Kuon [PS2]

A decidedly different, darker offering from the developers of the popular military sci-fi Armored Core series, Agetec's Kuon is rooted in the centuries-old kwaidan form of Japanese folk/horror tales. If you prefer your games spooky, old-school, and very Japanese -- this includes bleak mysticism, pale girls in traditional garb, dimly-lit environments, creepy little singing children, and enough ambient gore to paint the walls -- then you'll find something to like in this evocative horror game.

The sprawling manor of a prominent Heian-era Japanese lord is by all accounts haunted by ill spirits, and the player is called upon to investigate. From the start of the game, players can choose one of two "phases" -- that of Utsuki, teenaged daughter searching for her exorcist father (this is the "Ying Phase," or chapter of light), or that of Sakuya, one of the exorcists' followers (the "Yang Phase," or chapter of darkness). Once you've completed both chapters, there's a culminating "Chapter of Kuon," but because of the game's initial dual-character structure, you'll be crossing and re-crossing a lot of the same ground before you get there.

In either case, you'll fight demons and other supernatural threats amid the dimly-lit corridors and gardens of the manor. There are summons cards to conjure up servitor creatures to do your actual fighting, attack-spell cards to manifest shards of ice, bolts of flame, or other magical missiles, and even traditional, mortal weapons like blades or ceremonial fans.

Utsuki or Sakuya can equip two summons cards/spells at any given time, mapped to the square and triangle buttons. With these, you'll ward off any number of supernatural interlopers, including angry ghosts, lurching goki, clambering cocoon-things, and a handful of plain ol' Bad People.

Neither Utsuki nor Sakuya are naturally what you'd call "full spectrum warriors," and while their melee swipes are pretty limited, some of the spell cards give a nice sense of leveling the supernatural playing-field. With a little common sense, you start to get a good idea of which foes deserve the slow, summoned spiders or clambering puppet-women, and which ones warrant a full-on demon-suppressing hex followed up with a barrage of fire-bolts. Say what you will about the girls' agility, there's something rewarding in their higher-powered magical attacks.

Players are warned early on, "Do not run!" and it's no joke. Making excessive noise or bumbling into latent negative-energy hotspots (haunts, grudges, etc.) is essentially like hitting a psychic land-mine, and a blast of vertigo can result. The life-threatening vertigo, as well as other metaphysical harm, can be soothed by meditating with the shoulder button, which also regains overall health, but at the risk of prematurely dispatching summoned creatures who may be fighting for you. The common-sense lesson here is "Don't go mindlessly tearing around the creepy, dark-ass haunted manor" -- words to live by. Or at least, not die hideously by.

The non-combat, puzzle-solving, explorative gameplay of Kuon feels very familiar. Seals and doorways, not-particularly intuitive puzzles, lots of jump-out-and-boo scares, some sketchy camera situations, and an item-based save system redolent of Resident Evil's typewriter ribbons ensures a fair amount of backtracking. None of these alone are mortal gaming sins, but they're so ubiquitous that you get the impression that From Software might have taken a shortcut hint or two from more established horror franchises.

Not that Kuon doesn't have some very good and unique elements, because it surely does. There's an involving story, all-around nice touches, some great ambient sound (you'll be hearing chanting little Japanese children in your dreams), and the overall pleasing sense of era and detail. For those who locate the proper in-game items, there's even an unlockable version of Sugoroku, a board game of the Heian era that also makes an appearance in the Kuon story.

Particularly troubling is that, whichever phase you choose to begin the game, the alternate is largely a re-tread of areas you've already visited. Compared with other, big-franchise horror titles, Kuon like it could have used a little more time in the polishing phase.

In any case, kudos to Agetec for bringing this low-compromise (and lower-budget) vision of Japanese folk-horror to the skittish Western market, concomitant translation-issues and all. Even in its familiarity, it brings unique style and an incontrovertible Japanese creep to a game market too often overrun with generic zombies and mutants, and too often rooted in the soulless present.