Yomawari: Night Alone

 PC
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. Hardcore Gamer
    Oct 26, 2016
    70
    Yomawari: Night Alone is a game that will be remembered more for its tone and story than gameplay, but that’s enough to recommend it. The PC port is clearly unoptimized from the Vita build, with issues like having to shoo the cursor off the screen every time you fire up the game, but the adventure of a little girl wearing a big red bow and a bunny backpack going out again and again into a haunted town is instantly engaging, hooking the player completely within the first couple of minutes.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16
  1. KrakenOfPepsi
    Oct 14, 2019
    5
    The setting and the visuals of this game are phenomenal. I absolutely love the setting of a small town in Japan being haunted by strangeThe setting and the visuals of this game are phenomenal. I absolutely love the setting of a small town in Japan being haunted by strange spirits. The game is heavy on atmosphere, there is virtually no music in this game, so it really feels like you're alone in the town. The town itself is huge, and fairly open. It was always fun to explore the town, and every part of it looks detailed and gorgeous. My biggest gripe with the game however and why I honestly can't recommend it however unless you can score it for very cheap, is just how weak the gameplay is.

    There are virtually no puzzles in this game, and there is no combat whatsoever. So the entire game is just running from point A to point B while avoiding enemies. Again, there are no puzzles. You literally just look around for items to progress through the game. Every area is just looking for a key to open a door, or walking through a linear area just avoiding insignificant enemies and obstacles. The game is completely focused on exploration, but apart from looking for mandatory items there's really no point to exploring the town. You can find a bunch of optional items, but they rarely have any real relevance to the plot, and none of the items have any practical use, they do nothing at all apart from sit in your inventory.

    Almost every enemy is just a re-skin of the same enemy which just runs at you at varying speeds. Almost every single enemy can be avoided by just running past them. Sneaking is only really necessary when the game makes you or when you find specific enemies, and the hiding mechanic is busted - most enemies will just camp you while you hide behind something, so unless you can run past them once being spotted there's almost no point in trying to get away from them. Also, death and the penalty for failure are nonexistent, which is arguably the most important aspect of a horror game. When you die you immediately respawn at a checkpoint with NO penalty, you keep all the items you picked up and almost all events will remain activated after you find them. Some of the events don't seem to have been implemented very well either. There were times where the game would have a boss monster jump out at you and seemingly be unavoidable, only to have it no be there again next time you're there. It feels like cheap jump scares. I also encountered strange moments where I would seemingly sequence break and despawn certain enemies.

    The items you can find e.g. stones, coins, matches and salt are virtually useless. I went the entire game without ever needing to use them apart from one area where you HAVE to use matches to progress. Coming back to the enemies, most of them just run at you and have no special gimmicks to set them apart from each other except their visuals. The few enemies that did were far and few, and made little impact on the experience anyways. There are also a few areas in which a 'boss' type enemy will stalk you for the duration of the area, and these quickly become extremely tedious. Your stamina just drains so quickly that you're constantly getting stuck trying to get away from the monster and getting frustrated because you end up just replaying the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥ chase sequence twenty times.

    As I mentioned earlier, you can sneak or run past enemies. Sneaking however is seemingly broken. I could not find any consistency in how the enemies reacted to me sneaking. Sometimes they would notice me immediately no matter when and where I started sneaking, and other times I could get so close to them without them noticing me I could actually walk into them to kill myself. I also find it bizarre that shining your flashlight on the enemies doesn't affect whether or not they see you, BUT then they add an enemy later on who does exactly that. It will bolt at you and kill you immediately if you shine your torch on it. None of this is ever explained. For the amount of enemies in the game, there is no real variety, every encounter with a new enemy will involve you running past it without even getting a chance to see how it behaves, or you tearing your hair out because you cannot figure out how the enemy behaves because they're behaviour is seemingly random and erratic. Sneaking was almost never mandatory, and feels very half-♥♥♥♥♥. The enemies as well feel very bland, and not very well thought out.

    Apart from that, the game was a little bit of fun, and the atmosphere and art overall was enough to get me to finish it. The gameplay was totally lacking however, and the story was just okay I thought, nothing too amazing. If the game wants to completely focus on exploration, then there needs to be an actual incentive for doing so, and the threats in the game need to be more than just enemies who follow you around sometimes and set you back 6 seconds if you die. It's not a bad game, its just not a very good one either. Feels like I'm playing a free to play RPG maker horror game, just with particularly high production value.    … Full Review »
  2. Letiste-Gaming
    Nov 1, 2016
    8
    Resulta curioso que un título independiente de exploración en 2D en el que controlas a una inocente niña me haya resultado lo más terroríficoResulta curioso que un título independiente de exploración en 2D en el que controlas a una inocente niña me haya resultado lo más terrorífico que he jugado en años (el último título que me puso el corazón en un puño así fue Outlast).

    Yomawari es el ejemplo perfecto de que no se debe juzgar un libro por su tapa. Que sus modestos valores de producción y su escasa jugabilidad no os alejen de esta experiencia tan bien realizada, que os hará pasar un buen (mal) rato en las 4 horas que dura la aventura.

    Con una ambientación muy original y escalofriante, unido a una historia bastante bonita que merece que le deis una oportunidad.    … Full Review »
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