YIIK: A Postmodern RPG Reviews
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.
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.
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.
Though not without its faults, specifically on the dialogue front, YIIK is a fun well crafted RPG that has been years in the making.