When I thought things couldn’t get weirder!

Yodanji – Nintendo Switch – Released: 12/7/17 – $4.99

Short Review (Review copy provided by KEMCO)

When I first saw Yodanji, I didn’t think it would have so much lore and detail. The game is a fairly basic rogue-like dungeon crawler but the unique aspect is unlocking new yokai in each run. The surprising part about this game is the level of detail for each yokai, they all have their own page of lore, highly detailed artwork, and you can change their nicknames. Once you are in the game though things get a bit weird, runs can either be really easy or have you running around trying to heal up. The game has three modes which is nice though depending on how you want to play, easy, normal, and endless. You will need to collect scrolls to unlock new yokai while leveling up attacks and defeating monsters. There are no big boss battles but small enemies can be quite deceiving on how much they will damage you. If you want a ton to do for a low price, Yodanji is an easy purchase. I found that most KEMCO produced games are “looks can be deceiving” style of games. I would give this game a 9 out of 10, while the game has an extensive amount of things to do for a low price, unless you like rogue-like games or the 8-bit style it will be a turn off to most people.

This icon is pretty awesome because it shows a lot of the yokai:

Story

Did you think this game would have a story? I know I didn’t… For a game about ghosts I thought it would be pretty generic but is about how a cellphone in 2017 was able to tap into the yokai world. The phone was left next to a rice cooker and took the first picture of a yokai. The next month, they released an update to simulate the rice cooker’s wireless emissions so everyone could tap into the yokai world. Companies started producing applications that allowed people to capture the yokai. The game is a port of said application and now has been ported to the Switch.

Gameplay

The game is a taste of the rogue-like genre for dungeon crawlers. The game is fairly short for each stage but you start off with only 3 yokai. Depending on the mode you choose you will have an normal experience which requires you to collect three scrolls to unlock a new yokai. You can choose the easy mode which is just easy enough that you can breeze through it. Then the final mode is endless and you don’t unlock any yokai but there is endless amount of dungeons to explore. You will need to level up your yokai by defeating enemies and pick up items that can heal you.

Personal Experience

I’ve played several hours of this game unlocking most yokai. I found it pretty cool getting a new yokai and reading up about them. I spent too much time reading the lore and then going on Google to find out more information or finding a Yokai Watch equivalent. I haven’t played too much of the endless mode but I want to tackle it as soon as I unlock all the yokai.

Final Thoughts

Yes, this is a mobile game ported to the Switch. Thought I should point that out right away but it is a pretty great little game for the Switch. Yodanji is currently $3 on Android so the $5 isn’t so bad for a dedicated video game device. I would give this game a 9 out 10, it is original and tons of information to learn. If only it was a little more forgiving at times and had some big bosses to show off the progress you made during your short adventure. A giant yokai would be a nice boss or at least a boss that was repeating in each run.

My Gameplay Footage:

Trailer:

End Credits

I have been playing this game on and off for the last month. I didn´t get the review copy until recently though since I lost the original KEMCO email. If anyone knows how to stop emails from being sent to SPAM would be great to learn. Any email I get from another country or has any amount of a different language it gets sent to SPAM. I don have SPAM folder always in my face so it could be a week or two weeks before I notice it is in there. Then after 30 days it deletes itself which is why I lost the original email from the other games I received from them.

Speed reviews will return next week as well once I get gameplay footage of all these games. Any feedback on those would be great as well if they need some tweaking or would you want something different. As always I hope you enjoyed the review and I´ll see you tomorrow another time but the same place!