Okaeri
- September 6, 2019
- chill_my_art
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Okaeri" is a single-player horror simulation game with a dense atmosphere and highly emotional storyline. As a Japanese horror game, it follows the story of a middle school girl and her mother. The game boasts awesome visuals, but with low replayability due to its linear narrative. "Okaeri" is part of Chilla's Art game collection, including "The Convenience Store," "Stigmatized Property," and more.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game effectively builds a creepy atmosphere and tension through sound design and visuals.
- The nostalgic VHS aesthetic and PS1-style graphics enhance the overall experience for fans of indie horror.
- Despite its short length, the game delivers a poignant story that resonates emotionally with players.
- The gameplay is overly simplistic, often requiring players to spam the 'E' key to interact with objects, leading to frustration.
- The story lacks depth and resolution, leaving many questions unanswered and feeling incomplete.
- The heavy film grain filter can obscure visibility, making it difficult to navigate and interact with the environment.
- story176 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The story of *Okaeri* is a brief yet impactful exploration of tragedy and psychological horror, primarily told through the perspective of a female student. While it effectively creates a dark and eerie atmosphere, many reviewers found the narrative to be underdeveloped, confusing, and too short, leaving players wanting more depth and context. Despite its flaws, the game is noted for its emotional resonance and haunting themes, making it a worthwhile experience for those seeking a quick, unsettling story.
“Cicadas and ravens create palpable feelings in the dusky humidity; a tragic and one-beat plot ends in a highly upsetting scene.”
“Okaeri is a touching story that puts you into the life of a young girl.”
“This game uses ambiance and narrative to develop an excellent short story.”
“The story isn't explained at all, and you have to assume what occurs based on the crumbs the game gives you that aren't outright telling you.”
“Nothing really happens and it's a bit too short for me to make me as a player actually part of the story.”
“When it comes to the story, it feels like its serious themes were treated rather half-heartedly and mostly just as an excuse for creating a creepy atmosphere and shocking the player.”
- atmosphere158 mentions
- 51 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its haunting and tense qualities, effectively enhancing the horror experience through sound design and visual aesthetics. While many players appreciate the dark, unsettling tone and the ability to evoke feelings of dread, some note that the reliance on visual filters can obscure details, and the overall gameplay may feel simplistic or underwhelming. Despite its short length, the atmosphere remains a standout feature, making it a recommended choice for fans of atmospheric horror.
“Atmosphere is really good and makes the scares much more effective.”
“One positive of this game is definitely the atmosphere, the sound design is competent and brings to life the bleak world you find yourself in.”
“The atmosphere is the main focus of the horror.”
“While the game captures a haunting atmosphere, the reliance on visual filters makes it challenging to appreciate the finer details within the environment.”
“When it comes to the story, it feels like its serious themes were treated rather half-heartedly and mostly just as an excuse for creating creepy atmosphere and shocking the player.”
“I was expecting a little bit more, to be honest. I know these games are cheap and all, but this one is not that good, just some kind of scary atmosphere that gives no fear at all.”
- graphics88 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game evoke a strong sense of nostalgia, drawing inspiration from PS1 and PS2 aesthetics, with a distinctive VHS filter that enhances the eerie atmosphere but can also obscure details and detract from immersion. While some players appreciate the retro style and atmospheric design, others find the heavy post-processing effects, such as chromatic aberration and film grain, to be muddled and visually uncomfortable. Overall, the visuals are a polarizing aspect, appealing to fans of atmospheric horror while potentially alienating those who prefer clearer graphics.
“The graphics are incredible, sound design is top notch and the pacing is good.”
“Great PS1-style graphics with perfectly executed atmosphere.”
“As with a lot of other Chilla's Art games, the retro, VHS-style graphics are the most striking aspect.”
“The graphics are rendered dark, purposely blurred with extremely heavy chromatic aberration, and finished up with a film grain filter that you can turn off.”
“Let's start with the visuals: small Japanese environments are quite cute, but the chromatic aberration filter is really ugly and often glitches out.”
“Don't get me wrong, the sound design is excellent and the atmosphere is definitely eerie, but the graphics fall flat (literally in some cases) and the fact that you can barely see anything (I don't even know why the film grain option is on by default, as it's dark enough so why add more obscurity?) and it's very slow moving.”
