YIIK: A Postmodern RPG

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is one of those games I have been fascinated by for a long time. The game advertising itself as postmodern definitely caught my attention since I love games with postmodern themes like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Spec Ops: The Line. Seeing trailers back in 2015-2016 definitely piqued my interest and showed promise. The art, music, mystery, and weird visuals left some kind of impression on me to the point where I would think about it on and off until it finally released in January 2019. After it's release, much of the conversation around the game was only highlighting things people didn't like. Stuff like "Alex as a main character is insufferable and seems like a lame self-insert" (there's much more to him than that, though he is insufferable for sure), "The RPG combat is just slow and tedious Paper Mario gameplay" (I won't disagree there, the old combat wasn't great), and "this game handles its subject matter horribly and is full of inconsistencies and bizarre tonal shifts" (probably the most unfair criticism the game got). I didn't want to write off the game entirely at the time, but the combat being tedious and unfun was enough friction for me to hold off on giving it a shot. Then, around 2022, the developers came back with trailers for a massive free update to the game they were calling YIIK I.V. Not only did these new trailers show they were massively overhauling the combat, but the game was quadrupling down on the qualities it had going for it while also giving much more attention to characters that aren't Alex. With that, I was absolutely back on Ackk Studio's wild ride and was ready for this game to have a proper second chance. Now in 2025, almost a decade since I first saw anything related to YIIK, I can safely say this is one of the most interesting games I've played in a long time and is up there with some of my all time favorite indie games. YIIK occupies my mind in a way that only a handful of other games ever have, and I genuinely adore it for that.

To start, the combat is solid now. It's not the deepest or most engaging thing ever, but the new Karta system with characters sharing a resource pool for special abilities makes encounters feel much more dynamic and interesting, while also making encounters WAY faster than before. Each character feels like they have a unique identity in what they bring to combat. Rory is a support character who's all about giving buffs and fighting with strong counter attacks, Claudio is all about big damage, sustain, and clearing out enemy Karta with his basic attacks, and Alex is like a weird, selfish Jack of All Trades which definitely suits the themes the game is going for. Michael might be my favorite with him being able to create copies of enemies to fight alongside the party and with his new mechanic where, if the other party members are either blind or knocked out, he puts away his camera he's been using to fight and pulls out a gun he's been concealing which does an insane amount of damage. Like damn, that's such a cool way to integrate a story element like that into the gameplay. As a whole, the combat being faster really does wonders for this game's pacing. Not being stuck in fights that take up to 5-10 minutes constantly makes it way easier to really appreciate the story the game is trying to tell.

So about that story. What exactly is YIIK about? On the surface, YIIK follows Alex in the year 1999 as he returns to his hometown from college and meets a girl in an elevator that gets taken away by some entities, so he and his "friends" go on a crazy RPG adventure to find this girl and prevent the end of the world before the New Year. On the surface, the game takes place in this quirky modern RPG world that appears to be full of reverence for 90s nostalgia. On the surface, some dialogue and writing seems incredibly off and confusing based on things the game shows to the player (like when Alex says he can't get the video of the girl going missing out of his head, even though the game shows he supposedly met her) and it doesn't really make sense why any of these characters would be helping a loser man-child like Alex. But like the title says, this is a Postmodern RPG. It's not meant to be taken on the surface. To oversimplify it, Postmodernism is all about questioning grand narratives. Alex is the main character, the world builder, and the story-teller. Him having this central role in everything ever is meant for you to question things. Why does the game say it takes place in 1999 when Alex is a hipster and Rory is a scene kid, which weren't really things in the 90s? Why does Alex keep conveniently coming across all these weird excuses to meet up with the other characters that all center around him (finding a magical record, searching for an android that he thinks is beautiful, the world ending because of him)? Why is Alex's hometown designed like a Pokémon town? Why does his living room look exactly like the one from Full House? Why does some of Vella's dialogue sound like she's giving answers to a magazine interview? Why does the game reference media and events that came well after 1999? Why does Alex, who clearly has a deep-seeded hatred for his dad walking out on him and his mom at a young age, wear his flannel shirts and hold onto his vinyl record collection? Why do all these story events seem to correspond with posts made on the in-game paranormal message board, ONISM1999? Why are different people all considered parallel versions of other characters when it seems like they have little to no connection to their parallel selves? These things aren't accidental, nor is all the 90s nostalgia meant to be seen as celebratory. It's all in service to creating a character study of a very specific type of 2010s guy. One deeply obsessed with nostalgia and wanting to go back to the 90s. He's uncreative and only knows how to Frankenstein existing things together (a Dragon Quest style world map in New Jersey, fighting knockoff Ninja Turtles in a sewer, quests and story beats based on in-game forum posts), and obsessed with appearing smart. He fancies himself some kind of intellectual, but is shown to be really dumb by constantly misunderstanding/misquoting things he supposedly likes. He's the quintessential obnoxious, self-centered, millennial "I'M A 90s KID!" type of guy and you're sure as hell not meant to like or relate to him, especially when it's clear that he's lying and manipulating the player and other characters into going along with his silly, made-up story for the game because he so desperately wants to be some important RPG protagonist instead of growing up, getting a job, and helping him mom get groceries. All this stuff was in the original release, but the I.V update does a MUCH better job of conveying these ideas to the player while also expanding upon things in all sorts of unexpected ways. It's a ton of fun piecing together all the clues and symbolism in this game.

