“He would spare the lives of anyone who begged for their life, even the children.” _he enters_ Tim? What are you doing here? _(stab)_ Shame. He didn’t ask me not to kill him.
13:20 The reason the radio is only a receiver is actually explained by the CEO. If you go into her tent and "Talk" > "Use Item" > "Radio", she mentions that in the past undernauts squads would use these to SMUGGLE ARGEN. Yomi Corp got tired of that bs and just outright disabled the transmitting function of the radios. Even Ms. Sandra agree that it's an inconvenience. Also, THANK YOU! I've found this amazing game thanks to you. Having a blast with it.
The thing that I can’t stop thinning about the radios is how Red Luci had one and was listening to the commands of her “father” and even tried talking to him through it, but her cries fall on deaf ears, same as they do all throughout the game
Man, adulthood has ruined me... when you said that you didn't have a radio, only a transceiver, all I could think was, "Well, that's an OSHA violation, right there."
@@PikaPenny17 Except we have a problem. OSHA doesn't extend to Japan. They have their own called JNIOSH, and it was formed in the late 40's from what I could find.
Kudos, you're the 1st youtuber who actually sold me on not finishing a video with spoilers. For the most part I don't care about spoilers cause I'd find them out eventually but you've piqued my interest. Been watching Smt videos, and wanting to delve into lesser known genres so this video came at the right time. Congrats on your channel blowing up btw.
Yeah, was about to say myself that it seems to be the reference, especially considering all that "sinner" premise and whatnot. I am surprised to see Japanese themselves mention it, though, seeing as you often hear about Japanese people being unaware of all sorts of war crimes that Japan committed in the past.
@@Kougaon Basically a fked up imperial Japanese human experimentation camp that tortured and experimented on POWs in the name of "science". The POWs were raped, blown by granades when naked, fed poisoned food, freezing a baby to see the effects on hypothermia, and a ton of sadistic "experiments" with questionable motives. IIRC there was an interview with a soldier witnessing the scientists raping and torturing POWs for fun. All Imperial Japanese and German concentration camps had POWs survivors, Unit 731 is the ONLY camp with 0 survivors. The most fked up part is that the US gave the scientists immunity and money for their research. Most of these scientists proceed to live long fulling lives in positions of power in academia after the war. Poeple also suspect that the US government refusal to make the unit 731 research public is that those research papers were just glorified torture porn manuals with little to no scientific value, and that the US is embarrassed by the fact that they knowingly let a bunch of psychopaths walk free with a bag of their money.
@@KaedevirusA lot of Japanese indie horror devs use Unit 731 references for insane scientists. Where in the West it's mad Nazis, in Japan it's insane Imperials of Unit 731.
@@Kougaon Your in for something disgusting and genuinely horrible. By the time your done reading up on Unit 731 there will be a part of your brain asking if two nukes were enough. It was horrible.
I remember when Atlus were bold enough to make Megaten games similar to this. On that note, I loved Experience's Spirit Hunter games, and was stoked to find out you could play as Kazuo in this game.
I think Atlus will get back to that. For right now though, they're riding that Persona 5 success train. But I highly doubt they'll ignore how successful their P3 and SMT: Nocturne remakes have been. P3 is where they started deviating from the older Megaten games, but still held closer to the same themes on a different formula. Nocturne however is more of a graphical upgrade of the same old theme. SMT V was criticized for moving away from the formula, and rightly so despite it actually being a pretty good game in it's own right, just not so much as an SMT game. And then there's Soul Hackers 2... Their big mistake of trying to adopt what works for Persona into something thematically very different. That's the reason I think they'll go back a bit to their roots and give us some more dark RPGs again like the old Megaten games, it's just likely going to be with the upgraded visuals.
@@takimi_nada was just thinking the same thing lol. the way the boss sprites are positioned on the screen as well as the textbox Really screamed spirit hunter
If you haven't yet, try Death Mark & NG, 99% sure it is the same artist/dev/etc. They are not DRPGs rather horror VNs, but they both use audio much the same way Undernauts does along with the unsettling art & whatnot.
You're correct about the developer, Experience Inc., making the spirit hunter series. While I'm not fond of the limited save system the unique death scenes in NG are what really sold me on the game.
This game is a lot better than it has any right to be. It isn't too difficult, except for when it matters. Understanding the world itself is very much "come to realize" but in a way that invests you in wanting to explore more of the dungeon. The way the pieces come together are amazing. Not a fan of how item discovery works, and its really a title that requires very specific party combinations which hurts replayability... but damn, what a good game it is.
@@Kougaon I got what you meant but I feel like horror is mood first then gameplay, like Resident Evil and FNAF are both horror games but vastly different. Being on edge is just a different way, some would say genuine, to scare people. Spooky's House of Jumpscares really points out the problem with jumpscares when a cartoon blob can startle you just as hard as any other horror game in existence.
It depends. I don't consider Digital Devil Saga horror and that game opens up by telling you that the only way to survive is to devour your enemy & eat them whole, lol. I guess it's different when you're playing as a demon avatar.
If you liked this, definitely check out the New Tokyo Legacy games, Operation Abyss and Operation Babel. They're also by Experience and are more of the 'horror dungeon crawler' feel this game gives. Also Stranger of Sword City Revisited. Comes in a double-pack with Saviors of Sapphire Wings, but it's the better of the two. It's an updated version of a game you can get by itself and improves on an already great game in every way.
@Kougaon to add to that, there are references to Experience's older games in Yomi. I recommend SOSC immediately and maybe dabble into Demon's Gaze and Saviours, they're all loosely tied to one another. Also Experience tends to recycle a few tracks in these games, even in their most recent game Mon-Yu, see if you can spot it.
