The Sandman is a fantasy RPG game created by Uri. It is the second installment of the Strange Men series.
Plot
A girl named Sophie Grundler suffers from insomnia. No matter what she tries, she's unable to fall asleep. One night, she notices something odd going on with all the clocks and the town itself. She discovers that the Sandman, a fairy who controls everyone's sleeping patterns, has decided to put the whole world to sleep forever. Now she's the only one who can stop him.
Characters
Sophie Grundler
The lead female protagonist of the game. As mentioned before, she suffers from insomnia and is the only person awake in the world. Intially, she tries saving two of her classmates and her father, only to lose them in horrific circumstances. She discovers that everything she's seen has been a part of Lullaby's attempt to make her sleep. She decides to go after the Sandman himself and put an end to his plan.
The Sandman
A mystical fairy in charge of making people sleeping. He was originally thought of as the main villain of the game. However,it's revealed through his story and Sophie's that all he wants to sleep for a while. When he discovers that humans are still awake after sprinkling the Eternal Sleep Powder, he creates Lullaby to help those still awake fall asleep. During the epilogue of the next game, The Boogie Man., it is shown that the Sandman continues to watch over Sophie.
Lullaby
A creature made by the Sandman to put people to sleep. Its sole purpose is to be whoever or whatever a person wants it to be in order to get them to sleep. In the first half of the game, he mascarades as David Hoover and follows her around the town. It first becomes four dark shadows and torments Anne, then becomes a group of homicidal soldiers that plan a firing squad for Regan, and finally a dragon that sets Sophie's father's building on fire. Once the Unicorn reveals that the real David Hoover is asleep at his girlfriend's house, Lullaby drops the act and, if Sophie leaves her jewel with the Unicorn, it turns into its true form. It's noted that Lullaby can read the Sandman's language, Sophie asks Lullaby to read notes and memento's from the Sandman.
Unicorn
A lolicon-loving unicorn that plays a small role. He's despised by everyone in the Fairy World, especially the Sandman. Earlier in the game, he leads Sophie to Shirley's apartment and exposes Lullaby as a fraud. He tricks Sophie into giving him a pink jewel, which represents Sophie's love.
Anne Flanagan
One of Sophie's classmates and friend. Even though Anne says that she hates seeing Sophie getting picked on, she never really helped her. When Sophie goes looking for her, Lullaby turns into four shadow-like figures and started picking on Anne and calling her a liar.
Regan Blumberg
One of Sophie's classmates and a former friend. She used to be friends with Sophie when they were kids and they talked about their problems. However, Regan later taking her frustrations on her by bullying her. When Sophie starts looking for people in the mall, she finds Regan tied on a pole and about to be killed by a firing squad. She manages to get Regan freed, but Regan intially refuses to go with Sophie, insisting that her mother would come to her rescue.
David Hoover
The protagonist from The Crooked Man as a minor character here. He is a close friend of Sophie's and her unintentional crush. He first met her when she was getting ice cream and walking down the street. To make up for the ice cream he ruined, he took her to a cafe and bought her a cake. While there, they bonded and David befriended her. He told her that if she ever wanted to talk to him, she would meet with him at the same cafe. However, when she saw him walking with Shirley, who is now his fiancee, she felt hurt. In the good ending, he introduces Shirley to Sophie and they decide to eat dinner together.
Bonus Chapter
After the player beats the game, there is an extra story that can be played through the Sandman.
This is told through the eyes of the Sandman, showing his perspective on the events of the game, mostly the Fairy World part of the game. He will converse with other characters, mostly the Dust, about what is going on. This will include an ending that's only accessible by the Sandman falling asleep.
Endings
Like other RPG games, there are multiple endings for the player to choose.
Bad End 1: Queen of the Night
If Sophie let the Unicorn keep the jewel and to kill the Sandman, she declares that the whole situation is the Sandman's fault for putting the world to sleep to gain sleep himself. She decides to stay in the Fairy World and seek revenge on the people in her life.
Bad End 2: Sleep With One Eye Open
If Sophie decides to take the jewel and to kill the Sandman, she returns to the human world and spends the rest of eternity trying to wake people up, including David. It ends with her curled up on her bed with her comforter wrapped around her. Suddenly, she notices her closet opens and peeks through one eye, trying to see what it is.
Bad End 3: Invisible Sweet Heart
If Sophie takes back the jewel and puts the Sandman to sleep, she stays in the Fairy World and turns into a Glimmer
Bad End 4: See You in Bad Dream
This ending is accessible if you play as the Sandman. If you manage to put Sophie to sleep, she'll be stuck in an eternal nightmare. When the Sandman goes to bed himself, he reflects on Sophie's sad face and cries himself to sleep.
Good End: Don't Stay Up Late at Night
If Sophie lets Unicorn keep her jewel and puts the Sandman to sleep, she herself starts falling asleep. Lullaby, who appears in the previous endings, transforms into Sophie's mother and manages to get her to finally fall asleep. When the Sandman wakes up, he carries Sophie to the human world, tucks her into bed, and unfreezes time. Sophie wakes up the next day and finally lets her father know how sorry she is for him working hard to support the two of them, tells Regan to stop picking on her, calls Anne on her passive and contradicting nature, and becomes friends with David and his fiancee, Shirley. She smiles and gives him a victory sign to the Sandman who watches her through his telescope.
Good Ending: Welcome Back, Insomnia!
Again, this ending can be obtained by playing as the Sandman. If he lets himself fall asleep, he wakes up after a few centuries have passed and takes Sophie back home. After he sees Sophie smile and give him a victory sign, he writes in his diary why he took the job as the Sandman: to make people happy. The next day, he talks to Dwarf about what happened and confesses that he no longer wants to sleep and is in love with Sophie. When the Sandman goes to sleep, he thinks about Sophie's smiling face and sighes dreamily.