Beyond the story, the art and music are excellent and massively upgraded from the original. The weird and trippy visuals are cranked up like crazy in this update to create an utterly surreal, dreamlike experience from beginning to end and the music is fantastic while also having some tracks that do a great job in conveying the themes by having lyrics that sound like silly and off the cuff lyrics Alex made up while singing along to the tracks (songs like How to Vex Your Enemies, Mother F**king Jerk, and I Don't Know). It also just constantly surprises with so many banger battle themes that I lost count of them.

Overall, this game is something special. YIIK I.V deserves to be remembered and more people should give it a shot. Steam's review character limit isn't enough for me to convey my thoughts on this game. Also, there's a whole ending that's been in the game since it released in 2019 that nobody has found yet and I think that's tragic and more people should help in that hunt.

Persona 4 if the plot was good but the gameplay was shidd.
1 dimensional characters - me asf

By the half-way point becomes absolutely, unapologetically preachy.
Story-wise, progressively liquefying to the point where anything goes.

Throwing out the creepypasta you were vibing with. Bait & Switch into excessively META and 4th wall.
DO NOT MEET MICHAEL in the Woods BEFORE YOU'VE DONE ALL AVAILABLE CONTENT and LEVELED UP.
At a point, there's this recompense. - Wherein, one interpretation - 'the fans' sort of become the embodiment and take out their frustrations.

The UI completely broke early on - damage, health values. No big. Combat is trivial and braindead but there's enough of it to be annoyed.

Carrie segments suck massively. Purposeful Trial & Error portal maze galore.

Psychosis is an easy recommend. Those 2 hours were more enjoyable than dealing with the rest by far.

At this point in life, I fucking hate YIIK.
But. Tricking children into playing YIIK could influence them into being less of a toxic brat.

Most thought out piece of Bottom conversion therapy?
I know, I'M YIIKING OUT RN

It's got soul. A space for a soul. Soul space. Wholeheartedly recommend this to anybody who appreciates obtuse RPG nonsense and surrealist art. I'm so serious.

Really pretty close to being good, but the RPG elements are such an afterthought (see: the combat system is now on its third iteration, no basic QOL features like a run button or autosave, no explanation of certain mechanics/stats, etc.) that it feels very clunky to play though at times. There's a hard pivot to a Persona-esque day system near the end of the game, but the side content is ultimately pretty thin such that this just feels like the game ran out of content. I like some of the dungeons and the email/messageboard system, and that's pretty much it.

The art style and music are mostly pretty good but they just make some absolutely bizarre choices. The Mind Dungeon looks terrible , the song in the main ending is pitchy, and there's this weird fixation on fixed camera angles even in places where it means your character ends up too small to see comfortably and the controls get weird when you change between fixed angles. The most egregious thing is the animation in the 3D cutscenes - you have a pretty decent voice cast, I don't know why you would give several lines of dialogue only two facial expressions and undercut the impressions they are giving. But overall, this is the strongest area.