Operation Abyss/Babel feels a bit too generic (story wise) and has one of the worst mechanics to exist (permadeath), though when it happens is very situational so if you don't save often of has a doctor with the specific skill/item to fix it before leaving the dungeon, you're screwed. Stranger in Sword City is pretty good though, but I only played the original version.
@@KougaonI agree 💯 percent, thanks to your video, I found this game. Been playing it for a little bit more than a week and reached the point where we "part ways" with the w******rl and meet a certain radio man. I'm leaving half-censored spoilers here, so please don't read further if you haven't reached that point yet. The plot twist after that has blown me away. This was a highly depressing experience for our MC, wow (and as a healer MC, I was scared like crazy during the solo gameplay part after the cutscenes). This is perfect material for a horror anime imo. I hope this game becomes more popular.
I was wondering where the game's vibes were coming from and then you said "experience developed this" and I was like "AHA, DEATH MARK". I've been in love with the Spirit Hunter series for years, and honestly I swear that I've seen this game, probably in some of their livestreams from a few years ago when I was following it. I'm SO glad this video reminded me that it exists, and now that I need to play it! I'll return to this video once that's over. I just wanted to THANK YOU! I would've probably forgotten about this game if not for this video.
I am really glad this game is getting more love. I was someone on day one playing this like crazy the second I had it in my hands. Experience as a dev for dungeon crawlers have a good history of unknown bangers. So I'm glad you enjoyed it. I would recommend getting a game called Lost Child by then, before it gets really hard as it's digitally removed. I think it's a hidden gem.
This game is related to "Stranger of Sword City" and "Savior of Sapphire Wings", there are some in game references to those games, and some of the music are in all 3 of these games. For reasons, the game also has character portrait from the game "Death Mark", a horror VN. and "operation abyss" and "Operation Babel".
They also have ties to the game Demon Gaze, though it's a little more subdued. It's actually a tradition for villains and the likes named "Luci" (Lucy, Lucifer, Lucifelle, etc) ... and Merlin is-
They may have featured different Earths but the otherworld is definitely the same. The player characters from Stranger of Sword City are from a different Earth than the player characters of this game
@@revaryk6868 It is the same multiverse! There's subtle things too, like the Yomi kept alive with miomechanics. Members of the Medell clan (a vampire like race) suffer horrible disease since Almadell's death and have to be kept alive through machines.
UNDERNAUTS LFGGGGGGG! Sat in on a stream for this when sonicmega was running through it on Twitch and he loves the entire storyline this game's part of. Personally found it riveting. Thank you for covering and bringing more eyes to this.
Thank you for covering this game. I got pretty fast but never beat it (got distracted by other games). You've inspired me to pick it back up! It really is a gem!
I was on a Wizardry-like bender when I found this and oh man was it a great find. There's an interesting feeling to it where you're an intruder of sorts on a conflict that's been going on long before you were even around. It's very immersive!
I feel like this video flowed better than the one your Various Daylife one! It did feel like the last half of the video though kinda lost the theme of 'horror JRPG'. It didn't feel like you had a lot of anxiety moments past the first quarter (of the video)? Still, very solid video, never heard of the game and I hope to see more of these!
You had me in the first half, the story sounded pretty great...not so much in the second half. I would recommend Labyrinth of refrain if you want a really dark DRPG with a great story and creepy setting.
This was actually pretty badass Kou, I wishlisted the game to be played one day. The atmosphere and gameplay looks interesting enough, and the indepth review was delightful.
Honestly i was sold when etrian odyssey and megaten were mentioned but man those vibes sealed the deal. I'll play it before watching more but i will come back eventually, thank you!
Yeah I totally get you. It's why I said it's very much a JRPG at it's heart. Fear and Hunger is a whole beast on it's own with it even being banned in a country I believe
@@Kougaon yeah but I mean their NG games had a lot of pretty brutal body horror and shock so I thought they’d follow through on this one seeing as it’s marketed as a horror rpg
@@Scott_Inksmith a lot of people seem to directly equate edgy bullshit and body horror with absolute terror but if I'm being real all of the lame ass over the top body horror and SA that happens in funger isn't scary or thematic or cool. it’s edgy and childish and takes me out of the experience every single time it comes up. it’s legitimately an incredible fantastic experience and then one every once in a while the developer wants to remind you that he’s like an eighth grade school shooter. more games need to take the good parts of fear and hunger, and leave all the creepy edge lord sexual assault limb removal shit in the past because I would love to love that game, but I don’t really want to support a game that use a sexual assault as a punchline and has zero respect for its own subject matter.
@@wearecoterminous I love how you told on your own zero sum undercooked mentality more than anything else with this rant. Damn I guess Berserk is just anti-art then. I'll tell the entire dark souls development team that they took bad inspiration then. Edit: Forgot about alien too.
@@InvadeNormandyHe is not saying that gore is bad. He is saying that making fucked up stuff just for shock value, when you are more than 13yo, is a cheap trick. Berserk's fucked up stuff works because it has actual meaning, it chills your blood. Fear and Hunger has an incredible atmosphere, but its more extreme stuff is just there to say "look at me, I'm so WILD" and it actually ruins the mood. It's childish and exhibitionist, just that.
Oh goody a long ass video essay about a First Person Horror RPG, Well then better get the popcorn and drink. Undernauts looks like a MegaTen game if it went even further into dark and disturbing direction with some added horror to boot, Basically a combination of my two favourite genre.
As a gigantic fan of EO, Strange Journey, and craving more horrific things in a dungeon crawling JRPG, I've gotta give this one a shot. Let's see what we can't do...
Nice party name choices. I am a Goldenglow man myself. I love Etrian Odyssey, but tbh I'm too impatient atm to pick up a game like it(and also broke) so I will just watch the video summary for now.
