Yomawari is a cute, unique, and intriguing horror puzzle adventure that can be quite frustrating at times. The gameplay and sound design work together perfectly to keep you on edge and on the lookout for potential threats in every shadow, though you may quickly learn the more puzzle-like nature of the enemy placement. More often than not, if there's some annoying enemy on the path you want to go down, this is to tell you to find a different path, which will be much easier to pass through. This combined with most of the enemies having predetermined movement patterns makes the game feel like one giant puzzle that you need to figure out the secrets of.

The story is quite interesting though very vague and up for interpretation as most good horror games tend to be, you'll put together bits and pieces from the many collectables that give you glimpses into what's really going on in this strange town; but in the end may still feel like consulting a fan wiki to truly put everything together.

Some of the enemies and areas can feel quite frustrating and unfair, like the rushing car ghost guys who can randomly appear a short distance behind you while on roads, if you were sprinting to move around and don't have much stamina left you'll likely always die to these guys as you don't have time to get out of the way; the same can be said of a few other enemies especially if you sprinted into a cutscene you didn't know was there, your stamina won't recharge in the cutscene causing you to have none when it ends and you're basically as good as dead already. None if this is experience ruining but can be a little annoying when it happens. Apparently crashes are quite common for some people as well, I only experienced one and otherwise performance was fine but losing a lot of progress to a crash for no real reason always sucks.

Overall I think Yomawari: Night Alone is a pretty solid horror title, the cute, childlike visuals and isometric perspective create a memorable identity; the town environment almost feels like you're playing Silent Hill except you're a little girl who though brave and kind, can't fight anything since she hasn't been trained in the arts of metal pipe fu. If you like horror games about little girls having a bad time, this is a solid choice. I'm looking forward to getting to the other titles in this franchise, just have to remember not to throw any stones onto the road...

good horror game