The issues with the writing are pretty well-documented at this point: a lot of characters talk in kind of an artificial lofty way, and the pretentious monologues unfortunately infect multiple other characters outside just Alex. The sheer amount of cutaway monologues that Alex gets has to be close to 50, and it doesn't seem to slow down as the game progresses even though he is supposed to be progressing as a person and being less self-centered - not to mention the story increasingly focuses on only him , which just makes it even worse. The writing just isn't as moving as it thinks it is, so when it goes for emotional moments near the end of the game, it feels melodramatic and almost funny. It's impossible to empathize with Alex and most of the other characters are underwritten and defined by their interactions with him (the only one who escapes this is Vella, who gets removed from relevance in her own special way near the end). It's akin to how some old school RPGs were written, but you can't have your "annoying protagonist" cake and eat it too.

The ending comes so far out of left field and erases so much of the story and meaning from the preceding 20 hours that I can't bring myself to play other endings or play any of the I.V post-game content. I don't understand why you would build a somewhat compelling premise/world and then, in lieu of doing more worldbuilding or wrapping things up in a nice way, just throw all of that out. It really doesn't matter what you add on top of that with updates, because the reality of your universe is so fluid that there is no reason to care about any events or characters within it.

I almost want to say this game is outsider art, because the devs clearly developed the philosophy they wanted to convey and then tried to squeeze that into a medium and genre that run counter to what they were trying to do, while seemingly not understanding how that medium works mechanically or how to synergize the message with it. It really feels like all of the gameplay portions are just an on-rails experience designed to move you with little agency from one philosophical moment to the next, and genre conventions like satisfying combat are treated like an obstruction to the art rather than a part of it. At that point, why not just make a movie?

YIIK RHYMES WITH PIIK!!!!!!!


in all seriousness this game is unironically pretty good, i played a bit before the I.V update and its a pretty big upgrade game play wise, the visuals are amazing and its one of the better "quirky earthbound inspired RPG's".

I YIIK all over my RPG after A natural cute shyt does something freaking epic so I Postmodern

noticing how many negative reviews are left by people with playtimes that clearly show they didn't finish the game

The only good part of yiik is seeing what dumbass pretentious waffle the devs will go on next. I want to give a positive review for the intentional and unintentional comedy gold but it's cut up heavily with jrpg gameplay that makes me want to drink superglue.

i've been intriguied by this title for a long time. first it was the videos on youtube mocking it, but as time went on i felt my interest genuinely grow. this year, i finally bought the long awaited I.V version, and finished it today. and let's just say, i'm quite puzzled by it! there are things i didn't really understand about the story, that will maybe need another playthrough. i kinda picture this whole experience as, solving the problem of a hole in the ground. instead of filling it up, it's more like decorating its edges with very pretty ornaments (and placing a surrealist painting of that same hole framed in gold right next to it). the hole is still there, the game still has its fair share of issues, but it's quite unapologetic at delivering its vision. if you're willing to put up with its flaws, just know that it's pretty demanding and definitely requires some degree of patience. but also, it's the FIRST game in a VERY LONG TIME that i have finished.
to me, this game's best quality is its personality. one very unique and out-there, that managed to fully blossom into what it feels like was always meant to be with this update. whether that's through the stylistically sharp aesthetic, the absurdly wide range of its soundtrack, the constructed shots, the convoluted plot points. everything culminates into an undeniable authenticity. 4/5.

I beat YIIK IV. I've been sitting at my computer for the past hour trying to decipher the ending.
This is the first time I ever had to try and derive my own meaning from a work holy shit they actually DID IT.
They made the story FUNCTION. As a INTERPRETIVE POSTMODERN PIECE. Like it was SUPPOSED TO BE FROM THE START.
Ackk Studios have redeemed themselves.

1.5 is peak

It's PIIK.

Now that that joke is out of the way prepare for this review to be a long one. Let's start with the big elephant in the room. So this game has been slandered for years, some criticism for good reason (original battle system had problems and that one plot point referencing a very messed up irl thing), others extremely hyperbolic (if you think it ever was close to "Worst Game Ever" you probably haven't played many games). However, the most controversial thing about it was the character of Alex, and how the game's creator supposedly promotes being a massive asshole through him. I've believed it to be true for a long time thanks to the internet osmosis.

