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Are you afraid of the dark? Most children are, but as we get older we get used to going out at night and start to realize that the world during the twilight hours is the same as during the day, only a bit darker.

But that lingering fear of the darkness often remains somewhere deep inside, forgotten but never entirely gone. Bring those fears back to the fore again this Halloween with Yomawari, a cute but creepy new game for the PlayStation Vita.

Yomawari (“wandering at night”) is an action/exploration game for the PS Vita from developer Nippon Ichi Software the company behind the Disgaea franchise.

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The story revolves around a little girl who is out walking her dog when, due to her carelessness, he disappears somewhere. She returns home with the empty lead and her older sister goes out to look for the beloved family pet. When neither her dog nor sister returns, the little girl decides to go out by herself, but finds that the town at night is eerily different to the one she knows by day.

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You play as this young girl going out into the streets alone at night. Use your flashlight to illuminate the way and explore the shadowy nighttime streets, visiting places that are full of fun and laughter during the day time but take on an eerily different ambiance in the dark of night. Hidden creatures seem to lurk in the shadows just out of sight and you’ll be overcome with the unnerving feeling of someone—or something—watching you. Your fears prove founded when you start to encounter ghosts and ghouls that you’ll have to avoid if you want to make it through the night unscathed—prepare for jump-scares!

▼ Get a sense of the atmosphere and a glimpse at the gameplay in the game trailer below.

Japanese games have often excelled at the delicate balance of creepy and cute, and Yomawari appears to be no exception. The game’s artwork is an unsettling mix of the two, and the eerie music punctuated by strange creaks and other sounds adds to the spooky atmosphere. There’s a sense of childlike imagination to the whole thing, particularly the map that’s drawn like a kindergartener’s crayon artwork, and a child’s imagination can often produce horrors an adult would never even dream of. As long as the gameplay holds up to the same standards as the design, this could be the perfect title for some Halloween scares.

▼ On the game’s promo poster, the girl’s tiny figure amidst the looming shadows brings home the sense of fear the vast, unknowable darkness of night can hold over a child.

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▼ Will she make it through the terrors of the night and be reunited with her dog and sister again? You’ll have to play to find out…

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Yomawari goes on sale in Japan on October 29 for 5,980 yen (US$50) for the hardcopy and 5,143 yen ($43) for the digital edition. No plans to localize the title for other regions have been announced as of yet, but as many of the company’s other titles have seen a Western release there’s a hope that this one will, too.

Source: Inside Games
Images: Inside Games
Yomawari Official Website