I am certainly no stranger to horror games so I was very excited to check out Escape the Ayuwoki. This is a first-person horror/survival game that has many people going nuts on YouTube. If you like jump scares and trying to escape a creepy thing that wants you dead, Escape the Ayuwoki could be the game for you.
How to Download Escape the Ayuwoki
You can download the paid version of the game from Steam or check out the free download (with a donation option) of an early build from 2019. Click on the Download button and make your choice. And if you like horror games, check out also our reviews of Pacify or Devotion.
The Game Review
For a game that started as some kind of creepypasta type deal, I am surprised I did not know more about this. There is a very barebones story holding all this together, but what you need to know is you have awoken in a strange house, you need to get out, but there is an entity that wants you dead.
You may think that you can just hightail it for the front door and get out of there, but that is not the case at all. You see this “thing” is attracted to sound and if you make too much sound it will find you. Most of the game is you sneaking around, solving basic puzzles and just trying to stay alive. You can carry two items at once and most of the puzzles are about finding object A to work with object B and that is really it.
The game controls well enough, but the AI of what is hunting you can go from being super smart to super annoying to super broken. The first part of the game in the attic took me ages as the creature would not move away from the stairs no matter what I did. I have also seen it get stuck in a wall! So the AI I feel needs some tweaking to make the game more balanced.
I would not say that the presentation is the best, but the way the game is so dark does kind of mask that. As far as the horror of the game goes, it is 100 percent all about the jump scares. You try to be as quiet as you can, but when something goes wrong and your presence is known it can be very intense stuff.
Escape the Ayuwoki is quite a challenge game, but not so much for the right reasons. The checkpoint system is way off. I actually thought there were no checkpoints at first as the first one I encountered was not until about 10-15 minutes in. This can be frustrating, especially if you keep failing at the same bit. But at the same time, I did want to keep coming back to try and escape.
If you like horror games then I do think that Escape the Ayuwoki is worth taking a look at. There is a free basic version of this online so maybe look at that before you drop the money on this. It is not a bad game, but it does have a few issues that prevent it from being a must-play horror game.
