PC Review Code Provided by Aza Game Studio
Experiencing the horror behind one of the many Japanese folklore available is always an opportunity that will grab my interest. Providing the latest title with this experience is Aza Game Studio with their latest released game Akai Noroi. Using a spooky environment and giving players a dark story to unravel themselves, this solo developer has brought a game worth experiencing this spooky season.
Story
After losing his job, Akio finds himself failing to fight against his troubling battle with addiction. After returning home from his final day at the Tanjo Industries, unforeseen events begin to unfold. These events quickly pull him into a nightmarish world where he will have to investigate the ancient Yurei curse to establish the truth about himself and the mysterious disappearance of the previous residents.
Gameplay
While the core of the gameplay is kept the same throughout the game, each level does present something a little different to the experience. Starting off you get the hang of the controls that will remain constant throughout the game as you interact with various things in your room, move around, and find your first bits of lore. Once you leave the apartment, that’s when the first of many dark domains begin.
This first area will provide you with a bunch of candles to collect, which can be lit in order to light the area around you. This will be your light source for the first area, but in later areas, you will find other items such as a flashlight. Using whatever light source you are provided, your goal will be to avoid any evils you come across while figuring out the answer to puzzles both obvious and indirect.
Notes can be found throughout the game which extra lore details, as well as puzzle hints, can be found in unlockable areas. These notes are crucial to the game as understanding the lore can be both helpful to your progress through the puzzles and a way to better understand either the Yurei curse or the previous residents. I do have to say the understanding the story definitely made this games experience better as there are just some parts or areas that would feel useless or unnecessary if the reasoning behind it wasn’t given, but this game does a good job providing the lore in a steady pace - given the player takes the time to notice it.
There is a little bit of player guidance when it comes to showing what you are to do, but definitely don’t expect this game to guide you through it. Part of what brings the horror to this title is the unclear pathway presented to the player even though the steps to take in order to get there is given. Without giving away any spoilers or heavy hints, you will want to properly look around the level after interacting with different parts of it because you never know what you might have activated.
Visual
While they saturate the game with a heavy coat of darkness in more areas than I’d like, the atmosphere and environment that is presented do a great job to enhance the heavy feelings that the lore provides. Sure, the graphics aren’t the most amazing quality either, but it definitely does a good job of revealing everything you need to see and giving a good fright with most any new visual.
Sounds
Mixing moments of silence with moments of somber music aided the atmosphere built by the visual environment presented and having the scarier moments exposed to faster-paced tones brought out the “get out of here!” feeling when it came time to run. Definitely an asset to the overall experience.
Replayability
Akai Noroi has three possible endings and if you want to properly experience the Japanese folklore provided by this game, you will want to get all three of them. They aren’t crazy difficult to unlock, but you will need to do a few specific things in order to get each one. Other then the different endings, the levels and areas are mostly the same, aside from the seeming-to-change routing in certain areas.
What Could Be Better
I think the environment was well made and didn’t need to be as dark as it was in so many places. I understand having some areas where it is almost pitch black, but I felt like this game had a bit too many places with that set up. When you used a light source to reveal the environment itself, I think it could have pulled off the same cursed atmosphere with a bit more contrast. But at least you can just raise your screen’s brightness to get this effect, but I hope they add a contrast or brightness bar in the game settings.
One of the initial problems this game had was that the save system was broken, but this was quickly patched. Unfortunately, the reviews seem to have been hit before the patch was sent out and is now sitting with a negative score on Steam that doesn’t seem deserved in my opinion. I hope the developer took this as a moment to learn from launching a game before the bigger bugs are patched, but if you are considering getting this game, be sure to leave a review yourself on the Steam page once you play it! Especially if you liked the game.
Conclusion
Akai Noroi is a short, but nerve-racking horror game with a solid setup. It’s one to keep you on your toes and is made with lore-buff players in mind. Even if you don’t like the lore aspect too much, the environment, atmosphere, and gameplay experience is one fitting for any fan of horror to go through. If you are looking for a good game for this spooky season, this is one title to consider!
