Cute, But Surprisingly Horrific: A Yomawari: Lost In The Dark Review

By J,D,

Player(s): 1
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC (Via Steam)
CW: General Horror, Body Horror, Suicide, Self-Harm

What a horrible night to have a curse. Yuzu has awoken in a strange place, cursed with large gaps in her memories.Now, she has to piece together her lost memories while exploring her hometown in hopes of remembering how to break the curse before dawn. It’s not just her fate that hangs in the balance but also that of another mysterious girl Yuzu knows she knows but can’t remember. This is the setup for Yomawari: Lost in the Dark, a survival horror game from NIS and the third in the Yomawari series. I’d vaguely heard of the series before this but this game served as my full introduction to the franchise.

Most of the game is spent traversing Yuzu’s unnamed hometown which seems to be haunted by more spirits than any town that sprung from the mind of Stephen King. Learning how to evade those monsters allows the player to explore more places since Yuzu has no combat capabilities. The closest she gets is being able to throw rocks, coins and papers airplanes and sadly, there are apparently no spirits with a weakness for paper airplanes. Some enemies will require you to close your eyes, shrinking what you can see and forcing you to rely on the small lights they give off. Others don’t like being caught in a flash light and some you just have to run past hoping your stamina meter doesn’t run out.

This is where the horror of the game really comes through. The town is dark where spirits could be lurking around any corner. Often, the only patches of light come from streetlights and whatever Yuzu’s trusty flashlight can create. Whenever Yuzu is in or near something dangerous, the controller begins to vibrate with the intensity varying depending on threat level. I find this adds to the tension in every situation. The game also uses some intense imagery and words to convey the horror of the situation. There are times when a high-pitched scream is followed by a body cashing to the ground. There’s one monster that takes over most of the screen and asks you to gouge out your eyes and another time when the screen is filled with terrifying babies. I’m not a scaredy cat, but I didn’t think a game with this art style could get this scary.

Exploring the town allows Yuzu to find objects both important and trivial. Important items will help Yuzu’s quest in some way like unlocking some forgotten memory for her or allowing her to clear some obstacle in her path. At times, I felt lost for what to do or where to go.

Each memory relates to a different section of the town and comes with its own set of challenges. One of the first ones visited is the school. Here, the player will find challenges and scares themed around the mysterious Seven Wonders of the School like a mannequin in the science department that seems to move on its own. All of these come together in the confrontation sequence that caps off every area. Yuzu has to use her speed and her wits to exploit a vulnerability of the spirit attacking her.

These are some of the most fun sequences of the game and also some of the most frustrating. Yuzu dies to any damage forcing you to restart the fight so if you’re one task away from victory but accidentally get hit by the spirit, have fun doing all of that over again. Add on small random elements and hit boxes that seem a bit too large and you can find yourself dying over and over at things that you had previously breezed through for just being unlucky. For me, these encounters were mostly reasonable but the few that took me more than ten tries stick out in my memory. However, the rush of excitement as you perfectly time your actions to avoid the hazards the spirit sends at you and make your move to banish it nearly undoes those frustrations.  

I liked the UI for this game. It’s all made up to look like Yuzu wrote and drew it herself. This gives it a distinct feel and allows item descriptions to give us a little bit more info on her by her descriptions. The only downside for me is that it can make it difficult to tell apart similar items like a key when you have already found a dozen or so. They’re generally grouped according to the area they were found in so if you can remember that location on the inventory, it can make it a lot easier.

In conclusion, Yomawari: Lost in the Dark is a good game that is let down by frustrating design issues but if you’re looking for 10-ish hours of horror, you’ll get exactly what you want from this.

For More Information On Yomawari: Lost in the Dark:
https://nisamerica.com/yomawari/lost-in-the-dark/

---

Story: 
+ Each area has its own self-contained scary story.
+ Main story unfolds and guides the player without much overt direction.
Gameplay:
+ Reinforces the horror of being a young girl dealing with spirits.
+ Each area changes up parts of it.
- Some mechanics like throwing feel underused
Graphics:
+ Fully conveys the scary factor of the game
+/- UI Styling is both great for looking like a teen’s notes but it can make things difficult to locate.
Sound:
+ Fully conveys the scary factor of the game
Value:
? $40 for a 10-ish hour game.

Overall Rating: C

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

---