As someone who has been a fan of horror games since they were young, I have seen quite a variety of different games and experienced most of the horror styles. While PM Studios and Endflame haven’t developed something that is new to the genre, the preview build for Ikai alone showed that they are definitely creating a unique experience; especially if you are not accustomed to some of the Japanese lore the game uses. They did a good job introducing the tales you needed to know for the experience while simultaneously leaving you in the dark to figure it out yourself.

Gameplay

To help the player get the hang of the controls and initial layout of the level the preview build takes place in, they have you do a few mundane chores. Starting off, you have to make a few protective seals, which ends up being a big part of the game and is likely to be a big part moving forward. Then it is simple stuff, such as sweeping the floor and taking the dirty clothes down to the river to be washed. However, it is at the point that you reach the river that things change.

Along the way, you would have learned the path to get back to the temple you came from and read a few notes that tell of you some of the dangerous demons to look out for. On the way back, you will experience a few jump scares, but once you are finally back in the small village-like area, this is when the game becomes an actual unique experience.

From here, you will be wandering around the village in search of a cursed object. You know this because your character verbally states what steps need to be taken next for your current situation as she is supposed to be a young novice in the understanding of Japanese demonic handling; the brief intro heavily implies this with the intro dialogue and the reasoning you make a few practice protective seals. Once you find the cursed object, it is time to make the seal to ward the demon off. This is where the game got more interesting.

Make your way back to the first temple area and find the brush with ink on it so you can make your protective seal. I didn’t come across anything truly dangerous until this point. The first instinct you’ll have is to make the seal on the table you make the practice ones on earlier. When you try this, she will mention that it isn’t safe to do that there. If you don’t believe her, go ahead and try to make it once. Once the game reloads, don’t do it again and start looking for more places you can work on the seal.

You will need to find a table that you can work on and then light the lantern nearby that table to give you light. From something I learned the hard way, do not make the entire seal at a single table. You will want to move around, even if you don’t actively see the entity nearby - just know it is. I’m not sure if it has a physical and spiritual state, so that is how it knows, or what, but the entity you witness walking about and avoiding isn’t the only, or perhaps core, enemy.

Once you finish the seal, put it on the cursed item, and the next phase will begin. This will be a quick-thinking required runaway sequence where failing to take the correct path or get over a wall in time will cause you to meet instant death. This segment is all about quick thinking and then sneaking. In the end, your final escape path will require you to solve a puzzle.

Expectations

After playing this preview, I feel that I have a fond understanding of everything the game will offer. When it comes to the different creatures, I really like how each one has its own style. However, it didn’t make sense to me that I would get caught making the seal even if the entity wasn’t near me. I know there were sounds that we’re able to be used as queues to stop making the seal and move, but there was nothing actually there. Some kind of visual proof of their nearby presence would better portray this, even if they are blind and can only sense energy from the creation of a seal. The same goes with the dropping heads outside; I kept looking up from the moment I saw the note about them, but I never saw them even when I looked up just before one would drop. Players should have the chance to see them and either prepare for them or be able to avoid them with that knowledge.

The controls when making the seals was literally impossible for me to do with my mouse. I ended up playing the preview with a controller because it was the only way I was going to pull off these seals. I believe I have fairly decent mouse control, so it would be nice for players like myself, or perhaps with even less mouse control skill than I have, for there to be a guide control. It doesn’t have to be perfect or make it so that it always works as long as we did the general motion, but the free movement on seal drawing just isn’t working with the mouse.

Verdict

Ikai already shows that it has strong potential for a proper horror game based in Japanese culture! I already read two tales I had not heard of before and can only imagine there will be a few more in the finished game. This game is shaping up to be a solid horror game and I can’t wait to play the finished version of it when it is released in March! So far, it has been an interesting horror experience that helped me feel like I got to know Japanese horror culture a little bit more.