- gameplay54 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 85 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is primarily a straightforward walking simulator focused on exploration and object interaction, with a significant emphasis on uncovering a mystery. While the atmosphere is praised, many reviewers note the gameplay's brevity and simplicity, often leading to a lack of engagement and variety, with some describing it as boring or unintuitive. Overall, the game offers a short experience that may appeal to those seeking a quick, atmospheric horror story, but it falls short in gameplay depth and complexity.
“The gameplay is straightforward, focusing on exploration and interaction with objects to uncover the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.”
“The gameplay boils down to finding your house, then exploring the house at night to find the number needed to open a locked box, then finding the mysteries of the house.”
“It is very short, definitely has its flaws and there is so much unused potential to make this an even better game from a gameplay perspective, but it is fascinating how it nevertheless manages to draw you into its little world and involve you emotionally in its short story.”
“For one, there isn't a lot going into the gameplay (granted the game is listed as a 'walking sim', but I digress).”
“Boring and unintuitive gameplay, nearly invisible UI, boring and not at all scary story.”
“It's a fascinating proof of concept with good atmosphere, but it's short and most of the gameplay is mashing 'E' against objects until you get a door to open upstairs, and then it's a number hunt.”
- replayability10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
The game has very low replayability, with only four achievements and no alternative endings, meaning players will likely exhaust its content in a single playthrough. Most reviewers agree that once the game is completed, there is little incentive to return, suggesting a price adjustment to reflect its limited replay value.
“I think the price should have been between 1-1.50 euro for the context presented, especially since there is no replay value if you manage to get all the achievements in one run.”
“That said, this game has no replay value; once you've seen what the game has to offer, you've seen what it has to offer.”
“There's also no replayability, outside of 3 achievements that you might have missed on your first playthrough.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is criticized for not being superb, with issues such as the absence of vsync and high resource consumption despite smooth performance. Players express a desire for better optimization, particularly for platforms like the Steam Deck, indicating that the game could benefit from further polishing to enhance stability and efficiency.
“Hope the Chilla's Art series is optimized for Steam Deck; it would be great to play these games with stable performance.”
“The game runs smoothly, but it seems to consume more computing power than it should.”
“Not superbly optimized and vsync is not present.”
“I guess it just lacks some optimization and polishing.”
“Great visual style and atmosphere, love the voice actress's performance, and lots of respect for the subject matter tackled in this title, but the game is just so underwhelming and lackluster.”
- emotional10 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its tragic narrative and heartbreaking ending, which deeply resonates with players, even those unfamiliar with horror games. Despite its brevity and gameplay flaws, the story effectively immerses players in its world, evoking strong feelings of horror and confusion. Overall, the game is praised for its ability to engage players emotionally through its poignant storytelling.
“The small story in here is tragic, the ending is truly heartbreaking; I wish there was more than one possible outcome.”
“It is very short, definitely has its flaws, and there is so much unused potential to make this an even better game from a gameplay perspective, but it is fascinating how it nevertheless manages to draw you into its little world and involve you emotionally in its short story.”
“Okaeri is a touching story that puts you into the life of a young girl.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in "teke teke" is described as inconsistent, starting off with an intriguing and creepy tone but ultimately becoming more amusing than frightening, leading to a mediocre comedic experience. While there are a few funny moments, particularly related to achievements, the overall comedic value is rated low, at 1/5.
“It starts being interesting and creepy, but it ends up being mediocre and more funny than scary.”
“It has a few funny moments, especially with the achievements you get!”
“I'm glad someone found my review funny.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious due to the necessity of constant interaction with the environment and slow movement, which can make the experience feel monotonous. While some users tolerate this grind, it detracts from overall enjoyment and predictability of the game.
“Movement is so slow that the whole thing becomes tedious as hell and the ending is very predictable.”
“One of the downfalls of this game is that you have to keep an eye out and interact with everything, which can be tedious.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game exhibits stability issues, with frequent glitches and rough edges affecting the overall experience. While the visuals feature charming small Japanese environments, the chromatic aberration filter detracts from the aesthetic and often malfunctions.
“It's short, simple, and rough around the edges; glitches may occur.”
“Let's start with the visuals: small Japanese environments are quite cute, but the chromatic aberration filter is really ugly and often glitches out.”
- music2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for creating an excellent and creepy atmosphere, effectively enhancing the overall experience through its sound design and ambient elements.
“The music creates an excellent atmosphere, very creepy in the way it handles sounds and ambiance.”
“The soundtrack perfectly complements the game's eerie vibe, enhancing the overall experience.”
“The haunting melodies and sound design immerse you deeply into the game's world.”
