When you first start a new horror game it’s rare for you to know exactly what to expect, and that’s exactly how I like it. There’s little I enjoy more than spending a quiet evening with a new scary game, and feeling the tension that comes with not knowing what’s coming next. Most of the time after a jump scare or two that tension pretty much dissipates, but nothing gets under my skin more than the opening thirty minutes of almost any horror game. More than most games I had no idea what was coming when I booted up One-Eyed Likho, mainly because my knowledge of Slavic Folklore isn’t exactly top notch.
In One-Eyed Likho you are a humble Smith, who is bored of his easy life. He’s never seen the darkness of the world, so after a night drinking he decides to head off in search of Likho. Apparently Likho is some sort of horrible force of evil, and Smith thinks it’s not stupid at all to go and seek her out. His friend Tailor is also intrigued to see what this powerful being is like, and tags along for the journey.
After a walk through a dark forest, they arrive at a shack that is said to be where you can find One-Eyed Likho, and step inside. This is obviously a terrible idea, and what awaits them are multiple worlds below the cabin full of evil. To escape they’ll have to overcome some trials and essentially wander through hell itself, wander being the operative word.
In terms of gameplay One-Eyed Likho is for the most part a walking simulator, albeit one with quite a few puzzles and a bit of danger thrown in for good measure. It gives you chance to take in the environments though, which range from ancient temples to sprawling cliffs (yes all under a house, because of magic). The greyscale visuals are pretty striking, and really add to the eerie otherworldly dread.
Playing One-Eyed Likho isn’t always a particularly scary experience though, because often you’ll just be too busy solving puzzles to think about being frightened. The puzzles aren’t really anything new and if anything are often a bit too straightforward, like for example there’s a locked door that can only open by putting the items that holy men are holding under pictures of them. As long as you’re willing to look at the walls surrounding a puzzle you’ll almost always figure out what to do next almost instantly, and for some I suppose that’ll be appreciated.
Most puzzles in your path will need to be completed to progress, but some are optional. Specific chests housing dark fairy tales are scattered throughout the game, and they all require a four digit code to unlock. These continue the trend of scouring the environment for clues, but this time for things to count and input as a combination. The stories were sometimes those of familiar mythology and sometimes utterly baffling Slavic tales, but if you’re into folklore you’ll likely enjoy reading them.
When you aren’t solving puzzles with your big brain in One-Eyed Likho you’ll likely be solving them with fire. Outside of moving and interacting with puzzles the only thing Smith can do is throw matches, which he will do to set alight countless piles of wooden furniture and bales of hay. You’ll also use matches to light the way in darker areas, which is as creepy as it sounds. Certain moments when cobwebs snuffed out the light and a monster awaited when I lit another were the scariest in the game, and if One Eyed Likho did more of this it’d be a seriously impressive horror game.
Unfortunately the horror elements of One-Eyed Likho are just a bit few and far between, and when they come along in the form of a chase sequence or a stealth section they’re a bit underwhelming. A particularly sneaky bit of the game brought me way too much frustration, and somewhat ruined the experience for me.
Another issue I had with One-Eyed Likho was the fact it didn’t have English voice acting, which I usually wouldn’t complain about but here it was an issue. When things are slightly hectic or scary it’s impossible to read the subtitles while you’re also trying to survive, and it just means you miss key information. There’s no real solution to this I can think of, but it did detract from my experience.
One-Eyed Likho is a fine horror game, but one that ultimately didn’t really grab me like a lot of its peers. If you’re into folklore and unique visuals though it might click more with you, and you too will get to meet and then subsequently escape the one eyed menace herself.