Been sitting on this game for a number of years. This week I finally got around to checking it out and I'm very impressed. Kuon is a PS2 survival horror game set in Heian period Japan (794 to 1185), mostly within a feudal manor and its adjacent grounds. Its gameplay involves exploring the manor, unlocking new sections, light puzzle related stuff as well as trying to gain an understanding of what exactly transpired at this manor. You choose your protagonist between two Japanese women, one a caring "shrine maiden" who's been isolated near this manor for much of her life, the other a disciple of a notorious exorcist. Both characters feature their own scenarios and story. Kuon draws on Japanese folklore, which I find pretty interesting as I know nothing about the tale that's the focus of this game.
What I loved:
-The oppressive environment. Exploring is tense, you're frequently traveling at walking speed, as jogging alerts enemies. Often while just walking around you'll knock over small objects and have to scramble into fight or flight mode.
-The aesthetic and atmosphere. You travel throughout this beautiful, candlelit old manor, adjacent temple and garden. The whole game carrying a lantern illuminating just a small patch of space around you. honestly, it's a gorgeous game.
-Dual Audio! Although one issue is that stuff that's said outside of cutscenes isn't subtitled. Though this actually rarely was an issue.
-Even though this is a game out of Japan with multiple female protagonists, they are never objectified for the viewer. At no point do I remember anything close to pandering, which is pretty cool. While I haven't played their whole catalog, it would seem FromSoft is pretty decent in this regard.
-The direction is great. I really dug the use of fixed and panning shots. I included gifs to showcase some of the camera angles. Playing this game again reminds me of how much I love this style of game.
-One of the best contextualizations for a saving mechanic in any game. Like holy shit it's so cool. You find paper boats in the game world and save by sending them downstream carrying a single candle. It's suggested that the ritual of setting the boat to water protects or purifies one's spirit, potentially giving them another shot at life. But damn, it looks cool. It also makes the large estate buildings more threatening as you know you wont be able to save until you get back outside, while also giving the player a really relieving feeling upon finding a stream of water. Mechanically it behaves very similarly to the ink ribbons of Resident Evil, a mechanic that I personally dig.
I gotta admit, I almost made a thread solely about this save system & context instead of a LTTP.
-I was always disinterested when I heard people describe the game's combat as card based. While it's kind of true, it's better described as having limited use spells which you find ammunition for within the game's world. I'd say it added something pretty interesting and unique to this experience, as you're not just throwing ranged spells, but occasionally summoning animals or creatures to fight for you. Mechanically it's very clunky and all that.
I did have some issues:
-At first I was much more critical of the difficulty balancing. After playing the first character's story I felt I was hardly ever asked to use my spell cards or healing items. Much because the game gives you a free self-heal ability outside of combat and because you can out-dps many of the enemies with your melee weapon. Although the second character's playthrough seemed to add that much needed difficulty, I felt vulnerable in fights and there were a bunch more boss encounters.
-Relatedly, the second playthrough suffers from diminishing returns. There are actually a bunch of unique moments and scenarios depending on which character you choose, but you retread over and repeat a bunch of major content. With that said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the second run, though it just didn't deliver the same highs as the first. It's gotta be mentioned that there is a very substantial gameplay reward for finishing the story with both characters.
If you dig survival horror, especially that PS2 era gameplay, fixed cameras and all, then you should definitely check this game out. It delivers on it's wonderful setting, atmosphere, and haunting Japanese folklore story. Although, if you haven't played the classics of the genre, (Silent Hill 1-3, REmake, Haunting Ground & others) I would recommend checking those first. Playing this just got me very reminiscent of the PS2 horror catalog and I think I'm going to head into Fatal Frame 3 next, which I never got around to trying.
[I don't have recording equipment for my PS2, so I made these gifs via the Kuon longplay by the Youtuber, SHN Survival Horror Network. They upload longplays without commentary of all sorts of horror games, so feel free to check out their channel.]
What I loved:
-The oppressive environment. Exploring is tense, you're frequently traveling at walking speed, as jogging alerts enemies. Often while just walking around you'll knock over small objects and have to scramble into fight or flight mode.
-The aesthetic and atmosphere. You travel throughout this beautiful, candlelit old manor, adjacent temple and garden. The whole game carrying a lantern illuminating just a small patch of space around you. honestly, it's a gorgeous game.
-Dual Audio! Although one issue is that stuff that's said outside of cutscenes isn't subtitled. Though this actually rarely was an issue.
-Even though this is a game out of Japan with multiple female protagonists, they are never objectified for the viewer. At no point do I remember anything close to pandering, which is pretty cool. While I haven't played their whole catalog, it would seem FromSoft is pretty decent in this regard.
-The direction is great. I really dug the use of fixed and panning shots. I included gifs to showcase some of the camera angles. Playing this game again reminds me of how much I love this style of game.
-One of the best contextualizations for a saving mechanic in any game. Like holy shit it's so cool. You find paper boats in the game world and save by sending them downstream carrying a single candle. It's suggested that the ritual of setting the boat to water protects or purifies one's spirit, potentially giving them another shot at life. But damn, it looks cool. It also makes the large estate buildings more threatening as you know you wont be able to save until you get back outside, while also giving the player a really relieving feeling upon finding a stream of water. Mechanically it behaves very similarly to the ink ribbons of Resident Evil, a mechanic that I personally dig.
While in the incredibly tainted and "hellish" caverns under the manor you stumble upon all of your boats and presumably the boats of many of the deceased residents, washed up in a depressing pool.
Finding all these boats washed up here really hit me with that bleakness.
Finding all these boats washed up here really hit me with that bleakness.
-I was always disinterested when I heard people describe the game's combat as card based. While it's kind of true, it's better described as having limited use spells which you find ammunition for within the game's world. I'd say it added something pretty interesting and unique to this experience, as you're not just throwing ranged spells, but occasionally summoning animals or creatures to fight for you. Mechanically it's very clunky and all that.
I did have some issues:
-At first I was much more critical of the difficulty balancing. After playing the first character's story I felt I was hardly ever asked to use my spell cards or healing items. Much because the game gives you a free self-heal ability outside of combat and because you can out-dps many of the enemies with your melee weapon. Although the second character's playthrough seemed to add that much needed difficulty, I felt vulnerable in fights and there were a bunch more boss encounters.
-Relatedly, the second playthrough suffers from diminishing returns. There are actually a bunch of unique moments and scenarios depending on which character you choose, but you retread over and repeat a bunch of major content. With that said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the second run, though it just didn't deliver the same highs as the first. It's gotta be mentioned that there is a very substantial gameplay reward for finishing the story with both characters.
Finishing the two playthroughs unlocks a third campaign featuring a new character.
If you dig survival horror, especially that PS2 era gameplay, fixed cameras and all, then you should definitely check this game out. It delivers on it's wonderful setting, atmosphere, and haunting Japanese folklore story. Although, if you haven't played the classics of the genre, (Silent Hill 1-3, REmake, Haunting Ground & others) I would recommend checking those first. Playing this just got me very reminiscent of the PS2 horror catalog and I think I'm going to head into Fatal Frame 3 next, which I never got around to trying.
[I don't have recording equipment for my PS2, so I made these gifs via the Kuon longplay by the Youtuber, SHN Survival Horror Network. They upload longplays without commentary of all sorts of horror games, so feel free to check out their channel.]