Kougaon thanks for giving me a placebo effect in whenever i hear your damn voice i suddenly have the urge to get on ffxiv and do my daylies im so serious i dont know how but i always feel urged on cause of you
Excellent video! Maybe its not officially a horror game but it seems close enough to me. You managed to keep me entertained for the entire hour with your breakdown. I won't lie to you though I'll probably skip playing it myself and stick to Hello Kitty Island adventure as i don't need anymore trouble sleeping.
I am surprised how rare horror themed jrpg. the only one i can remember are koudelka, shadow heart, PE and older smt games and i would definitely check this game out.
I love detailed reviews of obscure JRPG games that only I ever played, couldn't explain to anyone, and later somehow wrote off as a weird dream that never happened but in fact, WAS A REAL GAME.
Great to see Undernauts getting some love. I got it on PS4 and really enjoyed it. If you like this game, Experience has a whole back catalog of amazing DRPGs and they all share the same DNA.
Very surprised to see you playing this! Another one you might enjoy is Dungeon Travelers 2 and the sequel 2-2. They're not on Steam... for reasons. You might have some fun with them lol. Also check out this devs latest game 'Mon-Yu: Defeat Monsters And Gain Strong Weapons And Armor. You May Be Defeated, But Don’t Give Up. Become Stronger. I Believe There Will Be A Day When The Heroes Defeat The Devil King.' Yes that is the games full title.
I really like the modern dungeon-crawling aesthetic of this game. It's what made the idea of Solo Levelling appealing to me, but of course that story ended up a more power fantasy type affair - it'd be really cool to see a manga or series about these regular civilians becoming capable adventurers.
This was probably one of the few games I bought based on the cover art and aesthetic back in 2021. I loved the dry humor and atmosphere, and having it on the switch was great because I could play it on the go.
Such a great game, need to finish the post credits content, but damn its so good. drags a lil bit near the end, but even with that its a blast and a ton of fun to explore and see the dungeons and monsters the game has for you, while trying to not get killed and lose progress or characters! Edit: also, love the Arknights names haha
@@Kougaon after watching this up to where i left off, im definitely gunna try finishing it, iirc its like 2 whole dungeons and a retread through an old dungeon? my only problem is i last played it back in march of 2023... comin on a full year since playing it, and im afraid i wont remember the mechanics or how my team works well enough to deal with the hard dungeons haha similar issue im havin with another game like yomi, another dungeon crawler called Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk. GREAT game with a surprising and dark story, and that story made me want to get the true/good ending! problem is to do so u have to fight 6 superbosses and then go through a GRUELING dungeon gauntlet to fight the final boss, and man i just cant deal with the repetition of farming a team to max level. sorry for the ramble lol just love these types of dungeon crawlers and wish it was easier to find more haha
@@Kougaon yeah its pretty solid overall. A couple of things to mention in your vid: Luci is mostly a pushover if you choose to fight her for every encounter like what I did, especially since her power level doesnt scale with your party, she kinda turns into a piniata after some progress - she seems to have a really high chance of dropping a skill boost so its always worth imo. I encountered her first power up when luring her with hajuuji. For a game that is overall on the easy side (imo) buffed luci is easily one of the hardest bosses in the game. Her damage is underwhelming for a boss but shes got a lot of ways to inflict status forcing you to fight slower and has respawning giant jellyfish which dont threaten your team a whole lot but are annoyingly tanky. Her healthpool is totally absurd like I swear its 10k or something ridiculous at that stage of the game and evasion so high your forced to use bradykenises to lower the evasion enough for your party to reliabley hit her over the first few turns of the fight. Its a bit of a dps race too because she heals a whole third of hp every few turns; you also cant go at it too slowly either because she will eventually high roll and land an armor pierce attack which is practically guaranteed to kill a party member with any following hit, and losing any one of your members will mean that you wont out dps your healing as your whole squad gets slowly choked out. Defo one of the few fights in the game which really forces you to hunker down and think - took me nearly an hour to figure out a strat to beat her. Its defo one of those fights where you can tell its beatable if you use brain over stats. You can also trigger another fight with luci if you choose to see her at district 0 first before going to other areas. I didnt know you can actually skip luci's second boss fight if you see her on district 0 last. Its the exact same fight with the only difference being her self heal is 4000. I personally seem to find that fights go by noticeably faster if you swap out the bulwark with comp fighter. Turns out fighter has a ton of defensive bulwark skills and regen that makes him tanky enough to be a front liner for the frontliners. And offense skills like helm split and costly strike means that he can easily output very respectable damage numbers. Am really digging playing the game without that class - i swear other than being an insta kill sponge mostly does nothing other than output poor damage numbers (or worse, not hit anything in the first place) or spam guard moves that may or may not go your way with the rng
watching this make me want to replay Labyrinth of Refrain and Labyrinth of Galleria, they also using some really creepy monster and dark theme but also push me to explore more of the labyrinth and also a rather less know series as well, i only found out about it when a friend told me the second game (which is Labyrinth of Galleria) is coming and so i start play the first one to prepare for it, fun game.
