YIIK: A Postmodern RPG Reviews
Though not without its faults, specifically on the dialogue front, YIIK is a fun well crafted RPG that has been years in the making.
I can honestly say that YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is one of the most hands-on and unusual RPGs I’ve played in a while. There are a lot of QTEs within the game, almost every attack and literally every defence will require you to grab your controller and test those reflexes, but you get used to it after a while. The game may not be a ‘looker’ with its simplistic design, but it all adds to the charm. With its brilliant writing, equally as good voice acting, intuitive combat and progression system, and overall quirkiness – I can’t help but recommend this game to all RPG fans.
YIIK has been a bit of a strange one for me. Whilst I enjoyed seeing the quirky story through to its conclusion and loved exploring the wonderfully crafted world, the repetitive battle system and poorly executed levelling up system left me feeling a little underwhelmed. Neither aspect was particularly game-breaking nor did they make YIIK end up feeling like a bad game, but they did stand out a lot as I made my way through the fairly lengthy adventure. It’s definitely going to be a divisive experience for gamers though and it certainly won’t tick enough boxes to warrant a purchase for everyone. For me though, YIIK did enough right to make it recommendable for fans of RPGs or those who like a truly surreal experience – it’s far from perfect, but it still manages to offer an enjoyably bizarre journey that I was glad to be a part of.
Trying to bring the feel of a different era into the modern limelight is quite the task, and YIIK almost pulls it off. While it sports great old-school visuals, it just can’t overcome its other flaws. The shallow combat gets old quickly, the characters aren’t all that endearing, and the pacing doesn’t do the game any favours. You’d be better off playing one of the games that YIIK imitates. Those who want to go back in time may very well find a game they love, but I didn’t.
Even though YIIK strikes out, there’s definitely some potential in the game’s overall design with a pretty solid foundation that leaves room for plenty of improvement, and I wouldn’t mind giving Ackk Studios another chance at making another Post-Modern RPG.
Rough design, a lack of polish, a discombobulated story, and hard-to-bear battles make it hard for me to recommend YIIK to anyone but the most fervent collector of 'odd' games. Save yourself the time, and replay the Mother/Earthbound games instead.
It’s the sort of game that will gain a cult following. These super-fans will appreciate its millennial dread, imperfect friends supporting one another through crises both personal and apocalyptic, and a quirky style that draws on gamer culture, weird horror, and low-poly goofs without getting bogged down in uncritical nostalgia.
WORTH CONSIDERING - YIIK tries many new things to reinvent the JRPG genre only to fall flat. It’s a shame because there is a potentially good game buried under the pretentious main character, Alex. The music is great though!
If it wasn’t already obvious, I think YIIK is a game that everyone should play. It is not a perfect game – rarely do titles come along that feature wholly agreeable mechanics – but it manages to use fabulous music, voice acting, and addictive combat in order to tell an extremely original story. This is one of the rare titles that has challenged me to rethink what I believe is possible in the medium, let alone the Role-playing genre, and for that, I give it my healthiest and most adamant recommendation.
As boundless is the cosmos where alternate realities and selves may reside, so too is YIIK immeasurably unfun to play. This should have been a visual novel.
YIIK A Postmodern RPG is a title that squanders personality from all four sides, and offers a JRPG that is not only very competent in itself, but is also a very well written love letter to this genre. Polishing a few tedious details, it would be an outstanding title without any doubt.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
My issues with the story are that it tells you the specifics once, in large information dumps during key scenes, and then expects you to remember it all through the depressing dialogue and obtuse combat. I wanted things to be more fun, I wanted the dialogue to make me laugh and be full of hidden jokes and respectable interactions. Instead, everything is a chore to read and a punishment to experience. I really wanted a fulfilling journey for Alex and his friends, and I didn’t feel like we earned that goal based on most if not all of the dialogue in this game. It was all very depressing and felt like it had been written specifically with self-reflection in mind. I felt like YIIK was a game made to analyze. I wished it carried those critical elements of fun and enjoyment. Even though the world was beyond interesting to look at, its contents and message were just unnecessarily padded with inner monologue. It took me roughly 30 hours to beat the main story and begin some of the side extras. YIIK will cost you $19.99 on PC, PS4, or Nintendo Switch.
I may have been quite late in getting to covering YIIK, but in the end, was this worth the wait and time for me, as an RPG fan and a fan of 90s games and visuals? Honestly, I did come out really enjoying the art style for its cool quirky looks, and some of the music is legitimately awesome, but on the other hand, you have a horrid battle system and some voices that sound as if they were recorded from a tin can. It’s a weird mess all around, and even now, I don’t recommend you check this out. Just buy the soundtrack if you have to get anything out of this game.
The game’s main character, Alex, is a pretty major departure from a typical hero in the genre, a generally reluctant hipster of sorts, who has come back home from college...
YIIK: A Postmodern RPG tried to do something different on PS4 but just forgot to pack in the fun factor that someone expects when diving into a video game.
The experience might be muddied by a few rougher edges, like the consistently grating load times and some of the discomforting battle quirks, but more often than not, I came away impressed by how well everything came together in spite of some issues. The ambition and scope of this lengthy indie epic is impressive, taking big swings and, despite the numerous inspirations, carving its own distinct path. If you want your Japanese-style RPG to do to New Jersey what Shin Megami Tensei does to Tokyo, then YIIK is the closest you'll ever get.
YIIK has an interesting story and an exceptional concept, that could've worked better if the game was idealized as a visual novel. Unfortunately, as an RPG, it doesn't work so weel since it ends up losing itself in an attempt to innovate the mechanics of the classic titles from which it draws inspiration.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is a great game if you want an attractive story_driven game with some elements of RPG. The story is really unique and innovative which make you follow it to the end. If you can deal with a really simple graphic, YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is a nice choice for you to play.
Review in Persian | Read full review
YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is huge achievement for Ackk Studios, it is so much better than their previous title, and maybe a little more attention to combat system and controls could’ve even made it one of the best indie titles in years. Nevertheless, A Postmodern RPG is a fun game that will probably worth your time and money.
Review in Persian | Read full review