Were you born in or before the 1990’s? Are you now called old by kids born after the Millennium?
If so, buy the game.
If not, buy the game.

The demake has a surprisingly comforting punch of nostalgia, whilst simultaneously scaring the remaining life out of you.

I highly recommend this game if you're into old school horror. They've done a great job capturing the essence of 90s gaming, down to the controls, fixed camera angles and graphics. Really scary game with great jumpscares, similar to Devour where it's full screen and loud, 10/10 I fall out my chair every time.

Only downside at the moment is that there's some bugs which make it difficult to progress, but comparing to the developers other games, they will likely fix this very quickly, so I'd still recommend getting this game.

EDIT: Just finished the game, I'd say 90% of the bugs mentioned before have been fixed, there's a few minor ones but nothing game breaking.

Had so much fun! I'd say you get kind of used to the jumpscares after a while, since the demake seems a lot harder than the original game - it's on par with a souls-like with how often you die. In spite of this, the suspense was killing me at some points. As someone who often gives up and moves on when I die a lot, this game had me gripped like King Kong's fist. In Chapter 3+ I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

Highly recommended!

Just to be really clear, this is the original Escape the Ayuwoki Steam game in third-person, with fixed camera angles and deliberately pixellated graphics, reminiscent of 90s PSX survival horror. I wanted to get that out there as some people have been confused by what a 'demake' is.

So it's not a new storyline (it's still the original protagonist waking up in a dark mansion), but what the game does change is that it adds an inventory system (you can carry up to four items, but each item has a weight value, so you could carry less if the items are too heavy), new puzzles, and, according to the Discord community, some new areas, but as I've only played the first chapter so far, I can't confirm myself.

If you found the original game hard, this is even harder. With the original game, you could see directly in front of you and turn around to see in any direction. With fixed camera angles, you're wholly reliant on the volume of the jangly music that plays when the Ayuwoki is near, which adds to the suspense and terror. To help with this, whenever the Ayuwoki breaks down a door to a room in the mansion (something he didn't do in the first game), the camera pans to his location, so you can see where he is at that moment.

As an older gamer in my 40s, I was a teenager when the PSX survival horror boom took off and grew up on games like Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, Silent Hill etc, so this was a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me and love the pixellated aesthetic. The difference here is those other games had characters with dodge mechanics, weapons to fight back and energy bars - here you can't fight back (don't mistake that crowbar for a weapon!) and if the Ayuwoki catches you, you're greeted with a horrific jumpscare and a one-hit kill.

You can't save your progress manually, but reaching certain stages in the chapters will trigger a checkpoint, so if you die, you'll start back at those positions, but when that happened to me I lost a key item from my inventory. However, the devs are really passionate and committed to improving their games and they've patched the game around ten times since launch based on user feedback, so the experience is really smooth now - I just wish I was better at it!

My favourite of the DeadlyCrow Ayuwoki series is still by far Horror Night with it's unique look and feel, character customisation, and procedurally generated multiplayer gameplay but Demake is still a great game, it's just a little bit too hardcore for me, but I can see that this will be a speedrunner's delight given it's a stealth game where how quickly you complete the game depends on how long you hide under tables and behind boxes where the Ayuwoki can't find you - but don't forget to turn off your flashlight as he can see you as well as hear you.

TL/DR - if you're a fan of old-school PSX survival horror with punishing difficulty, this is right up your street.

Escape the Ayuwoki is a legend in my memory. Countless times I’ve played and escaped. So what better to do? Make it even better.
Demake brings new challenge with the same concept. Escaping while your voice can be heard. The more retro style brings new aspects to what you need.
With new puzzles and methods of escaping, with a different kind of control, Demake surely fits into the series. Gives the scared I was looking for while giving a well made challenge.
Not many games have fixed cameras and mouse-less controls these days. Using A and D to turn with W S being back and forth is a cool concept taking back from older games.
Accept the challenge, and try to survive the Ayuwokis attacks in a new way.
AAA right here.

A quick review with a few Bugs and Suggestions for the developers!

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Personally I like this version quite a lot, since it's different from the main game by adding a few extra elements that are required to proceed to the next chapter. Different locations are an added bonus and that's what sets this game apart from the original game.

Now, I'd like to list some bugs i've encountered! (SPOILERS AHEAD)

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These bugs had occurred during my play through of chapter 2.

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- The Ayuwoki was breaking doors I don't believe he should have. He broke the fire hallway doors that lead nowhere, he also broke some of the front doors where the police are.

- The Ayuwoki broke the White Door after I grabbed the key, even though I hadn't unlocked it and gone through it yet. (Basically what's the point of the key if the monster breaks the door before I can use it?)

- During chapter 2, the Ayuwoki was producing a sometimes blinding glow. At first I thought this was intentional since his eyes are now white/pale, however when I entered chapter 3 and the glow was gone, I came to the conclusion it's a bug.



- Add another camera angle right by the fire in the hallway of chapter 2 to show the Ayuwoki in the fire (Like the previous game) and provide context to why he is then heard running and breaking a door.

- In chapter 3 the hallway at the beginning of the train tracks is impossible to judge where he is without heading forwards and dying from him sneaking up, since the camera placement is where you hear audio. I'd also suggest you slow him down a bit more, as trying to sprint down that channel can be deadly 90% of the time.

- His AI is definitely different and sometimes not in a good way. My first suggestion is to do with the doors, specifically how instead of breaking every door he sees, he should break it if he hears something from inside. Every now and then I think he should break down a door, but it does become very jarring seeing a camera on him 3 times in a sequence of 0.5 seconds.

- Another suggestion for his AI would be to make him wander more instead of camping the areas the player is at. This in particular is an issue in Chapter 3, and is what had made my progress near impossible. I think if he was told to wander off into another area and then come back, his AI would be more enjoyable and scary when he comes running round the corner after building a false sense of security.

- Controller support is almost perfect but is a bit off. When holding the run button it opens the inventory which stops you dead in your tracks. Meaning if he starts chasing you, you can't run and basically surrender yourself to him.

- When it comes to selecting item choices, (Pick it up y/n) I would suggest making the choice be auto selected and switch between yes and no, instead of dragging a circle around until it selects what you want. This suggestion goes towards other UI elements also.

- A final suggestion so far would be to make the bedroom on fire in chapter 1 less noisy so you are aware of where the Ayuwoki is!!

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Anyway! I am enjoying this play style a lot more since it requires a few extra steps. However, if you implement these suggestions I believe it will make the game a lot more user friendly and enjoyable!I will edit this if I find more issues down the line!!

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-Ashe

It's not working for me. When I start a new game or continue, the game will crash immediately after the loading completes. Please fix this issue.

I cant find my way outta the first part but it gives me eriee vibes and I LOVE IT

Escape the Ayuwoki DEMAKE is simply just not fun. I don't know what I expected but I purchased this as an impulse buy during the spring sale. I should have stuck to my rule of waiting before buying. It was only $2.99 but it was truly a waste of money. This game was designed to feel like an old PS1 survival horror but it feels more like something that I would have played on the 3DO. It doesn't have nostalgic charm and just feels tedious to play. The DEMAKE has some bugged achievements, after the 5 hours achievement the rest of the hours based achievements seem to be completely bugged. I have 34 hours of game play and no ten hours or 25 hours achievements have popped yet. I really cannot recommend this game to anyone. It's a 1/5 for me.

Terrible controller support, such a shame since i'm a big fan of classic survival horror.

*Exit game.
Are you can't handle it?
Yes i can't handle the mediocrity of this game lololol.
3/10.