#524: Shinonome
A spooky, original idea in the roguelike canon
Initial release: November 11, 2022 (Still in Early Access as of July 16, 2023)
Platform: PC
Developer: WODAN
The end of the Edo period is one of the most interesting moments in Japanese history; with the slow loosening of the Tokugawa shogunate’s grip on power, Japan was poised to step out of its feudal past into the modern stage. In works set around this period there’s a tension in the air, and why wouldn’t there be? It was the end of an era, and nobody knew what lay ahead. But the more things change, the more things stay the same, and sometimes you just need an exorcist.
Yono is just 15 years old, but she’s already trained in the basics of exorcism. With her accomplished exorcist brother missing she’s had to take up the slack; the game begins with her being called to the country villa of her master’s family, but when she arrives, there’s nobody around, and the villa is apparently haunted by ayakashi — vengeful spirits. It’s up to her to cleanse the villa (or, at the very least, escape it.) And when she’s done with that, there’s more places to exorcise, ranging from cursed farming villages to just outright randomized haunted houses.
Like many roguelikes, Shinonome is on the surface a pretty simple game. Every haunted locale you enter consists of a The Legend of Zelda 1-like maze of boxy rooms. Within are a bevy of enemies that range from the simple Nuppu (a fleshy ball with legs that tries to smack you with its flippers) to hulking corrupted monks who will take an arsenal to bring down. Said arsenal ranges from a three-barreled arquebus (which you can reload with ammo bags strewn around the maze) to caltrops to lethal shuriken, just for starters. Every ayakashi makes noise, and by listening carefully, you can ascertain what kind of monster lurks in the next room — allowing you to plan your next move, whether it be avoiding making noise if possible to firing your arquebus through the sliding screen door to preparing traps and then luring the enemy into them by calling out. The developers make a lot of hash of this audio mechanic, to the point that if you mute the game’s sound in the menu, it will actually display subtitles for monster sounds. You’ll also find food laying around, very useful for keeping your stamina meter topped off — let it reach zero and you’ll die of starvation! To that end there’s a huge selection of food — I’ve seen moon cakes, sushi, if there’s a traditional Japanese food, it’s probably in here. (In fact, as of this writing, there’s a limited-time event that involves escaping a comparatively easy maze while stuffing your face with traditional Kyoto sweets to commemorate the game’s appearance at BitSummit 2023, a Japanese indie game festival currently being held in — you guessed it — Kyoto.)
While the game is still in Early Access — and rather well past its initial estimat of two to four months’ development time — it seems to be a fairly complete game already, with several pre-made maps (including a recently-added ultra-hard dungeon with its own strange conceit.) And if that’s not enough, there’s plenty of randomized maps for you to play with, complete with codes you can share with friends.
While I do find the game’s Nintendo DS-esque aesthetic charming, the game’s real strength is in its audio; the music is usually fairly standard “haunted place” dark ambient but nonetheless effective when combined with the monster noises. Yono is fully voiced (in Japanese, natch) giving her a little more character in what’s ultimately a pretty simple, straightforward game.
In fact, it’s this straightforwardness that I actually find a little frustrating. The game markets itself as a roguelike, which is something of a red flag for me as I am admittedly tired of roguelike elements being thrown into games as a means of padding out content. Shinonome has plenty of pre-made maps, of course, and in overall execution it feels closer to a survival horror than the likes of, say, Binding of Isaac, but the big problem is that the mazes are fairly lifeless. These are supposed to be haunted manors, but there’s a distinct lack of a sense of place; most rooms are one of a few different wall textures, with the occasional northern wall being instead a collection of shelves or art or whathaveyou — all non-interactable, of course. Occasionally you’ll come across a longer hallway (or walkway alongside a garden, complete with thunking bamboo fountain) but these otherwise present little in the way of new features. I feel like the mechanics of the game are solid, however much backtracking managing inventory may require, as much of the time it’s a slow, careful process of guessing what you’ll be facing on the other side of the door; I only wish that the pre-made levels were less abstract, and more like a place someone lives (or lived) in.
Nonetheless, this is a solid game that you can pick up for less than $20, with a cute aesthetic and spooky vibe, and if slow-paced survival horror roguelikes with a feudal Japanese flavor interest you, you won’t be disappointed.
