Time to Wake Up ticking closer to Steam release

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

First-person psychological dream thriller with "blink" mechanics unveiled for PC

You've heard the expression "blink and you'll miss it" before, but in Eye Blink Twice's upcoming psychological thriller Time to Wake Up, you'll need to blink to find out what you've been missing instead. 

One night you find yourself trapped in a strange dream "filled with school memories," unable to awaken. From out of thin air you hear a familiar but disembodied voice that claims to need your eyes – the voice of your subconscious, to whom "nothing is secret." The voice is willing to help you escape your dreamworld imprisonment, but doing so requires that you "find peace with your inner child and escape the shadows of your past." For that to happen, you'll need to take a surreal "trip down memory lane" in which nothing is as it seems. Your memory is fragmented, and you're not even sure you can believe your eyes here. In fact, you can't, as "only by blinking can you remember your past and find clues to escape it."

Described as a "psychological thriller featuring puzzle and narrative elements," Time to Wake Up is a first-person 3D adventure that takes place in a distorted version of your childhood school, with hints of liminal horror. You'll explore memories of "dusty library chambers, colorful playgrounds, tense toilets" and more, but here they are "all connected by absurd hallways and strange classrooms" with unusual lighting. There seems to be no way out, but appearances can be deceiving, which is where this game's main mechanic comes in. In this place "blinking is thinking" as "all memories have gaps in all shapes and sizes." To focus your recall, you just need to close your eyes, whether to "rearrange your surroundings, reset all motion, flood whole rooms, or turn them around." But change can mean danger, so you'll need to "watch your step" as "you never know what exactly is around the corner."

There is no firm target release date for Time to Wake Up just yet, but it's due out sometime in 2026 and you can set your alarm now by wishlisting the game on Steam, where it will be available for Windows PC.