I think he means it just being sent to different eyes. For F&E type games, if hidden enough I personally wouldn't care for the his opinion as much as the gameplay I'm seeing since tastes differ.@@Kougaon
I knew that this art and formatting was familiar! I couldn't put my finger on it at first but this is the game company that made the spirit hunter series!!(horror) I love the art direction in these games, never really saw what they made outside of spirit hunter until now. How fun!
first time i saw dungeon crawlers my reaction was- what kind of an idiot would pay to play games like this? i ate my own words after experiencing undernauts, now im looking forward to hunt and play other games like this. undernauts also have somewhat the same plot as Solo Levelling, currently playing demongazeextra and undernauts togehter. hunting stranger of sword city next. i also have labrynth of galleria refrain and dusk on my backlog. and i play on switch btw. thanks for mentioning smt strange journey, never knew we had an smt game like that
this game sounds like it'll nicely scratch my Labyrinth of Refrain/Galleria itch. similarly scary dungeon crawling JRPG with freaky deaky enemy designs and some crazy plot shit going on... i shall wait for a sale
I loved this game so much, I actually made a TTRPG game based off of it. The soundtrack has this sort of, grotesque, mechanical, rotting, tense, atmosphere to it--I adore it. The ties to [the old man], showing the modern world... the dark side they don't want you to find out about. Beautiful. I was able to make my Stranger Of Sword City character in this game; and, since Sword City is a "poor man simulator" and the plot of this game, involves going through these lands for money--I have this sort of continuity with my character in my head, that they were poor--and came here for MONEY. The "charm" skill is 0l=ma's Impact--I recognize it anywhere--
+10000 for finally seeing someone else play this game 😂 My girlfriend always called it “the scary game” when I played through it a couple years ago. Was such a pleasant surprise and scratched my dungeon crawler itch so hard. The amount of classes and options are chef’s kiss
THE ART STYLE I knew it reminded me of something so I looked Aksys Games up again, and YES, same studio as Death Mark. Awesome, Death Mark is one of my favourite Horror Games, so that helps a lot. Highly reccomend the first game, the second is solid too.
I was definitely not expecting the Arknights references, my head physically looked up upon hearing "Nearl" thinking, huh, that's a rare name- holy shit that's her full name. Also amazing vid !!!
I saw this on the eshop and wasnt all too interested, but your video changed my mind. Seems interesting and will definitely take a look some time in the future c:
Ah yes, the number 731...which is the key to a puzzle involving horrifying chimeras born from cruel human experiments...
Read this comment before the video. And oh boy.
That's a good first impression.
Got to the actual part of the video, huge probs to the Devs for pretty much mentioning Operation Paperclip as well. Ballsy!
the only mistake on the dragon tank is that if the man genuinely repented he is supposed to have been frogiven, and should not be in yomi anymore.
I don't think you can be forgiven for flaying people alive @@pensador6953
Oh fuck wait a minute
“He would spare the lives of anyone who begged for their life, even the children.”
_he enters_
Tim? What are you doing here?
_(stab)_
Shame. He didn’t ask me not to kill him.
One issue I see is that the character portraits don't fit the mood, they are very clean and bright compared to the game.
13:20 The reason the radio is only a receiver is actually explained by the CEO. If you go into her tent and "Talk" > "Use Item" > "Radio", she mentions that in the past undernauts squads would use these to SMUGGLE ARGEN. Yomi Corp got tired of that bs and just outright disabled the transmitting function of the radios. Even Ms. Sandra agree that it's an inconvenience.
Also, THANK YOU! I've found this amazing game thanks to you. Having a blast with it.
Yes thank you! I actually have to leave that and many other details out unfortunately but thank you for commenting it for others!
The thing that I can’t stop thinning about the radios is how Red Luci had one and was listening to the commands of her “father” and even tried talking to him through it, but her cries fall on deaf ears, same as they do all throughout the game
Man, adulthood has ruined me... when you said that you didn't have a radio, only a transceiver, all I could think was, "Well, that's an OSHA violation, right there."
The thing is that transceiver means transmitter + receiver. So it actually should be able to communicate both ways.
I gotta ask, was OSHA a thing in the 70's? Cuz that's when the game takes place.
@@Green-Raccoon777 It was signed into law at the 29th of December, 1970
@@PikaPenny17 Oh, okay then.
@@PikaPenny17 Except we have a problem. OSHA doesn't extend to Japan. They have their own called JNIOSH, and it was formed in the late 40's from what I could find.
Kudos, you're the 1st youtuber who actually sold me on not finishing a video with spoilers. For the most part I don't care about spoilers cause I'd find them out eventually but you've piqued my interest. Been watching Smt videos, and wanting to delve into lesser known genres so this video came at the right time.
Congrats on your channel blowing up btw.
bruh same, lmao
Unit 731 is the reference. They did some jacked up stuff my dude.
I never knew about this now I’m curious…
Yeah, was about to say myself that it seems to be the reference, especially considering all that "sinner" premise and whatnot. I am surprised to see Japanese themselves mention it, though, seeing as you often hear about Japanese people being unaware of all sorts of war crimes that Japan committed in the past.
@@Kougaon Basically a fked up imperial Japanese human experimentation camp that tortured and experimented on POWs in the name of "science". The POWs were raped, blown by granades when naked, fed poisoned food, freezing a baby to see the effects on hypothermia, and a ton of sadistic "experiments" with questionable motives. IIRC there was an interview with a soldier witnessing the scientists raping and torturing POWs for fun.
All Imperial Japanese and German concentration camps had POWs survivors, Unit 731 is the ONLY camp with 0 survivors. The most fked up part is that the US gave the scientists immunity and money for their research. Most of these scientists proceed to live long fulling lives in positions of power in academia after the war.
Poeple also suspect that the US government refusal to make the unit 731 research public is that those research papers were just glorified torture porn manuals with little to no scientific value, and that the US is embarrassed by the fact that they knowingly let a bunch of psychopaths walk free with a bag of their money.
@@KaedevirusA lot of Japanese indie horror devs use Unit 731 references for insane scientists. Where in the West it's mad Nazis, in Japan it's insane Imperials of Unit 731.
@@Kougaon Your in for something disgusting and genuinely horrible. By the time your done reading up on Unit 731 there will be a part of your brain asking if two nukes were enough. It was horrible.
I remember when Atlus were bold enough to make Megaten games similar to this. On that note, I loved Experience's Spirit Hunter games, and was stoked to find out you could play as Kazuo in this game.
