Horror can be delivered in a number of ways, so it is good to experience a different mix in style as a horror fan. This time, giving us a defenseless horror that plays on the player’s paranoia, we have a Japanese title from developers Endflame and publisher PM Studios. This title is simply called Ikai and it is full of Japanese folklore, environments, and styling.

Story

Set in the feudal era of Japan, a priestess finds herself at the core of an invasive attack by demons! Being the one left to defend the shrine, she must face spirits of both past and present if she is to succeed. Each yokai will require their own approach, so she must stay sharp, act fast, and avoid falling for the paranoia that breeds within superstition.

Within the game, the lore is mainly just a reason to bring the character face-to-face with multiple demons. After one is cleansed away, the game will lead you into the next interaction with the next demon. It isn’t until a little over halfway into the game that the story becomes more relevant than a simple reason you are facing the demons.

Gameplay

Starting off the game, it plays like a quick tutorial. You will have to draw a few seals, which is a major aspect of the game, then it will have you look around the house area as you do a couple of chores. There is also a small game where you play hide and seek blindfolded with your younger sister, which becomes prevalent later in the game. Once you get to the point where you take the laundry to the river, the real game begins.

After you make your way into the forest area outside of the shrine, following the completion of your first of many puzzles, you will end up finding a ritual area. This is where you will lose consciousness and the horrors begin. You can find various papers that sometimes explain the horrors lore to you, but they won’t be helpful as far as facing and defeating the yokai demons.

Each section of the game will be played through a little differently. Whether it is timing something properly, avoiding getting caught by a demon while making a seal, running from certain death, or even exploring a strange area for the way to proceed. Good thing is, at the start of the section and sometimes when you spend a lot of time being lost, your character will say what you need to do or what you are looking for.

You will also come across sections where you have to hide, which can be done by crouching. These sections are all about timing, just as many aspects of this game are. Overall, as a defenseless horror, this game is all about solving puzzles, finding ways to proceed, and avoiding detection. But be careful, your paranoia can get you to do stuff that can get you caught just as easily as it can be the reason you didn’t get caught!

Audio and Visual

This game is not afraid to leave you in silence. You can expect to have sections of the game with no music and only sound effects matching your scenarios. But when there is music in the game, it is fitting even if it isn’t catchy.

The aesthetic of this game is rather nice as it provides an environment that is fitting to the era and proper Japanese scenery. The creatures from the folklore that is used in the game appear pretty accurate to the description notes you can find, which is also a nice touch. Overall, it was a good art style to go with for the type of game they provided.

Replayability

There are a lot of collectibles to find, but the game doesn’t offer much of a reason to go through more than one time.

What It Could Have Done Better

The whole aspect of drawing seals is really neat, but I had to play the game with a controller because I simply could not get a seal done with a mouse. I like what they did, but it would have been nice to have a form of handicap or aid in making the seal with a mouse. In my case, I am simply not artistically inclined, but for others, they may face a real problem that refrains from them being able to draw the seal so perfectly.

A couple of the demons didn’t seem to actually roam about the place and instead were just close enough to grab you if you let your guard down. I would have liked to do some avoiding and sneaking as well as maintain the paranoia watch while making seals. It would have put more emphasis on the danger and made the game a little more intense than it ended up being.

Verdict

Ikai is a solid Japanese horror game that plays with your paranoia to drive the fear! The setup and style of the game was well done, but it did end up being a rather short experience on its own. Even with that said, I appreciated how even when you were doing something in the game that was a bit of a repeat as before, it was presented in a new way. And even with that note, none of the puzzles felt like solving the same type of puzzle more than once, which is always a strong plus for me. Overall, this is a horror game I would recommend.

Ikai is now available on PC via Steam.