Korean-themed survival horror
Araha: Curse of Yieun Island is a premium adventure experience from Palmsoft. This survival horror game is filled with symbols of Korean shamanism and occultism. Here, you play as The Boy, who goes on a spiral of fear and desperation as you try to uncover the secret behind your sister’s passing.
Overall, Araha: Curse of Yieun Island definitely performs well as a Korean horror story. However, it suffers from a couple of optimization issues like English-language translation and graphics. Content-wise, it can join the ranks of Asian horror games Paranormal HK, Detention, Shadow Corridor, or Paper Dolls.
Full of nightmare fuel
Araha: Curse of Yieun Island takes place in the fictional island of Yieun Island. Known as Hell on Earth, it has an abandoned hospital, a shaman temple, a cemetery—the whole nine yards of horror locations, which it uses to great effect. It even uses dim lights and a bit of jumpscare to spice up the experience. However, the real challenge is in its lack of clear objectives.
The game doesn’t exactly tell you what to do, leaving you in the dark. There are different spirits or ghosts in the game. Some are hostile, some are not, and they have different characteristics that advance the gameplay. They can help or interfere with puzzle solving and navigation. What makes this game interesting, and infinitely replayable, is that key items and ghost patterns are randomized every playthrough.
As mentioned, it seamlessly delivers on the horror aspect—unexpected, genuinely frightening, and replayable. However, there are a couple of technical aspects that could further make it effective. One, the game heavily uses motion blur by default. It can be toggled off but it makes your first minutes of gameplay nauseating. Similarly, there are certain English-language translations that are taken out of context, causing confusion.
A challenging, rewarding ghost game
Overall, Araha: Curse of Yieun Island earns a spot in the niche of Asian horror games, an immersive parallel to the films of the same genre. A riveting story filled with symbolism that is both curious and outright scary, this game is something you won’t fully absorb on the first playthrough—and the game is prepared to accommodate you over and over again, thanks to its massive randomization feature.
