WIKTOBER LOG #0030 - KUON

If you're a gamedev reading this, and you ever had the thought of "I think my survival horror game needs to be played through twice on the exact same map with the exact same puzzles to be beaten", please do us all a favor and take up another profession

The map (and art in general) in this is insanely detailed and beautiful, which makes it all the more sad that playing it feels like FromSoft was trying to exorcise me through my controller. There's also a huge problem with Japanese ps2 horror games, namely that Japanese ghosts are really only scary if you are a Japanese woman - if this is you, please DM me if you are older than this videogame

A beautiful game even all these years later. The setting, the artstyle, the character models, the backgrounds and objects, the way the clothes and hair move all look stunning! I am fond of a historical Japanese setting so I am slightly biased but wowie the setting for this was a dream come true for me, and likewise so is the setup! I love horror as well as mysticism and Japanese Shinto/Folklore. Playing as an onmyoji was awesome, and the three characters interesting and distinct! Not just in their personality and motivations, but in the way they are played and move. Each have unique movesets, animations, weapons, etc. And the third character especially was very satisfying to end the game on. It did get slow a few times with tremendous amounts of backtracking but I was kept hooked on the plot and atmosphere the full way through. Big recommend! Also the Japanese voices come as an option on the disc which I loved! (And meant I wouldn't have to find an undub fan patch like the Fatal Frame games). Check it out!

Much is to be said about not just encouraging, but forcing players through a near-identical second run in order to conclude its story. Critiques for this are completely valid, if not a little misled. This is not thee first game in its genre to pull this stunt, albeit not as well executed as others. But where its repeat run lacks in content, it makes up for it by recontextualizing tone. Not thee tone of its story, nor its horror, but in your tone. You know this house, you know these doors, you know (most of) these weapons. Your first run ends in tragedy, but you remember these halls, these puzzles, these answers, & maybe you can fix it. A silver coin might be silver all around, but each side yields a different answer; a potentially different fate.

Aesthetically perfect, mechanically stilted as good horror ought to be. A one-button heal-all can't exactly be excused, negating urgency of life. However, I urge you not to use it, if possible.

spooky atmospheric japanese game where you get to run around as not just one, but three lovely ladies what more can you really ask for? The combat is dumb, straight up bonkers but despite the flaws,,,,the game mesmerized me in such a way that it wasn't a turn off. Games have jank, and you just have to go with it. Steer into the skid type of situation. You're going to be walking all over the place, but you really start getting familiar with the landscape. It's cool that these virtuals worlds become navigable in such a way like your very own neighborhood. Im in a time of my life where im not beating games like I used to. Seeing this game through to the end was a pleasure and it feels good to finally beat a game after so long. Return to form boogiepop era? i sure hope so!

Between the lack of lipsync in the cutscenes, awful localization, slow and clunky combat, and spotty controls, it's not hard to see why this was deemed antiquated even in 2004. I hadn't been paying attention to the copyright date on the title screen, so I was shocked to find it wasn't one of FromSoftware's bajillion PS2 launch/launch window titles because it just exudes "generational transition" like Armored Core 2 and Eternal Ring did. I didn't exactly hate it since the level design was okay and the story and some of the mechanics were at least a little interesting, but it might have been up there with its contemporaries as a fantastic survival horror game if it were given the same polish.

Kuon is an obscure but really enjoyable survival horror game. While the gameplay itself is not at all outstanding, the story, setting, lore and characters are what makes it a memorable experience.

-Gameplay: the combat is very simple but unfortunately also pretty clunky and outdated. The player fights with a melee weapon and uses different spell cards (mainly ranged spells and summons) obtainable through looting. The fights can look great but they usually feel way too dumb. Between enemy encounters the player has to explore certain areas and progress through closed doors via ‘keys’ obtained in different ways. It gives a similar vibe to Resident Evil’s but on a much simpler level. The lack of puzzles does not help either. Kuon does have some great aspects however, like the ‘vertigo’ mechanic, which makes the player afraid of running and encourages a more careful playstyle.

-Atmosphere: Kuon has a really immersive, eerie, creepy atmosphere, thanks to the smartly used camera angles, a rotting, unsettling environment and the horrific enemies and sounds they make. Although the game is not too scary, it does a good job at creating suspense and always keeping the player on edge. The 12th century Japanese setting also adds to the unique vibe.

-Story: Kuon’s biggest strength is definitely the story it tells and how it tells it. The game can be played as one of two protagonists and after completing the game with both of them, a third character unlocks, whose playthrough includes the true ending. The first two playthroughs roughly take 4 hours each and thankfully there are enough differences (both in gameplay and story elements) to keep the experience fresh. While the first playthrough is enjoyable in itself, it doesn’t answer every question. For the whole picture, all three campaigns have to be finished. The third playthrough is less than an hour long and does a great job concluding the story. Kuon’s surprisingly rich lore is heavily inspired by Japanese folklore and therefore spawns a very ‘Japanese horror story’ with some twists, a great deal of mystery, many creepy moments and a cast of cool characters.

I think Kuon is a fairly enjoyable game.

The Ying and Yang phases aren't really that different from each other outside of length and storytelling. There's not much going on in terms of variety, but the Yang phase features more combat. If anything, I think the best comparison to make is that it's like Resident Evil 2, but worse. There is a 3rd and final phase, but it's easily the worst part of the game.

I really do like this game's atmosphere. The positioning of the camera and sometimes seeing ghosts move is awesome. However, there is one thing I do not like and that's the flash jumpscares. It's a horrible mechanic and it's quite annoying. Kuon also has the honor of being one of the easiest horror games that I have played. You can practically solo every enemy with just your melee weapon, and it sucks because this game has cool spells that you can use. Another thing to note is that you can heal anytime you want w/o items, so there's not real point in using the healing items you find unless you feel that you're guaranteed going to die.

I think that's all I really have to say about Kuon. For being the most expensive PS2 game, I don't really think its worth getting unless you really love this game. I do think Kuon is worthy of a playthrough though despite its shortcomings.