Patience is a virtue. Time and again this was proven to me while the most recent instance is AKAI NOROI’s development and troublesome release. There’s no way around it, the game was sort of a dumpster fire until it received a cascade of updates which could help it reach its intended potential. My feedback was well received and I was told to wait. So I did, for quite some time and to my surprise, the dev team delivered. As the Steam debut for Aza Game Studio, they are still learning the ropes in this cutthroat biz that’s the game industry. Independent development through its implied budgetary constraints, poses an extra burden which I’ve yet to experience first hand. I don’t regret delaying instead of sinking my teeth deep into AKAI NOROI and tearing it apart after my initial playthrough, since even my scepticism could use a “sparring partner” from time to time.

In fact, my habit of constantly taking lots of screenshots (less than half of them “make the cut” and get linked on my Steam profile) proved invaluable in my comparison between what I played a month ago and what I’ve experienced now in AKAI NOROI (literally “RED CURSE” in Japanese). The story itself is convoluted for a reason. When was the last time you saw a horror movie based off Japanese folklore that wasn’t filled with twists and turns? “The Grudge” was a true inspiration for this game, but you’ll probably notice elements from a few other films as well. The good part about this title, is that it’s not predictable at least. A recently sacked salaryman is facing depression and constant nightmares which only get worsened by substance abuse. He misses his deceased sister and the following game events could just as well be an elaborate hallucination for all we know. That never gets explained, so I’m not spoiling anything here. There are three separate endings which focus on several female victims and their tormented spirits, so you’ll have plenty of time to replay and follow another path.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2214823703

A Unity Engine creation using certain assets I’m already familiar with, their clever placement is what makes the difference in the end. A flexible game engine which is known for its stability, I still had lots of frame rate drops in my initial testing. Heck, I couldn’t even change the resolution and that only exaggerated the abysmal performance. Those are issues of the past, dear readers. You can tweak the visuals to dispense with annoying bloom and motion blur (screenshot killers) while also fiddling with the shadow distance, a known cause for instability. Managed to run and complete all three endings on 2K@60fps without breaking a sweat. Sure, I could still complain that it’s far too dark at times, but it’s a horror game based on nightmares and the occult. I didn’t expect sunshine and daisies after all. The fact that it went from nearly unplayable to a perfectly functional state, speaks volumes about dev support. If I had a dime for every flimsy horror indie game I’ve played on Steam, I’d probably still not have enough for an early retirement but definitely still a nice sum. ;)

The sounds are not gonna impress anyone. Eerie repetitive background music, the occasional scream coupled by alarms, bells, ringing, you get the idea. There’s no voice acting at all, the few pieces of intel which drive the narrative forward, are all written down and scattered across rooms you’ll need to discover and unlock. You can literally skip most of them without any consequences, so having a bloke or a lass whispering several words into a microphone, would have done the game a tremendous favor. Silence of the grave doesn’t make for a very convincing storyline, horror genre or not.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2214823750

While it’s never mentioned exactly as far as the game location’s concerned, seeing all those typically Japanese representations of The Buddha (natively mixing elements of Shinto as well) point towards Japan, as if the crisp-textured paintings, katanas and ceramics weren’t hinting it enough. As a nice departure from similar games, you can interact with very many objects in AKAI NOROI, regardless of their usage from a gameplay perspective. It’s a nice layer of attention to detail, the art work itself is ranging from tourist trap quality towards the absolute grotesque. I was honestly half expecting “The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife” to make an appearance at some point. You’ll have to settle for lesser pieces in terms of shock value.

Plenty of nightmare fuel to go around, not being able to take the fight to ‘em is cause for concern though. For the several enemy types you’ll encounter, a single strategy will have to be employed: you cut and run as fast as you can. And they’ll give chase, surprisingly efficient at hunting you down no matter how much you’ll try to hide. Keep a few manual saves in reserve, don’t rely just on the autosaves. Believe it or not, the inability to save progress in-game, was a critical blow for AKAI NOROI and I discovered that the hard way, of course. If THAT problem wouldn’t have been solved by now, I would have hit this game like The Shinkansen (bullet train). Devs were hard at work, pumped more than a few patches, you should be able to save by your heart’s desire at the time of this writing.

Let’s focus on the core gameplay for a bit. You won’t just hunt for keys and flashlight batteries like in almost every other indie horror game. I won’t lie, you’ll be doing those activities a lot as well, yet the main piece of the action revolves around dodging immortal monsters which are as deadly as they are swift. AKAI NOROI is a far cry from Alien: Isolation, don’t get me wrong, yet I found striking similarities between those nightmarish creatures and the titular Alien. Sure, their brain dead AI is making things as funny as they are unpredictable, yet running from a Yurei (ghost) while desperately backtracking and looking for that one door or portal to freedom, creates the right amount of tension. Having a “peashooter” in the inventory would have simplified the terms, even if I still wanted that option.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2214823998

Is there room for improvement in AKAI NOROI? You bet there is. Yet as it stands right now, it is far more enjoyable than the sorry state in which it should have never released in July 2020. A textbook example of shooting oneself in the proverbial foot, just look at those “mostly negative” reviews still pouring in or harder to sift through. They were right and I emphasize the past issues which have now been mostly ironed out. A few words of caution to any potential indie devs: Don’t release a half-finished, barely functional game and then manage to get it up and running "only" a month later. Let the AAA fat cats follow that “procedure” instead, while you focus on delivering stability from the get-go. As for the buyers and my readers, almost no one will judge you if you wait for a discount during a Steam Sale, before purchasing AKAI NOROI. Take your time, patience never hurt anyone, right?

+ Steam Achievements.
+ Pleasant graphics and effects.
+ Original story with replay value.

- No Steam Trading Cards yet.
- Severely limited sounds.
- You can’t fight back.

Rating 70/100

This review was submitted for Imperial Reviews through the generous contribution of Erander♣. Following my Curator Page, will help me keep publishing new reviews as soon as I can. I appreciate your support!