3/5 ★ – Pencil_Nexus's review of YIIK: A Postmodern RPG.

Okay, this is an interesting case. Most people know of this game, and it's sort of meme status. The game upon release was very rough, and the response from the creator did not help either. Since all that though, the devs sought out to update and improve the game, which leads to the current I.V. version of the release. I haven't played the OG YIIK, but I've seen quite a bit of the initial and rough versions of the game, and how the story and gameplay played out. I have to say, it's honestly incredibly impressive what all they added and changed to the game. They way more 3D animated cutscenes that make scenes more visually appealing, and more cinematic. Added scenes that give more of the characters things to do. The gameplay has been completely overhauled to be more of a traditional RPG, with its own spin with the Karta and Bleed system, and not just a shitty Paper Mario. Honestly, the gameplay loop was extremely engaging and fun for me. I think it could have been a bit more difficult, but I appreciate that I had to think more for certain fights. Also, the new boss fights were a nice surprise, and they were super engaging. The visuals embrace more elements of almost Tarantino or Anderson cinematics and weirdness, that add charm to the narrative. With that said... the narrative is still the weakest aspect. I think the story would have to get a major overhaul, but that would just be making a new game or story at that point. The characters and dialogue are still pretty insufferable. The narrative beats and pacing are still an issue, and it's a convoluted mess of concepts that don't string together at all. While I like the new Carrie sections, I still don't really understand what it adds to flesh out the story. Even the new Michael and Chondra scenes feel disconnected, even though they want them to be a bigger mystery that has a payoff for the final cutscene, or maybe even NG+. All in all, I have a lot of respect for this new YIIK. It's still rough, pretentious, and nonsensical in its narrative, but there's a charm that it has that makes me want to go for an NG+ run. I would definitely say it's a lot better than before, and I would recommend people to give it a fair shot, especially if they were burned by the OG release.