Last week, I was looking through the Nintendo Switch online store, trying to find a bargain game to hold me over while I wait for some of the bigger titles I’m excited for that were announced at this year’s E3.
I stumbled upon “YIIK: A Postmodern RPG” and when I saw that it was only $20, I thought maybe I had stumbled upon a hidden gem.
I hadn’t. I wished “YIIK” stayed hidden. Without a doubt, “YIIK” is one of the most frustrating games I’ve ever played, but we’ll get to the specifics of why in a moment.
You take on the role of Alex, an insufferable 20-something who just graduated from college in 1999 — hence the slightly confusing title, which is actually pronounced “Y2K.”
Alex returns home with little to show for his efforts except a Bachelor of Arts degree and a newfound love (or snobbery) for grunge music, and, after wandering into a nearby abandoned hotel and stumbling upon mind-boggling cosmic horror, sets off on an adventure that is fairly obviously inspired from the likes of both the “Earthbound” and “Persona” series.
The game actually started off engaging enough, as Alex’s story is presented to you by a high-quality team of voice actors that sell their characters really well. For the first few hours of the game, I was hooked, actively looking forward to how Alex would come to terms with the cosmic horrors that he faced.
Soon, though, I realized that the gameplay mechanics just got in the way of the story.
The main reason for this is the battle system. Battle systems are the bread-and-butter of any good role-playing game, and without a solid battle system upon which to build the rest of the game, the rest of the RPG suffers. The problem in “YIIK” is that there isn’t a quality battle system.
While battles are ostensibly turn-based, as with most JRPGs, there’s an added element, where each member of your party is required to play a separate timing-based mini-game to complete attacks. Alex’s attack, for example, is based around the player correctly timing button presses as a record spins on screen. If timed well, Alex just… throws a bunch of vinyl at your enemies?
It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, to be honest, but the nonsense elements aren’t the biggest problem. The issue is that the mini-games don’t change. While each party member has a unique mini-game, those individual mini-games never change throughout the entirety of the game, meaning each battle feels exactly the same.
Your attacks don’t do a whole lot of damage for whatever reason, either, which makes battles against even the most basic enemies drag on for upwards of 10 minutes. This isn’t an issue of being inappropriately leveled, mind you; enemies are just programmed to have a ridiculous number of hit points.
But don’t worry, if you time the defensive mini-games well enough, you can ensure that your enemies never actually touch you, effectively removing any drama from the fights. Then, you’re allowed to just whittle down your enemies’ health points for what feels like forever without any stakes!
Doesn’t that sound fun?
But I persevered. The story was compelling enough for me to put up with the flaws in the gameplay. Until, of course, it wasn’t.
Alex grows more and more insufferable as the game goes on, acting like a spoiled brat and pushing all of his friends away because he thinks they don’t care enough about how the horrors of the adventure are affecting him — even though he’s truly affected less than anyone else.
Cutscenes go on forever, and the player is left only able to look on in horror while Alex —who is, if you remember, a stand-in for the player — behaves in grossly selfish ways. “YIIK” is supposed to be an RPG — you know, a role-playing game — but without allowing the player any ways of controlling the story, the player is left with something that feels more like a visual novel which stars a character who is little more than a jerk.
The story also slowly devolves into complete nonsense, as the writers, who frequently undercut moments of cosmic horror with moments of absurdist humor, were left with the unfortunate challenge of trying to decide whether the horror or the humor was more important.
They seemed to have decided that the answer was “both,” which just leads to a story that gets dumber and dumber with each passing moment.
“YIIK: A Postmodern RPG,” which was released in January, is currently available on Switch, PS4 and Steam, if this review somehow made you want to buy it.
