First Impressions—YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (Wii U)

Do you enjoy weird games? If the answer is yes, then YIIK: A Postmodern RPG might be the right game for you. If not, or if you’re not sure, you can head here  right now and download the PAX West floor demo of the game and try it out. It’s a unique demo in that it’s not actually part of the final version of the game, but there’s enough in it to give you a sense of how the game works, feels, the aesthetics, and gameplay.

The game is a bizarre exploration of 90s’ pop culture, following a case of a girl who goes missing in 1999 and the man who claims to know the truth behind her disappearance. Sounds reasonable to start, right? But the game messes with you on purpose, with low framerate animations that drop and blur at random, and the sprites and environment maintaining that old 3D polygonal look that’s now considered harsh and difficult to look at.

Character attacks use vinyl “Now That’s What I Call Music” records (what?!) and the battles harken to a Mario game with timed prompts… except here you have almost no leeway for miniscule errors in pressing those buttons.

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG feels like a satire on 90s’ gaming culture with pop references, and honestly it’s hard to say whether we loved it or hated it. It’s going to be one of those titles where you either connect with it and adore its brilliance, or hate with a firey passion and slander in comment sections on the internet (that’s our prediction, anyway).

The demo is long, so if you try it, do set aside the time, and when you get to the end…we’re pretty sure your reaction to this game will be wholly dependent on how you feel about the jukebox ghost’s choice in tunes. Just saying.

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Micah
Author: Micah View all posts by
Micah has been playing games since his first pong machine, and has been writing for as long as he could grip a pencil and not drool on the paper. So, for about a week.

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