Yomawari: Night Alone is a survival horror game which has the rare honor of being a console exclusive on the PlayStation Vita (also seeing release on Windows). Released last October in Japan, the game evidently sold well enough to warrant a localization effort for North America and Europe by NIS America. We’ve put in our time in on the localized version, and have our review ready for you below.
Otherworldly Visuals
As evidenced in the screenshot above, Yomawari‘s visual design is pretty striking. There are some very abstract, weird, and even occasionally startling, spirits and things to find and run away from, like this gigantic cat head that doesn’t seem too pleased to meet your acquaintance. There are other things, such as gaping mouths jutting out from the ground, but we won’t divulge many other of the creepier spirits which roam the world, lest we spoil the surprise of being startled by them. Yomawari‘s tensest moments occur when you narrowly escape a spirit, and hide behind a bush or notice sign. While you’re hiding, you cannot be attacked by a spirit, but you also cannot see anything but the object you are hiding behind. As your heart beats, it sends out a wave of red, and spirits are represented by a red smoke-like sprite, which usually walks away and out of sight, giving you a few moments to leave your cover and explore some more.
Yomawari is played in an isometric perspective. You use the left stick to move, and the right stick...