Kuon - Survival horror, ancient Japanese style :: Wessex Scene Online

Kuon - Survival horror, ancient Japanese style

14th May 2006

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It’s a well-known horror fact: if all the inhabitants of a creepy looking mansion have suddenly disappeared, odds are they’ve not gone for a picnic. Especially not in the dark, ominous surroundings of ‘Kuon’.

Set in ancient Japan, the game offers you the chance to play through a ‘Yin’ or ‘Yang’ phase at the beginning, but there is certainly more evil than good to be found within. The former allows you to begin the game as Utsuki, who arrives at the mansion looking for her father, while the latter phase belongs to Sakuya, a more religious and spiritual character. Both have their own individual quest, but the stories do overlap a little. However, it is testament to the scare factor of the game that even when you half expect an attack, it can still take you by surprise. Not so much the onrush of an enemy, but the advent of ‘tempests’ – that is, bursts of negative energy – that result in a blinding flash and a rumble in the controller, which also replicates a heartbeat at other tension building points. These tempests are indicators that something evil has occurred nearby, which is pretty much everywhere you look in ‘Kuon’.

But even looking around can prove to be a little problematic in the game, due to the atmospheric darkness, and the little available light provided by your lantern (in many areas) to illuminate the way. To give an indication of the darkness, ‘Kuon’ provides an opportunity to set the brightness levels before the game begins – and the title certainly uses these dark spaces to good effect. However, while this may cause a good atmosphere, it also has the ability to disorientate slightly, giving rooms a sense of confusion and makes it possible to ignore important objects. The items scattered about do flash and glitter, but sporadically, meaning you often need to have a keen eye to spot something, then wander over to collect it. Naturally, this is an important part of the game’s difficulty – the objects being obviously in view in glorious daylight would detract from the ethos of the title.

So what of the enemies in the game? Well, some of these guys seem to be enjoying the aforementioned picnic, albeit one of human corpses. ‘Gaki’, small Gollum-like creatures, scatter the landscape, along with ghosts, and any foes can be dispatched by engaging in traditional combat (i.e: swinging weapons at them), or by using spell cards, equipped to a specific button so that you can unleash flaming arrows, shards of ice, etc. While these attacks are a lot more aesthetically pleasing, they can take a little while to come into action. If an enemy is close to you, then releasing one of these special attacks is unlikely to occur before they fight you first, which can be a little frustrating. The whole combat system itself seems quite cumbersome, as while it can be effective, and the character animations are good, it is often the case that you will take damage yourself, even with frantic button pressing. Maybe the attack system requires more finesse than this button stabbing, but when some gaki appear upon opening a door, scuttling across a blood soaked floor, it is often a panic that will grip you at first, with spell cards proving a little too tricky to use in some cases.

The fear factor in the game cannot be stressed enough. Blood soaked floors, blood stained doors, corpses covered in blood, gaki’s feasting on them, eerie children singing, blood soaked cloths necessary to open locked doors… all combine to put the gamer on edge. Did I mention the blood? Often trails of it are indicators, along with the ‘tempests’, of the trouble ahead, and if your character steps into a pool of the crimson stuff, blood-stained footprints will trail for a short while after.

‘Kuon’ is certainly a satisfying game, but unfortunately it cannot escape a few frustrations that arise. Luckily many of these are purely superficial, such as the English-speaking voiceovers that seem odd in such a Japanese looking title, especially when subtitles are provided. Aside from the somewhat awkward combat, the gameplay is good, definitely worth trying if you are a fan of survival horror titles. We all know that kids singing is bad enough, but creepy chanting on the main menu? That lets you know the sort of game you’re in for – a ghostly, gory, damn scary title. 7/10 - Craig Williams