For today’s review, I got to test Yuoni. Yuoni is a first-person narrative horror action game that has you play a lethal game of hide and seek against the ghost of a neglected, traumatized, and well… dead kid.
The game starts off with quite some text you have to read through to understand the backstory to the game. It basically comes down to an urban legend with regards to a haunted hospital where the eyeless and mouthless ghost of a kid, and its “shadow people” friends supposedly roam the hallways.
You play as grade-schooler Ai, a kid forced to play the game of Yuoni over and over in this world of permanent dusk. A world in which your days are spent being chased and attack over and over by otherworldly monsters, ranging from eyeless ghouls to eyeball monsters and more, that all require a different approach. Your goal is to find your way through the place, whilst evading the monsters and learning some very uncomfortable facts about you and your friends.
Whilst to me the game sounded very promising, I found it hard to get through this game and after several attempts, I gave up. Sadly the enemies are rather predictable and I found the game to be more frustrating and boring, rather than scary. By sneaking around, holding your breath in some places, and analyzing the patterns of the enemies, you can fairly quickly get through the levels. There are a few jumpscares in the game in the shape of flashbacks that are basically all the narrative within the levels. The visuals are solid, but the world feels rather repetitive and dull.
In conclusion, I just did not find myself anxious, nor interested enough in the story to keep on playing. The story itself felt rather forced and maybe tries to portray that childhood neglect and trauma leads to some pretty damn dark places, which sadly is true. But I am not looking for that outside of my day job as a psychologist. Whilst I think the right person can enjoy this game, I just did not. Horror games are often either a hit or a miss, and honestly, to me, Yuoni was a miss.
