from the terrible hairdo. orz orz orz
Ahh that’s so wonderful and flattering you wanted to draw my characters! I’ve made this my desktop wallpaper! Receiving fanart and fanfiction is really the dream coming true. All that matters is that the game inspires a few people to create things themselves 
If you post this on the steam community art section - everyone who launches the game will see it crop up in their library - I’d love for more people to see it,
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!
I… was expecting something silly and light-hearted but while I did laugh out loud at a few things throughout, I ended up having a lump in my throat for 2 hours after finishing it 
. Thank you, author.
I stayed with Asterius.
I’m really conflicted on this novel, having just finished it a few times and perusing the discussion on these forums. On one hand, this was one of the most unique sci-fi novels I have read in recent memory, with unique characters and a rollercoaster story (if tropey) that had me gripped. However, I can’t help but be apprehensive at the conclusion.
Nearing the end I was expecting a bittersweet resolution, but through replays and review it would appear this a very specific story was intended to be told. While I agree the romance with Asterius felt off, it did so in the manner that romancing most game characters feels and not uniquely so, as you are manipulating this being into liking you. Len did not feel right for me as both a straight romance, and as a person who didn’t appear to want romance. I would then romance Asterius or none (as the physical side came a bit too fast for my liking), yet this feels like the clear wrong way to play which is strange for these kinds of novels. Maybe I was not the target demographic, but Len did not feel as impactful on me as many others in these forums as he appeared a side/background character if not sought out to romance (and gone near the end) so the shift to him being the focus in the end was both unexpected and jarring.
On the other hand, Asterius felt like the deuteragonist, and appeared to be setting up some conflict with them in the climax but this was not so. It appeared as though the game would end with the choice to wake up from the simulation, maybe with Asterius being wiped if this was done. I believe this would lean more into the philosophical themes of facing reality and the pleasure machine metaphor, but the shift to melodrama was just unexpected and as such didn’t land for me. I’m general I just feel Asterius was focused on too much to be relegated to a steppingstone for Len’s story in the end.
Sorry for my rant, and I still think this is a great novel, but I’d like to hear others thoughts on my interpretation.
Congratulations on the release! I was hooked in from the blurb of how self-referential to the genre it is. The parody inside the game itself didn’t disappoint, especially after knowing it’s supposed to be a reflective game on the nature of virtual relationship. The tonal shift to the last one is slightly jarring to me but I like the overall story that it tells.
I was going to ask you how much input you have on Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3, but I’ve found an internet article that already gives the answer. Everyone who plays both games would see the parallels between him and Len, seeing as (spoiler for both games) They’re both hot, psychopathic vampires with issues with objectifications as hot, psychopathic vampires. And if I may ask, even if Dark Urge doesn’t seem as tied to Don’t Wake Me Up in Astarion, are there influences between these two work of yours?
All I got to say is that this was a truly amazing story in which you poured your life into I know romancing asterius won’t get you that good and ending but it was an ending I liked nonetheless including the ending in which I made Len have to take care of all those people who were gonna be trapped in vr with him for as long as they lived not gonna lie it made me tear up a bit even if it is a fictional story I hope you keep making great games like this one and hope your irl life is going well take care.
AHHHHHH THIS WAS SO GOOD?? I was absolutely drawn in by the (and I mean this in the most sincerely complimentary way possible) earnestly cringe vibes and I got so invested and god I just finished with one of the bad endings and it ruined me. This was fantastic. I’m going to be thinking about the themes and characters and everything for the rest of the week now. You did amazing here.
@Baudelaire_Welch Thank you so much for sharing this with the world <3 My first playthrough was extremely humbling and eye-opening, but I can’t quit it. The world you’ve built and the characters you’ve developed are so layered and deeply interesting, and the satire and subversion of such well-loved tropes is so refreshing. Ty ty ty.
As I was reading (and got several “bad” LEN endings in a row, oof) I wondered if you’d happened to read a manhwa called “Concubine Walkthrough”? It’s a devastating and beautiful work, and I think the themes within are similar to “Don’t Wake Me Up” but different enough to potentially be interesting. Totally understandable if you needed a break from the subject matter too!
Once again, thank you and take care <3
I just started playing the demo and when I put the Top Hat on, I got a huge boost in my stats. You don’t have to tell me if it’s a big spoiler but is there anything I should know about this Top Hat? I don’t really like Top Hats that much but I was interested since Joe said a Necromancer left it.
I’ll be honest, I did not expect to be crying by the end of this… yet here I am. I really want to know what constitutes as a good ending with Len? I worked hard getting max stats (or as close as I could) for both friendship and romance, but I’m now wondering how much that actually matters…
For everyone who requested it, here is the endings guide listing all of the paths to get to various endstates of Don’t Wake Me Up. It also includes which endings have substantial content in and of themselves.
I sorely recommend clicking on the google drive link instead of trying to peer into ze wee png but you can download that and look at it if you want.