Turns out that in reality, while Alex is indeed kind of an asshole at the beginning of the game, pretty much everything damning was screenshots taken with zero context or straight up things that were made up.
For example: the most infamous line happens right after a near death experience involving cosmic horrors AND literally every character present *heavily* calls him out on it. Most other truly asshole things come from dialogue options you'd need to actively choose and they are very obviously the bad choices.
What's more, one of the most overarching themes centers around accepting your mistakes and striving to be better. In other words: the thing that got this game to be ridiculed is a mix of fabrications from people who never played/watched it and people who think the *option* to be a terrible person somehow means it's an endorsement... And on the other side of the spectrum you had the weirdos who, ironically, got upset that the game calls out awful behavior.

With that out of the way: how's the game after I.V.
Still flawed. Still far from perfect. But I also really enjoyed every second of it. The new battle system is great and an interesting twist on turn-based battles. Gameplay overall is really enjoyable and does indeed emulate the vibes of Mother-esque JRPG with some Pokemon HM puzzles sprinkled in. The dungeons are pretty good. The aforementioned HM-like tools are well utilized in them and make for fun puzzles. There's also optional mini-dungeons called Monster Dens which give you some optional content. The leveling system is... Interesting. You accumulate exp which you then redeem in "The Mind Dungeon" for level ups. Said Mind Dungeon is also basically like a platforming level where you can find new abilities etc.

Presentation-wise I really like it. The colorful low poly artstyle is really cool in my opinion and it works really well with all the psycodelic elements. There are also a *lot* of very weird camera shots and movements in cutscenes so prepare for lots of intense zoom ins, dolly shots, FOV changes etc. i personally think it adds a lot to the extreme weirdness of the game but at the same time there are other bizarre choices in said cutscenes... Like long, almost uncomfortsble pauses between sentences. And while I personally enjoy all the weirdness and strange artstyle, I also have a feeling that it alone might be off-putting for some people.
On the other hand, the music, the sound design and the voice acting are all top notch. The soundtrack is massive with dozens upon dozens of tracks in dozens of different styles. The voice actors really bring the characters to life with some great delivery.

Lastly, lets finally talk about the story. The game really lives up to its "Postmodern RPG" subtitle. This is some next level of "weird shit". Lots of imagery that feels like something out of LSD dream emulator. It's honestly one of the things that really hooked me.
It's honestly complicated to put my thoughts into words because on one hand I enjoyed all of the story and constantly wanted to see whats gonna happen next but at the same time there's also a lot of things that are extremely hard to comprehend, with lots of concepts and terms that say nothing to an average player and will often make you go "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON". But I find it fascinating myself. It's a big dive into "what did the author mean by this" and it leaves many things open to speculation. However, I gotta admit that all the philosophical (post-modern?) stuff, while cool and intriguing might have hurt the story overall, leaving meant things that could have been fleshed out better.

But overall, I really liked almost everything about the original story of YIIK I.V. it's a flawed masterpiece. Probably one of, if not the best 7.5/10 I ever played.

This last part is a spoiler part about things after the main story.
Ok, so let me start by saying how cool it is that an update remastering a game also includes what is basically a pseudo-sequel with its "New Game+". Y2K Benevolent Psychosis both expands on the world of YIIK while also adding even more weirdness and philosophical/abstract stuff that will make your head hurt from trying to grasp them. More good music, some really strong moments including one that genuinely made me cry etc. However I'm not sure if calling it Y2K II was the right choice as it's actually more like a rather short expansion. In the end it felt a bit underwhelming and left me with a feeling of "thats it?". But I might have missed some things. Still, it's a free addition with a banger of a boss track so I cant complain too much.

To sum up: yeah it's flawed. Yeah it's extremely weird. Yeah it's often nearly incomprehensible. But I still loved it a lot.

i yiiked out while playing this

If you actually play it for yourself and engage with it as a piece of literature (y'know, like it inherently suggests by explicitly stating the movement it's inspired by IN THE TITLE) instead of listening to Oney's garbage legacy, it's really, really, REALLY good.

tl;dr Whatever you've heard about YIIK before December 2024 no longer applies. The developers have redeemed themselves No Man’s Sky-style, and the game is fantastic now. Don’t let internet personalities decide for you—try it yourself.

At least check out the free demo.

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YIIK I.V

YIIK was teased in 2013 and launched in 2019 to mixed reception. Its visuals and music were praised, but the story felt clumsy, and combat was tedious. It had potential but wasn’t fun, ultimately falling short due to some rough spots.