I think Atlus will get back to that. For right now though, they're riding that Persona 5 success train. But I highly doubt they'll ignore how successful their P3 and SMT: Nocturne remakes have been. P3 is where they started deviating from the older Megaten games, but still held closer to the same themes on a different formula. Nocturne however is more of a graphical upgrade of the same old theme. SMT V was criticized for moving away from the formula, and rightly so despite it actually being a pretty good game in it's own right, just not so much as an SMT game. And then there's Soul Hackers 2... Their big mistake of trying to adopt what works for Persona into something thematically very different. That's the reason I think they'll go back a bit to their roots and give us some more dark RPGs again like the old Megaten games, it's just likely going to be with the upgraded visuals.
Oh these people made death mark and spirit hunter too? No wonder I thought the artstyle was familiar
i think you are going to keep waiting.@@Orphim
@@takimi_nada was just thinking the same thing lol. the way the boss sprites are positioned on the screen as well as the textbox Really screamed spirit hunter
I mean, you litterally had a school massacre in smt 5
The neuron activation moment when I saw the party members named after Arknights characters lmao
Fellow doctor o7
Dokutah, okaeri-
I rolled my eyes the moment I heard "Texas" and "Amiya"
Because I know in a way, I would've done the same
If you haven't yet, try Death Mark & NG, 99% sure it is the same artist/dev/etc. They are not DRPGs rather horror VNs, but they both use audio much the same way Undernauts does along with the unsettling art & whatnot.
I saw! Will give that one a try sometime soon!
You're correct about the developer, Experience Inc., making the spirit hunter series. While I'm not fond of the limited save system the unique death scenes in NG are what really sold me on the game.
What makes this game really scary is the art style and ambience, especially when it's the same dev team who did the Spirit Hunter horror series.
i knew it the art looks similiar
Why do you draw animal prn
It reminds me more of fear and hunger
HOLD ON!!! this game got them Stranger journey VIB? I'm SOLD!!!
Based strange for playing Strange Journey o7
strange journey patricians unite
This game is a lot better than it has any right to be. It isn't too difficult, except for when it matters. Understanding the world itself is very much "come to realize" but in a way that invests you in wanting to explore more of the dungeon. The way the pieces come together are amazing.
Not a fan of how item discovery works, and its really a title that requires very specific party combinations which hurts replayability... but damn, what a good game it is.
Someone who gets it and I agree 100%
Thank you for covering this.
This company (Experience Inc) and its game needs more exposure.
Bro, if the opening line has a little girl saying "I have to eat humans" then it's a horror RPG.
Right right I felt 'horror' was awarded to games that really scared people (Silent Hill, Outlast) but I guess I'm wrong! haha
@@Kougaon I got what you meant but I feel like horror is mood first then gameplay, like Resident Evil and FNAF are both horror games but vastly different. Being on edge is just a different way, some would say genuine, to scare people. Spooky's House of Jumpscares really points out the problem with jumpscares when a cartoon blob can startle you just as hard as any other horror game in existence.
@@KougaonRE:5 despite being a walking shitpost of a game is still classified as a horror game.
It depends. I don't consider Digital Devil Saga horror and that game opens up by telling you that the only way to survive is to devour your enemy & eat them whole, lol. I guess it's different when you're playing as a demon avatar.
Nothing supernatural about that
If you liked this, definitely check out the New Tokyo Legacy games, Operation Abyss and Operation Babel. They're also by Experience and are more of the 'horror dungeon crawler' feel this game gives. Also Stranger of Sword City Revisited. Comes in a double-pack with Saviors of Sapphire Wings, but it's the better of the two. It's an updated version of a game you can get by itself and improves on an already great game in every way.
writing these down thank you!
@Kougaon to add to that, there are references to Experience's older games in Yomi. I recommend SOSC immediately and maybe dabble into Demon's Gaze and Saviours, they're all loosely tied to one another.
Also Experience tends to recycle a few tracks in these games, even in their most recent game Mon-Yu, see if you can spot it.
Really hope those games get a switch port, i was a dumbass that didnt get them while on the Vita
Operation Abyss/Babel feels a bit too generic (story wise) and has one of the worst mechanics to exist (permadeath), though when it happens is very situational so if you don't save often of has a doctor with the specific skill/item to fix it before leaving the dungeon, you're screwed.
Stranger in Sword City is pretty good though, but I only played the original version.
Thank you so much for making this video!
I never would have know this game existed otherwise. I appreciate it!
:D Glad you enjoyed it!
@@KougaonI agree 💯 percent, thanks to your video, I found this game. Been playing it for a little bit more than a week and reached the point where we "part ways" with the w******rl and meet a certain radio man. I'm leaving half-censored spoilers here, so please don't read further if you haven't reached that point yet.
The plot twist after that has blown me away. This was a highly depressing experience for our MC, wow (and as a healer MC, I was scared like crazy during the solo gameplay part after the cutscenes).
This is perfect material for a horror anime imo. I hope this game becomes more popular.
I was wondering where the game's vibes were coming from and then you said "experience developed this" and I was like "AHA, DEATH MARK". I've been in love with the Spirit Hunter series for years, and honestly I swear that I've seen this game, probably in some of their livestreams from a few years ago when I was following it. I'm SO glad this video reminded me that it exists, and now that I need to play it!
I'll return to this video once that's over. I just wanted to THANK YOU! I would've probably forgotten about this game if not for this video.
Honestly, I was so happy that (spoiler)
Luci survived all the way to the end. She deserves the world.
The more I discover what elicits fear in others the more I wonder just where I've gone wrong.
Oh, this is the studio that did the Death Mark games! I knew the art and UI styles looked familiar! This looks really good!
I am really glad this game is getting more love. I was someone on day one playing this like crazy the second I had it in my hands.
