Parents' Guide to Yomawari: Midnight Shadows

Even if you aren't a fan of horror games, this one is well worth a look because of its strange infusion of cuteness while also making you feel lonely and small. This is a game of few words, and arguably one that doesn't ask much more of you than to feel small. You can't fight enemies. Puzzles you solve are little more than just having the right item at the right time. The challenge lies in finding your way around a massive town at night, your progress impeded by Midnight Shadow's commendable sound design. With nearly no score to pad the mood, all you'll hear are your character's heartbeat, which thumps louder and louder as enemies draw closer, before you finally start to hear one of the game's many monsters drawing nearby. The where and when, and whether you noticed a place to hide nearby before, is the main draw of this game, making for a very streamlined cat-and-mouse kind of vibe. One in which you are never the cat.

That dynamic is what the entire game hinges on, and if it doesn't thrill you early on, it never will. This, along with the translation being a little coy sometimes (the game was a Japanese title originally), makes exploration feel aimless and confusing instead of purposeful and goal-oriented. One could argue that this enhances the suspense and dread, but some players may be annoyed and find the lack of clarity about your goals -- and the great distance to cover in achieving them -- needlessly off-putting. As such, Midnight Shadows doesn't have a ton of depth, but it does have an enjoyable, tense ride for a couple of hours before it comes to an end.