In 2024, the developers took a No Man’s Sky approach and overhauled the game. Combat is now fast-paced, cutscenes are fully animated in 3D, and the experience is vastly improved.

The game’s early ‘90s polygonal aesthetic creates surreal and unique visuals.

If you enjoy Earthbound, or postmodern RPG Maker games like Yume Nikki, you’ll likely enjoy this too.

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More Thoughts

YIIK is fun in its own right, but there's also a fair bit of mystery surrounding it. Much like American Psycho or Eyes Wide Shut, the theories, development history, and secrets within have turned it into a real-life iceberg meme.

Stylistically, it has parallels to Twin Peaks, Umineko, Eyes Wide Shut, Serial Experiments Lain, and The Neverhood, yet it carves its own path. It’s symbolic and mystical without feeling pretentious, exploring deep ideas with humility while remaining an entertaining game.

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Like Earthbound, and so many others, this is poised to become a cult classic once it’s discovered by the right audience.

I am looking forward to seeing what Ackk Studios does next.

I haven't finished the game, but I really really really don't like it. I waited until I.V. to come out so I can have the best experience possible, but no, this really isn't it. The game is annoying, and obnoxious, and it feels like it does just about everything possible incorrectly. I'll probably try to finish the game to see if my opinion changes, but for the time being, I really really don't like it.

Amazing game, can't wait to play ng+ and ng++

This game is the biggest waste of time and will actively disappoint you and make you feel dumber the longer you play.


If you're thinking of playing it you should

Good stuff. The art style and music are seriously top notch! The new battle system (IV Update) has enough depth and nuance that it feels genuinely rewarding to play. You can definitely break it and start melting guys too though if that's more your style. Overall just a nice surreal interesting experience that I'd highly recommend you try out.

You may hate it or you may find you love it, but at least confirm for yourself if it's good or bad instead of parroting others perhaps?

This game makes me experience severe stockholm syndrome, but its good, its intriguing and I definitely recommend trying it out for yrself instead of relying on what other people have said about it (especially after the I.V. update). it’s certainly a tricky case of a project but its fun to deconstruct kinda whatever lol anyway #ASUKASWEEP

the game has changed alot since the first release. give it another try

YIIK: A Post Modern RPG started off as a game created by Tommy Wiseau.
Then... when I.V came out, it changed entirely.
Now it's a game inside Tommy Wiseau's head, created by Hideo Kojima.

Ignore the memes, experience it yourself.

I'm Y2K II: Benevolent Psychosising out!

I know what you've heard, that this game sucks and it isn't worth your time. If I had played this in its original release, maybe I'd have thought the same thing, but the new 1.5 version content is worth seeing. Concepts from the original are explored much more deeply, and in my opinion more satisfyingly. The battle system is real fun, and combined with the music and SFX kept me very engaged. Even if you get into this game and think hmm I don't know where this is going, stick with it, give it a chance. You may come out of it like I did now writing this review.

Also when Michael pronounced YIIK the fans do I went crazy

Not very good Not very good at all

my words:
finish chapter 1, then form your opinion

Yiik is a game that I've sat a lot on thinking about how i'd review it, I've owned it since 2022 and I've enjoyed it since i first played it. But I wasn't sure if I'd recommend it despite my immense enjoyment of the game especially with I.V. To preface this i think the story is fairly hard to understand it takes time and willingness to engage with a complex story that deliberately masks important information behind a false narrators perspective. Yiik is NOT for everyone but that does not make it bad.
I do recommend Yiik: A Postmodern RPG, i know its title can be off putting and i know the old reviews of the game impact how people will enjoy it (but know at least that the game play really has improved a lot if that put you off from the game before). It's a game about embracing hope and optimism into your life instead of rejecting reality and what you perceive as its faults, It's about understanding why people might hurt another and knowing that they might not deserve forgiveness, but at the same time that holding resentment towards them only holds you back from growing as a person.

Like others have said if you were already steadfast in your opinion and you don't think you'll like it i don't think its the game for you. BUT if you were ever interested in anything the game had to say before but were put off by the game play, or how the story seemed to have played out prior to 1.5 give the game a chance. Especially if you already own it and dropped it before, it costs nothing but your time to try out the update the game itself is only around 20 to 25 hours long.