Experience as a dev for dungeon crawlers have a good history of unknown bangers. So I'm glad you enjoyed it. I would recommend getting a game called Lost Child by then, before it gets really hard as it's digitally removed. I think it's a hidden gem.
I hope this video brings them more attention!
This game is related to "Stranger of Sword City" and "Savior of Sapphire Wings", there are some in game references to those games, and some of the music are in all 3 of these games.
For reasons, the game also has character portrait from the game "Death Mark", a horror VN. and "operation abyss" and "Operation Babel".
They also have ties to the game Demon Gaze, though it's a little more subdued.
It's actually a tradition for villains and the likes named "Luci" (Lucy, Lucifer, Lucifelle, etc) ... and Merlin is-
They may have featured different Earths but the otherworld is definitely the same.
The player characters from Stranger of Sword City are from a different Earth than the player characters of this game
Ohh, so that's why the art style felt a bit familiar to me. It's probably the same artist.
@@revaryk6868 It is the same multiverse! There's subtle things too, like the Yomi kept alive with miomechanics. Members of the Medell clan (a vampire like race) suffer horrible disease since Almadell's death and have to be kept alive through machines.
I think it's the same dev for the spirit hunter series.
14:47 Hey, Margaret Nearl. Arknights mentioned
UNDERNAUTS LFGGGGGGG!
Sat in on a stream for this when sonicmega was running through it on Twitch and he loves the entire storyline this game's part of. Personally found it riveting. Thank you for covering and bringing more eyes to this.
Ayy glad to hear! It's always nice to hear this game get more love!
Thank you for covering this game. I got pretty fast but never beat it (got distracted by other games). You've inspired me to pick it back up! It really is a gem!
The rat enemy doesn’t look as grotesque as it should be 😂
I will wait for a sale to pick it up. sorry i did not finish the video you just really sold me on the game thank you.
I was on a Wizardry-like bender when I found this and oh man was it a great find. There's an interesting feeling to it where you're an intruder of sorts on a conflict that's been going on long before you were even around. It's very immersive!
these designs are so bloody good omg and the music
I feel like this video flowed better than the one your Various Daylife one! It did feel like the last half of the video though kinda lost the theme of 'horror JRPG'. It didn't feel like you had a lot of anxiety moments past the first quarter (of the video)? Still, very solid video, never heard of the game and I hope to see more of these!
You had me in the first half, the story sounded pretty great...not so much in the second half. I would recommend Labyrinth of refrain if you want a really dark DRPG with a great story and creepy setting.
This was actually pretty badass Kou, I wishlisted the game to be played one day. The atmosphere and gameplay looks interesting enough, and the indepth review was delightful.
I'm 100% here for more of these long, in depht analysis of obscure jrpgs and games
Honestly i was sold when etrian odyssey and megaten were mentioned but man those vibes sealed the deal. I'll play it before watching more but i will come back eventually, thank you!
The game is ok but it never gets too dark. It’s on me but I was hoping for a more “fear and hunger” level of overwrought darkness.
Yeah I totally get you. It's why I said it's very much a JRPG at it's heart. Fear and Hunger is a whole beast on it's own with it even being banned in a country I believe
@@Kougaon yeah but I mean their NG games had a lot of pretty brutal body horror and shock so I thought they’d follow through on this one seeing as it’s marketed as a horror rpg
@@Scott_Inksmith a lot of people seem to directly equate edgy bullshit and body horror with absolute terror but if I'm being real all of the lame ass over the top body horror and SA that happens in funger isn't scary or thematic or cool. it’s edgy and childish and takes me out of the experience every single time it comes up.
it’s legitimately an incredible fantastic experience and then one every once in a while the developer wants to remind you that he’s like an eighth grade school shooter.
more games need to take the good parts of fear and hunger, and leave all the creepy edge lord sexual assault limb removal shit in the past because I would love to love that game, but I don’t really want to support a game that use a sexual assault as a punchline and has zero respect for its own subject matter.
@@wearecoterminous
I love how you told on your own zero sum undercooked mentality more than anything else with this rant.
Damn I guess Berserk is just anti-art then. I'll tell the entire dark souls development team that they took bad inspiration then.
Edit: Forgot about alien too.
@@InvadeNormandyHe is not saying that gore is bad. He is saying that making fucked up stuff just for shock value, when you are more than 13yo, is a cheap trick. Berserk's fucked up stuff works because it has actual meaning, it chills your blood. Fear and Hunger has an incredible atmosphere, but its more extreme stuff is just there to say "look at me, I'm so WILD" and it actually ruins the mood. It's childish and exhibitionist, just that.
Love the content Ko, wish you'd do more of these type of stuff for more games that you like. Leaving a thumbs up for sure!
Loving the new type of content Ko keep it up
Thank you thank you ;w;
This like artstyle and genre, like, I'm sure if you know you know, is always PEAK.
yasss long video essay for me to listen to as I grind out art hahah. great video!! got me really invested in the story~
AHH I’m honored you chose to watch my video while you do art 🥺! Thank you and always looking forward to your work 🥺!!
If you can't transmit, only receive, it's a receiver, not transceiver.
Oh goody a long ass video essay about a First Person Horror RPG, Well then better get the popcorn and drink.
Undernauts looks like a MegaTen game if it went even further into dark and disturbing direction with some added horror to boot, Basically a combination of my two favourite genre.
Love the longform content kou !
Thank you :3
As a gigantic fan of EO, Strange Journey, and craving more horrific things in a dungeon crawling JRPG, I've gotta give this one a shot. Let's see what we can't do...
Evil Corporation uses power from a version of hell/ the underworld made from demons named "Argen"...
Why do I hear Mick Gordon music?
Love the style of videos you are currently doing. Getting really excited to see more of this. ❤❤
I got many other games planned to talk about :D
Nice party name choices. I am a Goldenglow man myself. I love Etrian Odyssey, but tbh I'm too impatient atm to pick up a game like it(and also broke) so I will just watch the video summary for now.
