This is one game I feel better playing with the lights on without my headphones, but the experience is that much more enhanced with them on. Even though it is simple, it gets is message across and still manages to pull out a few jump scares.
Pros: Each element (story, game play, audio, visual) work hand in hand with one another to create a chilling environment and one aspect of the game doesn’t over power the other. This makes the game one of those games that will have you jumping out of your seat if you’re in the dark with your headphones. Most background noise you hear is ambient noise (crickets/cicadas, electrical humming, etc), the character’s footsteps, and the heart rate system where the heart rate increases when ghosts/danger lurks nearby. The audio, or lack there of, sets the tone of the game. What makes the game stand out is the simple hand drawn 2D animation. Each monster is not elaborately drawn out but they still manage to feel very creepy. You cannot rotate the camera, and quite often your vision will be obscured with the background a tactic certain to make your heart pound a little bit because who knows what is lurking in the places you can’t see. The visible play area is a circumference of light around your character and whatever your flashlight illuminates. The overall atmosphere of the game is eerie. The simplicity of the game play translates the vulnerability of you character so the player feels the terror of what surrounds your character. Most events are fairly short, but worthwhile when you encounter them. Most times you’ll need to analyze how the monsters move in order to figure out how to avoid them. Game play is exploring, collecting objects, and puzzle solving. You have the option to “Hide” or “Run”, but your running meter is limited especially if the character is scared. Armed with only a flashlight, you cannot fight any of the monsters you encounter but must try to outrun them or sneak by without them coming into contact with you. Yomawari: Night Alone is a 2D, top down survival horror. Most objects you encounter are related to death or the dead somehow -you are not just trying to survive the night, you are trying to come to terms with the reality of death that surrounds you.
The protagonists initial denial of her dog, Poro, dying at the beginning of the game and her inability to admit to her sister that the dog has died starts her journey. Through the story the protagonist must come to understand mortality. The story is emotionally driven and becomes more than surviving the night to find your sister. You must explore your neighborhood and escape the scary things that go bump in the night. There are scary things in the night, but not knowing where Sis is feels even scarier. It is up to you, the protagonist, to go out into the night to find them. Available for the PlayStation Vita and Steam October 25, 2016, NIS America brings Y omawari: Night Alone to North America and Europe just in time for the Halloween season.