Game Title: AKAMI TAN
Engine: Other (Wolf RPG Editor)
Status at review: Complete

Background:
I'm not sure what initially drew me to this game. I'm not a huge horror fan in any respect, and the comments suggested the game was legitimately scary. Despite that, I have been passively following it for at least a few days. Though, if I want to be honest with myself, something was taunting me to review something. So, here we are.


Graphics:
The mapping (which uses REFMAP tiles) is okay. Character portraits have slightly visible defects, but don't really take away from the experience. There's a spattering of pictures that pop up for a split second that have a jump-scare effect, but I can't really say much else about them.


Audio:
The game uses a near-minimal approch to it's audio. This helps make the jump-scares that are in the game all the much more jarring.


Story:
The village is protected by spirits (The game calls them "gods", and that my be the literal translation, but I think "spirit" is more appropriate for a western audience) called the Ou. Each year, a family is selected to make an offering at the Ou temple. This year, is was the Shimoda family's turn. They send their nineteen year-old daughter, Shimoko, to undertake the journey. She makes the offering, but feels tired and hungry. She takes just one piece of fruit, thinking that it would be okay. As this is a horror game, I don't think it would spoil too much to say that the gods spirits become pissed off, and now, someone must pay.


Playing the game:
While I try to be as general as possible, there may be some spoilers in here.



General Observations:
Of all the things a horror game can do to be a horror game, I enjoy jump-scares least of all. That's just a pet peeve of mine, however.
There were three times when I found myself playing Hunt the Event. I'll admit to not being terribly thorough with the first instance, so that's forgivable. The other two times, I thought I was pretty thorough. Obviously, not thorough enough, but I found it an increasingly tedious process each instance.


Summary:
Maybe the game is as scary as the comments say. Maybe not. For my own part, I just kept hitting wall after wall. With each wall, what enjoyment I may have had with the game decreased until I was just fed up with it.


BOTTOM LINE: 2/5


Side note on ratings (since there is/was/will be somewhat of a spate on what rating means what between each user):
1/5 -> Terrible. Forget about hitting an audience. The game is so bug-ridden, or otherwise unplayable, that what entertainment can be found in the game has a hard time coming to the surface.

2/5 -> Bad but playable. I had a poor experience with the game. When played by a player the game actually caters to, it would serve it's purpose.

3/5 -> Average. A solid experience, but snags somewhere along the line cause it to be held back from being "good".

4/5 -> Good. I enjoyed the experience, and have no qualms supporting it if was considered for a featured game (if it wasn't featured already).

5/5 -> Excellent. Among the paragons of gaming experiences, and instant feature material in my humble opinion (if it wasn't featured already).