Find The Self, The Sun, and The Holy Thief.
But most importantly
Despair not! go forth and party.

id reccomend it, from the amount of work these guy put in its night and day from the original release

One of the greatest games of all time at getting me thinking

Still not worth it, apart from the new combat system, which is horrible in its own way, the truly new stuff of note only comes right after the end of the OG game, which remains virtually unchanged apart from some out of nowhere cutscenes and bosses for pure aesthetic value

PIIK: A Postmodern Masterpiece

It's genuinely really good once you understand that Alex is a lying dumbass. Seriously though the story is good and fun to piece together

My relationship with YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is a very interesting one. It started off entirely ironic, but as time has gone on and ACCK Studios kept working at it, my love for it became more and more genuine. As of writing this, YIIK is hands down either my favorite or second favorite video game to date. If you wanna see some funny ASCII art or someone say "I'm YIIKing out!" scroll to the review below this one and you'll probably find one. YIIK no doubt had a rocky launch but pretty much everything wrong with the game since then has been fixed/changed/improved. The walls of dialogue are gone and now all thats there is very enjoyable conversations between the characters with their personalities shining brightly throughout the entire conversation. I can say with all honesty that I would unironically listen to the voice actors talk to each other in character for hours. The new combat system is incredibly fun and probably my favorite take on turn based combat.

I can't believe I'm saying this. - it shakes me to my core.

YIIK is good.
Like, actually really good.
I can't believe YIIK is unironically good now.
I legitimately enjoyed my time playing the game. It's weird, it's rambly, it's pretentious, and I enjoyed every moment in the Allansons' strange world. I can't wait to see what they do next.

Absolutely dissapointed in the update, I put quite a bit of time into the game originally and was excited to see how things would be changed. I was floored by how badly the combat was overhauled and was let down, most could leave well enough alone and fix small things that need some change but this was not the way.

Played the game back when it was released, hated almost everything about it but I didn't want to leave a bad review then. But now the game have positive reviews and lots of them are just edgy trolls ???

Anyway it seems like the game got patched, so maybe give it a try ? Back then It had some very cool ideas visually, but the writing was terrible, the main character obnoxious, and the overall experience very tedious once you got passed the first hours of discovering the gimmicks.

i listened to people when i heard that yiik i.v would help fix the game to some degree, but after having played as far as i could i cannot say that is the case. i came in with a completely open mind and had a substantial amount of enjoyment with the game for the first 10 hours or so, but its flaws become more grating and apparent as it goes on and due to the way they reworked combat i ended up getting softlocked because i was apparently underleveled in a section of the game where i was no longer with the normal party, so while i'd love to finish the game to give more substance to my review and to be able to give my opinion on the WHOLE story, it's not happpening, and i'm somewhat relieved about that.

they turned yiik into a card battler. Funniest shit I’ve ever seen

okay RPG that makes baffling game design choices. i liked the battle mechanics and atmosphere, but it has plenty of notable infuriating and confusing moments (main character, roadblocks in progression). buy on heavy sale if interested

I beat YIIK a few days ago, dealt with the NG+ content and went further to 100% the game, back then in 2019 I considered this and Little Town Hero to be the worst games of that year. So to my morbid curiosity I give this game a shot because of a friend's interest in the game and it's I.V update that revamped the combat and streamlined the leveling system and I end up enjoying the game. I'm surprised I enjoyed it given the past reception of it and I honestly wouldn't have enjoyed it if I had played it back then, I'm glad I gave this game a shot and by the end it's stuck on my mind. I say give the game a shot and have an open mind to go through it!

YIIK I.V. is one of the most gripping and captivating gaming experiences I've ever had. I feel like a detective piecing together clues offered by a dozen personalities each vying for control of the fabric of reality itself.

The Dark Game is, hands down, one of the best combat systems I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with. It's kinetic, it's fun, and it's visually stunning. At times, it can overstay it's welcome, but whenever it starts feeling monotonous, the soundtrack blesses me with another banger. Speaking of...

