NeverAwake, a creepy-cute shmup, opens fire on PC today

When the bough breaks…

Endless nightmares, hand-drawn weirdness, and twin-stick shmup action sound like a pretty bizarre list of ingredients for a video game concept, but that hasn’t stopped Japanese indie studio Neotro from mixing ’em up and creating the fascinating new release, NeverAwake, which launches today on PC.

NeverAwake is a twin-stick shmup set within a terrifying, never-ending sleep. A young girl, Rem, is plagued by a litany of daily troubles, all of which have suddenly chosen to manifest themselves into her dreams as unholy nightmares. Now trapped within a dungeon of her own plights and worries, Rem is forced to face each and every one of her fears, conjuring up an array of firepower and other abilities to take down the nasties.

Be it violent neighborhood dogs, the mean girls from high school, trips to the surgeon, or even those horrid vegetables she has to eat at mealtimes, Rem must steel herself against her own brain spiders, conquering these demons once and for all if she is ever to escape this literal nightmare and return to the waking world. NeverAwake boasts around 80 looped levels of action, complete with an array of grotesque bosses, hand-drawn visuals, an arsenal of dynamic weaponry, and even multiple endings, all painted against relentless, blood-pumping shmup action.

NeverAwake is available now on PC via Steam. You can also purchase the new title bundled with a digital artbook and the game’s soundtrack. For console fans, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch ports of NeverAwake will launch in January 2023, with physical editions to follow on both platforms.