Awesome! I love your narrative through the whole thing!
Experience! I love dungeon crawlers like this. Thank you, man!
I think I have most of Experience's dungeon crawler titles in English.
No problem! I'm glad others enjoy their game too!
First Person Dungeon cralwer jrpgs are UNDERATED!!! (thanks for covering a game in the genre im subbing)
Kougaon thanks for giving me a placebo effect in whenever i hear your damn voice i suddenly have the urge to get on ffxiv and do my daylies im so serious i dont know how but i always feel urged on cause of you
You're welcome :) now get on the dailies
Excellent video!
Maybe its not officially a horror game but it seems close enough to me.
You managed to keep me entertained for the entire hour with your breakdown.
I won't lie to you though I'll probably skip playing it myself and stick to Hello Kitty Island adventure as i don't need anymore trouble sleeping.
I wish you luck with your hello kitty grind o7
Pretty sure it's categorized as a horror jrpg everywhere.
I am surprised how rare horror themed jrpg. the only one i can remember are koudelka, shadow heart, PE and older smt games and i would definitely check this game out.
Koudelka was a goated game. Glad to see others know about it !
I love that Armageddon plays in basically every experience game. Great final boss theme
I love detailed reviews of obscure JRPG games that only I ever played, couldn't explain to anyone, and later somehow wrote off as a weird dream that never happened but in fact, WAS A REAL GAME.
Great to see Undernauts getting some love. I got it on PS4 and really enjoyed it. If you like this game, Experience has a whole back catalog of amazing DRPGs and they all share the same DNA.
I plan to one day get thru some of their other games but yes! So happy to see other Undernaut fans !
Got here expecting to be Fear&Hunger. I was pleasantly surprised.
Very surprised to see you playing this! Another one you might enjoy is Dungeon Travelers 2 and the sequel 2-2. They're not on Steam... for reasons. You might have some fun with them lol.
Also check out this devs latest game 'Mon-Yu: Defeat Monsters And Gain Strong Weapons And Armor. You May Be Defeated, But Don’t Give Up. Become Stronger. I Believe There Will Be A Day When The Heroes Defeat The Devil King.'
Yes that is the games full title.
Thanks for the rec’s! I’ll add these to my list and LOL I remembered seeing Mon-Yu and debated on getting that for a video
I really like the modern dungeon-crawling aesthetic of this game. It's what made the idea of Solo Levelling appealing to me, but of course that story ended up a more power fantasy type affair - it'd be really cool to see a manga or series about these regular civilians becoming capable adventurers.
This was probably one of the few games I bought based on the cover art and aesthetic back in 2021. I loved the dry humor and atmosphere, and having it on the switch was great because I could play it on the go.
Such a great game, need to finish the post credits content, but damn its so good.
drags a lil bit near the end, but even with that its a blast and a ton of fun to explore and see the dungeons and monsters the game has for you, while trying to not get killed and lose progress or characters!
Edit: also, love the Arknights names haha
I hope you finish up the game! It does drag but I didn't want to leave anything behind myself haha. Good catch on the names :)
@@Kougaon after watching this up to where i left off, im definitely gunna try finishing it, iirc its like 2 whole dungeons and a retread through an old dungeon?
my only problem is i last played it back in march of 2023... comin on a full year since playing it, and im afraid i wont remember the mechanics or how my team works well enough to deal with the hard dungeons haha
similar issue im havin with another game like yomi, another dungeon crawler called Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk. GREAT game with a surprising and dark story, and that story made me want to get the true/good ending!
problem is to do so u have to fight 6 superbosses and then go through a GRUELING dungeon gauntlet to fight the final boss, and man i just cant deal with the repetition of farming a team to max level.
sorry for the ramble lol just love these types of dungeon crawlers and wish it was easier to find more haha
I just started the post-game after 80+ hours of playtime. I am now back after the spoiler warning
wow someone who actually came back, thank you! I hope you've been enjoying the game!
@@Kougaon yeah its pretty solid overall. A couple of things to mention in your vid:
Luci is mostly a pushover if you choose to fight her for every encounter like what I did, especially since her power level doesnt scale with your party, she kinda turns into a piniata after some progress - she seems to have a really high chance of dropping a skill boost so its always worth imo. I encountered her first power up when luring her with hajuuji. For a game that is overall on the easy side (imo) buffed luci is easily one of the hardest bosses in the game. Her damage is underwhelming for a boss but shes got a lot of ways to inflict status forcing you to fight slower and has respawning giant jellyfish which dont threaten your team a whole lot but are annoyingly tanky. Her healthpool is totally absurd like I swear its 10k or something ridiculous at that stage of the game and evasion so high your forced to use bradykenises to lower the evasion enough for your party to reliabley hit her over the first few turns of the fight. Its a bit of a dps race too because she heals a whole third of hp every few turns; you also cant go at it too slowly either because she will eventually high roll and land an armor pierce attack which is practically guaranteed to kill a party member with any following hit, and losing any one of your members will mean that you wont out dps your healing as your whole squad gets slowly choked out. Defo one of the few fights in the game which really forces you to hunker down and think - took me nearly an hour to figure out a strat to beat her. Its defo one of those fights where you can tell its beatable if you use brain over stats.
You can also trigger another fight with luci if you choose to see her at district 0 first before going to other areas. I didnt know you can actually skip luci's second boss fight if you see her on district 0 last. Its the exact same fight with the only difference being her self heal is 4000.