The soundtrack. It's incredible. Never have I heard any piece of media sound this good, and maintain an unreasonable quantity of tracks while it's at it. Tracks throughout the 9 (!!!!) hour soundtrack have such a diversity of styles and arrangements that it feels like multiple soundtracks stitched togehter (Which, quite frankly, it is). Cutscenes almost always have an atmospheric track building suspense and hinting at audio motifs which help you piece things together, just that little bit more, overworld/town music paints a more vivid picture than image ever could, and battle themes feature some of the greatest EDM bops of all time. When I was done, I had to create a playlist called 'YIIK Bangers', featuring any music I'd like to come back to - it's currently at an hour of length, and I imagine it's going to get way, way bigger in the future as I relisten to everything I've heard.

The game has it's rough edges, of course. Some of the audio mixing is very off. Some of the base exploration mechanics are very unpolished (essentially every tool and even speaking to NPCs feel janky), and you can't complete a playthrough without encountering some bugs. That said, the sheer production value this game maintains throughout its runtime has taken me back time and time again. If there's a game I'd recommend to somebody who wants to have a brand new (or, as a certain movie director would say, 'religious') experience, I'd recommend them YIIK.

Go forth, and vibrate with motion.

God what a game,
It was Heavily panned when it released with a bunch of misinformation and the fact that the protagonist Alex is not everyone's cup of tea. IV doubles down on what made it unique, gave it one of the most creative battle system I've ever played with and a LOT of amazing new content

If you like to get your brain melted with abstact visuals, amazing cinematography and lots of theorycrafing potential this is the game for you

The IV update elevated this to being straight-up fantastic, and it ended up being one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've had in a while. And I DID play YIIK back when it originally released, so I do remember what it used to be like. The battle system is a lot of fun now, and the new content (of which there is a lot) adds a ton to the experience in terms of both story and gameplay. Even the soundtrack is significantly improved, and I liked YIIK's soundtrack a lot to begin with.

Highly recommended, to newcomers and returning players alike.

so uh i finished yiik and its ng+ and i'm not sure where to start assembling a wider picture but wasnt expecting it to be half as fascinating as it is. I kinda loved it lmao.

I don't think I've played a game quite this before. Barring potential photosensitivity issues, I would recommend anyone with the inclination to take the game seriously on it's own terms (so, not without good humor) to play it. Thank you for making this game.

Well, at least it wasn't boring, but I wish they consulted a real JRPG dev first (sorry-not sorry for commiting the Original Sin™ in the very first line of my review). If you didn't already like the first version, the update won't change your mind.

YIIK I.V adds a lot to the back half, but the major new feature - an entirely new combat system - leaves much to be desired. All you have to do is figure out one Karta combination (I'm not telling you so you won't ruin the game for yourself right from the start) and you can coast on just pressing Quick Attack for 99% of encounters even before you overfarm. This is the real sin the developers commited - making a system less engaging than what YIIK originally had, at least you had to press other buttons in THAT one. I had to drop the combo and readjust for only ONE encounter and that was the fucking NG+ FINAL BOSS.

Still, the writing is good, the new scenes are great, even though some of them made me feel like the devs get high on the smell of their own farts with how "symbolic" they made them, which is a bold answer to the common criticism of the original game getting pretentious. Finally, it makes sense why The Holy Mountain is listed as a reference, because I can't stand that film for the exact same reason, but the Allanson brothers make it work.

However, they made a baffling decision to get the cast back together and do absolutely nothing new with them in the original parts of the game, which still need some polish, like, ten years later (unvoiced conversations, weird dialogue or just kinda off takes). The absolutely incredible grocery store monologue (seriously, look it up on TCRF) remains cut, and I’ll be forever mad about that.

I'm glad they made it, because now it's a complete journey and a half - no, the fabled "third ending" still has not been found, and yes, having the actual "first" fake ending as an option would have worked wonders for it in the long run, I just can't figure out why Inherent Vice is in the reference list too - other than a woman who gets the main character on the case being in on it, there is no connection whatsoever. Maybe it's a connection dreamed.

This game is stupid, very stupid, but also so incredible. The I.V update is an incredible overhaul that includes so many new changes and secrets that persist into NG++ and beyond. It also turned my semi-ironic enjoyment into pure admiration for this game and its devs. Even 6 years later they are still fixing the game into a product that people can enjoy, all for free. IV adds over 115 new songs to the game, new mechanics, new boss fights, new areas, everything. This game is a masterpiece and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in it. Here's a tip though, suspend your disbelief. The game is easy to criticize, I'm aware, but suspending your disbelief about how stupid and crazy everything is does wonders for your enjoyment of the game.

