how horror is it? I don't like horror/scary games but that sounds interesting to me
It's not scary in the slightest (so far) but even the director said the game isn't scary.
"Kenji Kimura: This is a game where you can visit a paranormal Tokyo and go sightseeing. You can enjoy it in a very casual way to ease some stress and just have fun. It is not scary."
However, the enemy designs are pretty sinister and it definitely contains horror elements. The story is relatively dark in tone too but it has a great sense of humor and is really quirky.
One thing that I really like, the way the world is designed and how sparse enemies can be, it's sometimes hard to see if there's an enemy in the distance. So while you're exploring the city, it's mostly ambient noise and different music that is playing from businesses. It works really well and never feels like you're playing in silence, super absorbing and atmospheric. With that sound design though, sometimes I'll walk by a business, hear something, and it'll make me flinch cause I think it's an enemy. It's really clever game design. The actual OST plays while you fight enemies and other things like that. You also have the ability to scan the environment and it shows outlines of items/enemies but I don't really use it most of the time. It's not all that necessary when you're just exploring and not in a mission. I prefer to look for things in a normal manner.
I do expect some areas to get spooky though, I'm pretty sure I read that you go into the sewers and I know you eventually fight a slit-mouthed woman with giant scissors, that will probably be intense.
You also have a flashlight that you can turn on/off at will, it's not really necessary most of the time cause the game does a good job with businesses lighting the streets but I do have to use it occasionally.
I wish there was a demo cause footage doesn't really capture how great the game feels once you start playing and realize what the game actually is. It's not a twitch shooter whatsoever and it just feels solid to me across the board. I realized last night that there's kind of a parkour mechanic with the platforming. You can jump near low roofs and the character will pull himself up onto them. Same with fences. Once I realized that, the platforming element really opened up and I found myself getting to rooftops and jumping/gliding all over the place. It's designed in a clever way, they did a good job with making you think about how to get to the next roof because the glide is limited to 2 seconds at first but can be upgraded to 5 seconds. There's no fall damage either so it's no big deal if you fall. There's also these friendly spirit birds that you can grapple to to get to roofs and navigate to other roofs but most of the time you'll be jumping and gliding.
A tip in case you get the game: On most roofs you'll climb onto an AC box cause that's the highest point. Don't try to get a running start when you decide to jump and glide to a new spot, the jump doesn't really register and you'll likely just run off the AC box. Just jump in place and hold forward while gliding, you'll make it to the next roof even if you think you won't (as long as it's not
that far).
My only issues so far,
The climbing animation is kinda nonexistent, it just happens. It works though so I can't really complain about it, it just looks weird. The jumping can feel off at times and sometimes I accidentally glide when I don't mean to but I'm getting better at it and it doesn't happen all that much anymore.
Other than that it's just a pretty basic game that manages to scratch a certain kind of itch. The last two mornings I've woke up like 2-3 hours earlier than I normally would just so I can play the game (5 - 5:30 am). It's so fucking chill. Just sipping coffee, gaming with headphones on. Dog comes down and sits on my lap. It's a total joy, ha.
Karak
said.
stevivor.com