I personally seem to find that fights go by noticeably faster if you swap out the bulwark with comp fighter. Turns out fighter has a ton of defensive bulwark skills and regen that makes him tanky enough to be a front liner for the frontliners. And offense skills like helm split and costly strike means that he can easily output very respectable damage numbers. Am really digging playing the game without that class - i swear other than being an insta kill sponge mostly does nothing other than output poor damage numbers (or worse, not hit anything in the first place) or spam guard moves that may or may not go your way with the rng
@@socialelitist4256 gotcha! Thanks for letting me know! I was just a big baby then haha
Really been enjoying this content from you. Videos are really well made
watching this make me want to replay Labyrinth of Refrain and Labyrinth of Galleria, they also using some really creepy monster and dark theme but also push me to explore more of the labyrinth and also a rather less know series as well, i only found out about it when a friend told me the second game (which is Labyrinth of Galleria) is coming and so i start play the first one to prepare for it, fun game.
1:17:52 And I saw the battle music change its lyrics to Latin, and I knew, I was screwed.
Oooo, I wonder if this is going to blow up the way Fear and Hunger did when SuperEyepatchWolf covered it.
Haha I doubt it. SuperEyepatchWolf is leagues better than me at making content entertaining but I appreciate the thought !
@Kougaon the popularity of fear and hunger started from smaller channels until it hit eyepatchwolf. It took about 3 months
Probably not with this title that nobody will ever find
Who honestly gives a shit jesus
I think he means it just being sent to different eyes. For F&E type games, if hidden enough I personally wouldn't care for the his opinion as much as the gameplay I'm seeing since tastes differ.@@Kougaon
Scripting could use some serious grammar checking. Overall, solid vid, solid review. Subscribed and looking forward to seeing how this channel grows.
I knew that this art and formatting was familiar! I couldn't put my finger on it at first but this is the game company that made the spirit hunter series!!(horror) I love the art direction in these games, never really saw what they made outside of spirit hunter until now. How fun!
first time i saw dungeon crawlers my reaction was- what kind of an idiot would pay to play games like this? i ate my own words after experiencing undernauts, now im looking forward to hunt and play other games like this. undernauts also have somewhat the same plot as Solo Levelling, currently playing demongazeextra and undernauts togehter. hunting stranger of sword city next. i also have labrynth of galleria refrain and dusk on my backlog. and i play on switch btw. thanks for mentioning smt strange journey, never knew we had an smt game like that
14:36 The sudden Arknights references hit me out of nowhere.
Revisiting this video again, now that I have made it to the post-game on PC. Still a solid run-down of the events of the game.
@@sethimothy oh good to hear! I was fearing I didn’t do it Justice! Congrats on reaching post game!
this game sounds like it'll nicely scratch my Labyrinth of Refrain/Galleria itch. similarly scary dungeon crawling JRPG with freaky deaky enemy designs and some crazy plot shit going on... i shall wait for a sale
I just wanted something to play in the background....now i am in the switch store searching the game
I loved this game so much, I actually made a TTRPG game based off of it. The soundtrack has this sort of, grotesque, mechanical, rotting, tense, atmosphere to it--I adore it. The ties to [the old man], showing the modern world... the dark side they don't want you to find out about. Beautiful.
I was able to make my Stranger Of Sword City character in this game; and, since Sword City is a "poor man simulator" and the plot of this game, involves going through these lands for money--I have this sort of continuity with my character in my head, that they were poor--and came here for MONEY.
The "charm" skill is 0l=ma's Impact--I recognize it anywhere--
at 9:58 you convinced me to buy the game, the studio is too small, yet the game looks to be really well done, they deserve the support
Experience make great first person dungeon crawlers. Got this one on my backlog.
Mad king aka Mad overlord. a wizardry homage
+10000 for finally seeing someone else play this game 😂
My girlfriend always called it “the scary game” when I played through it a couple years ago. Was such a pleasant surprise and scratched my dungeon crawler itch so hard. The amount of classes and options are chef’s kiss
Never thought I will heard penguinz0 cameo in this video
1:04:46
More videos on random jrpgs! Or just j horror games in general please! ❤️
Wow I guess many others wondered like me how fun NG would be if the entity encounters were more RPG like and here it is. I will try this game out.
That studio always have hidden Gems in the west
Man I’ve been interested in this for a while!
Come on man, second game you make me buy after Astlibra was such a banger
@@raenhie :)
THE ART STYLE
I knew it reminded me of something so I looked Aksys Games up again, and YES, same studio as Death Mark.
Awesome, Death Mark is one of my favourite Horror Games, so that helps a lot. Highly reccomend the first game, the second is solid too.
Finally glad this game is getting out there. One of my favorite games i played last year
Aw hell yeah, a first person dungeon crawler. Been curious about this game. Fecking love Etrian Odyssey ❤
It's a great game I enjoyed the ambience of it so much. Will try Etrian Odyssey one day!
I was definitely not expecting the Arknights references, my head physically looked up upon hearing "Nearl" thinking, huh, that's a rare name- holy shit that's her full name. Also amazing vid !!!
Saying it's like Etrian Odyssey made me put this bad boy on my wishlist. I can't WAIT to have the cash to spare for this bad boy.
Watched halfway through and now I know I need to play this game
So wizardry without the annoyance permadeath
Never played so maybe!
I saw this on the eshop and wasnt all too interested, but your video changed my mind. Seems interesting and will definitely take a look some time in the future c:
I hope you enjoy it!
@Kougaon the art style was also familiar, and it's the same people who made Spirit Hunter: Death Mark, with a sequel soon c:
Thanks for the discovery!!!
This game reminds me so much of fear and hunger.
glad someone is finally talking about this game
Love how you named your party members after Arknights characters, that made me really happy
Atmosphere reminds me a lot of smt. looks interesting!
Getting my hands on a Switch copy, thanks for putting me on
seeing the title and thumbnail, I thought this was going to be about Cosmology of Kyoto
So glad this game is getting recognition finally!!!