MAY 12TH, 2022
IKAI
GRAPHICS: 10/10
SOUND QUALITY: 10/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
CHARACTERS: 9/10
STORY: 8/10
OVERALL: 8.8/10
Welcome to Ikai, where your shrine is now home to a horde of ancient Japanese demons and deities. Do you dare enter?
Ikai is the debut game of Barcelona-based developer Endflame, published by PM Studios. As a girl named Naoko in Japan during the Sengoku Era (around the 1500s), you must find a way to seal away the Yohkai (monsters) and Oni (demons) that have been released upon the world from your family’s shrine. To do so, you will need to explore the various rooms and corridors of the shrine to find the materials needed to create the necessary prayer seals. Be quick, but also be careful, as one wrong move could mean your death!
What’s that in the shadows…?
GRAPHICS 10/10
The graphics in this game are absolutely fantastic, especially considering the small three-person dev team that put this game together. There are plenty of little details that show how much care was taken in crafting different areas, and the textures of this 3D first-person world are so high quality they’ll make even the highest-end graphics cards beg for mercy.
The extremely well-tuned darkness level (which can be adjusted in the menu) is a nice added touch. It takes the immersion to a whole other level when the game is viewed on an HDR monitor. There is just enough detail in the shadows to tell that something is lurking within, but whether it is friend or foe can’t be discerned so easily, which adds a lot to the horror experience.
SOUND QUALITY 10/10
Like the graphics, the soundscape of this game is really impressive. When listening with headphones or high-quality speakers, the surround-sound-like atmosphere created by the rushing of the wind and creaks of the old shrine timbers add a significant layer to the immersion effect. The audio levels are also great, as no sounds stand out as too quiet or too loud or harsh. I’ve got to hand it to the small team over at Endflame—they’ve absolutely nailed the aesthetics of Ikai.
Writing prayer seals to ward off demons is an interesting challenge, especially when those demons are trying to hunt you down.
GAMEPLAY 7/10
The gameplay is probably the weakest part of this game, but that’s not to say it’s bad; in fact it’s quite good if you can get used to it. The controls are fairly standard for a first-person game, and the seal-writing mechanic is interesting and challenging (particularly when you have limited time). That said, there are some actions and controls that feel clunky. For example, opening doors and drawers requires a motion of the mouse/control stick that can be hard to get used to and feels quite unnatural at first. On top of that, the item menu is hidden in the main menu and can’t be accessed quickly, so it’s difficult to check your items when needed.
One other rough point in the gameplay is the main character’s dialogue, specifically the English translation. Her spoken lines can be discerned for the most part, but the odd grammar choices can be a bit immersion-breaking at times.
Those nitpicks aside, if you can get used to the controls, the gameplay is quite good. Although the story isn’t particularly long (around three hours’ worth), there are plenty of unique challenges and settings to keep you guessing.
CHARACTERS 9/10
Though there aren’t many characters in this game (only three if you don’t count the demons), they are solidly written. Naoko, the main character, is a young (early teens?) girl who says what any girl in her situation would, and her sister Haruka and uncle (only referred to as “Uncle”) also play their parts well. There isn’t much backstory given for the characters outside of a couple of flashback scenes, but that is just enough to give you an idea of what to expect from each of their personalities.
On top of that, there is a lot of interesting backstory provided for the demons that appear, giving a good sense of depth to the story. As you discover small pieces of paper with descriptions of the demons on them, those demons come to life in unique and unexpected ways.
STORY 8/10
The storyline of this game is mysterious, and the way it develops is full of surprises and twists. However, there are some small plot holes that seem to break the immersion a bit. For example, Naoko and Haruka are depicted as similarly-aged at one point, but then one of them appears to be much older at a different point for seemingly no reason. To a certain extent, this sort of thing can add to the sense of mystery in a horror game like this, but that is certainly subjective.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story of this game, and I could tell that the developers and writers really did their research in crafting a historically accurate setting. Additionally, despite it being on the short side, it has enough depth to it that a second or third play-through would be almost as enjoyable as the first—which, for a story-driven horror game, is high praise.
OVERALL 8.8/10
Ikai was fun and challenging from beginning to end, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. If you’re a fan of horror games, then this one is worth the price of admission. Aside from a few clunky controls, some awkward dialogue, and small inconsistencies in the story, Ikai is a job well done by the team over at Endflame. I’m excited to see what other titles they release going forward.