I never could dislike the original. It's always had a charm and a great story even beneath the surface.

This update takes it to another level.

The presentation is absolutely phenomenal now. Before, while I think it still did its job somewhat well, was not made for people who couldn't read between the lines. While it doesn't spoon-feed you everything now, it does a much better job of enticing the player along. The new framing of story elements does a great service to what the game is hinting towards. Especially Alex on an open mic spittin' monologue.

When devs are tackle a project with so many elements in the overarching narrative, it can be hard to get people to understand certain concepts. Just the slightest misadjustment of framing can turn people off. However, they have struck a great balance between verbalizing itself and stringing together the rest in the shadows. Along with this, they explore a lot more of the depth of the cast. It's always been there, but the characterizations are better expressed. The development of specific characters even further better the experience.

Real cinematography, updated visuals, entirely new sections and characters, the list goes on frankly.

Combat is fun and engaging, its stimulating to generate momentum with the Karta. Battles feel a lot more like a macabre dance. A personal wish of mine is wanting more Karta to play with, but the selection is well thought out mechanically. The combat and what it represents is narratively prevalent too.

I could go on and on about how I adore this, and that, and be here for hours. You don't need to know all that right now. Disconnecting the actual madness network of the story from my thoughts, its just really damn good now. If you like fast n' fun combat in a whacky world, come for the fun! Then stay for the insanity and meat of the material at play.

Don't rush yourself, digest what you see. If you don't like it, that's fine! I'm not gonna sit here and helplessly beg to you.

Tip: Understanding actual occult concepts like Hermeticism and Alchemy will help a lot if you wanna engage with the *real* shit. Bonus points if you are in to Comparative Theology.
Tip 2: Memes are more than what you commonly think of *as* memes.

I only played the game after the I.V update.
I don't think YIIK is a particularly good game, but I think it has a lot of heart. The menus have annoying delays on them, the new battle system isn't very good, having some bugs and weird quirks in it, but more importantly starting off really hard until it becomes easier and easier the longer the game goes on until every battle is braindead by the end. There's a lot of obnoxious ironic meta-humour coming from NPCs in the game world and sidequests related to them. There might be a meta element from the author in wanting the player to find these things annoying, but that might be giving them too much credit.
Regardless, YIIK is a visual spectacle, full of surreal imagery and intricately crafted environments to go with its surprisingly competently directed cutscenes, where the game's story and aesthetics are the main draw. Alex is very clearly and intentionally an unlikeable character, but I didn't find him as intolerable as many seem to, and the game actually managed to have me care about him and the rest of the cast by the end. The story often veers into surrealism but the plot itself isn't that hard to follow, at least until the NG+ content veers into substantially more open to interpretation matters of philosophy.

It's hard for me to put into words what I actually found appealing about the game, but if you're open to sitting through mediocre gameplay elements in order to experience a fascinating story of character growth buried under a great deal of metaphysical pseudo-babble I'd recommend giving it a go. You'll be able to tell quite quickly whether it's something that's resonating with you or not.

did not play the original release version, but at the time of its release i did watch videos on the game, and my takeaway was that it just sucked. then I forgot about it for several years and remembered it a month before the I.V update was due to drop.

i am so, so glad i rediscovered it when I did, because I actually fell in -love- with the demo-- the new intro screen being so much more dramatic and making me think "how does the story unfold to this point?", the new intro, the reanimated cutscenes, the combat system (which took a minute to grasp, but is much preferred vs the original combat system)-- all of it got me excited for how the rest of the story would play out on release.

granted, i did have to consult others' videos interpreting the story after the fact, as i heard it was infamously convoluted, but it's more like the game requires deeper thought on what it tells you VS what it shows you, and a lot of youtube video essays on the game didn't quite catch that... so going in after the update dropped, i had a better idea of what was going on, and the way the story is restructured in the I.V update reinforces those ideas.

that, and the second part of the game, YIIK 2, (yeah, that's what it's called) was an absolute treat that answers the question of "... so what?" once the game's main story ends. it's nice and this game feels a lot more earnest with its final takeaway vs how people were interpreting it back on release.

i would say give the demo a try, and if you jive with it, then check the game out. for 20 dollars it's honestly pretty good without a sale...