I’m not gonna lie I clicked on this video because I thought the thumbnail said “cosmetology of Kyoto” and really wanted to know how a game about hair and beauty trends in ancient Kyoto were so scary 😅
The game had little success in Japan mostly due to the fact that it depicted Heian period mixing realism and mysticism, a dark landscape ridden with poverty, disease, demons and suffering to which Japanese audience are not generally used to. In general media Heian period was generally depicted from the view of nobles a glorious and romantic approach.
That's understandable. Most people would be extremely embarrassed by all of that. BUT... We can't just pretend that all of that didn't happen. If we don't teach our kids about our history then they will be doomed to repeat it. (As they say)
@@DonCarlione973I disagree, we can recognise things generally as wrong and right without knowing past wrongs. Thus why I always fail to understand why people talk about denialism being as dangerous as they make it out to be, that denialism is an affirmation of their view that the act was wrong. Wrong enough for them to make a big deal out of denying it. And I don't know about you, but I personally opine you don't need so extensive knowledge on history. In any case the game isn't a good example, it is rather a good example of consumer preferences.
@@Cecilia-ky3uwThe danger with denialism is that it is purposely ignoring easy to prove facts to favorise entirely invented turn of events. Most of the time to push extreme ideologies and to erase the knowledge of their consequences. Like: never did this political extremism led to genocide, or things like that.
8:09 The Beardcutter Sword, aka Higekiri, aka too many other things, is a legendary artifact with many famous owners throughout history. And this guy just gives it to you in the tutorial for being a bro.
Later on in the game you have the opportunity to give it back to him, and he uses it again to kill demons, and after he's finished he thanks you again for being a bro lol
Could be worse, at least you knew you could die by demonic forces beyond you means and comprehension. In Ireland you could be walkin' down ta street, havin' a grand night! Suddenly, *BAM!* Nuckelavee!
Damn, imagine how scary this would have been in 1993. For comparison, that same year I was having nightmares from just the first Space Hulk game, and people thought The 7th Guest was creepy.
I could not stop laughing when you said the backgammon game in this crashed when you were winning, as my Dad once owned a really old backgammon game (I forget what system it was on, but it was pre-Atari) that would crash any time the human player was close to a win or a draw. Clearly the machines take backgammon personally!
Reminds me of the old story about an AI that was made to “never lose” in Tetris, it paused the game right before it lost. Well, you’re not losing if the game never ends/finishes! I howled at your story of your dad tho. Sneaky, sneaky computers.
People in the comments talking like buddhism is just one single doctrine and not a bunch of teachings that were added and tergiversed by different sects through time
@@xXSamir44Xx yeah not a lot, since take animism. Other tribes in south east asia and polynesian practised animism, living in tranquility. So I don't know what you're applying.
I wonder why so many women died horribly in this game, but then i remembered the linfamy channel and realized this game was based on Old japanese budhism teaching that basically condemns women as evil temptress by default
@@1001johny The dynamics that Buddhism (especially the versions in Japan, I can't tell which of the traditions this one uses but it's probably zen or mikkyo (they're on my list to research but I haven't checked which hells each contain)) has to hell isn't about suffering testing strength. It's the other way around, actually; you suffer because you were spiritually weak/immoral in a previous incarnation, and the suffering in the various hells is meant to relate to WHAT you did to earn that punishment. Think of it as a spiritual prison sentence. The goal of Buddhism is detachment from all earthly desires. Material, emotional, etc, and if you showed that, it wasn't only YOU that was punished-- you could also bring misfortune to others. Oh, and THINKING about going to one of the hells would also send you to hell, so you were supposed to have someone there to assist you in your dying moments to think of nothing earthly or hell-related, so you wouldn't end up in hell. This is just the basic gist of it that I know without deep dives, but yeah in Japanese Buddhism it's not a strength of spirit (Ironically thinking of that would be a ticket to hell-- you're not supposed to think of yourself, either, just of Buddha and his teachings-- but not the hell ones).
I just thought it was one of those Asian Jesus statues. Like the black Jesus statues & pics 🤷🏾 in some countries he has blonde hair & blue eyes. I'm some countries his a red head. There's a Jesus for every race & country. No joke, I'm totally not being racist. Google it.. 🤨 the priest who went their told them Jesus was there race. I guess the priest thought, it would be easier to get them to join if they thought Jesus was one of "them." I use the word then lightly 🤞🏾
There was this belief during the Heian period that the world had ended into a kind of "apocalypse" age where there were no buddhas to be found and attsining nirvana was impossible. Also life would be bad for all people and full of suffering. This period actually started just after the start of the heian period and was called "Mappou"
@@katzea.a7880 it was part of Buddhism. Basically they thought the world would go through several ages after the death of Gautama Buddha with the final being Mappo. Once Mappo ended the cycle would start anew
This reminds me of a weird dream I had when I was a kid where there was this first person educational computer game where you're in a haunted house and there's a ghost (that resembled Sadako or The Grudge) constantly coming after you with math questions and if you take too long to answer or get it wrong she kills you. Really weird!
@@luchirimoya While I was thinking about it recently it reminded me of Baldi too! I had that dream long before Baldi was a thing tho, maybe I should've turned it into an actual game 😂
The thing I like the most about this game is that it's a Nembutsu Simulator. In short, Nembutsu is the chant Pure Land Buddhists recite -- "Namu Amida Butsu"; it basically means "I entrust myself to the Buddha of Infinite Light". In Pure Land Buddhism, knowing and chanting the Nembutsu is positive karma. Even if you don't attain nirvana in this birth, this positive karma will follow you through other rebirths, leading you to dharma again and again, and eventually you will be able to attain nirvana. The game presents Nembutsu to you. It encourages you to chant it, even if by typing it on a machine. In the ending, Kuukai (afaik it's Kuukai, not Nichizou, in the end) chants a mantra, and then it looks like your character attains nirvana and is free from the cycle of reincarnation by the power of the Buddha Amida. What does it mean karma-wise to the player? Now you've been in contact with the Nembutsu. Maybe this positive karma will follow you through other rebirths. Being a Pure Land Buddhist, I was amused by the "Nembutsu Simulator" nature of the game.
This isn't an insult about the content, but everytime I listen to this I fall asleep. Your tonation is just so soothing man, really nice to have on a long day ending here for my japan trip.
Haven't watched past the spoiler warning cause I may want to check this out myself in the future, but this is a really fascinating direction for an edutainment game. I think its approach of giving you easy access to answers to the ever-present question of "WTF just happened?" is an interesting one compared to the usual heavy-handed approaches that shove information in your face whether you want it or not. Definitely going to have to check this out at some point; I'm surprised I never heard about this before.
The best way to experience it is just to go in blind and wander around. And yeah, I was really impressed by the reference section. I didn’t show it off in the video, but it actually has short summaries of all the folktales that the events in the game are based on. Really thorough. But then you can also ignore it and just bumble around having weird, creepy stuff happen to you and enjoy the ride if you want.
Holy fuck, this is darker than I thought it'd be. Also very unique for a point-and-click game, especially for the time. I wouldn't have thought to combine horror and P&C but here we are. It's really unnerving with its graphical style, too. I know it was probably just taking inspiration from actual art of the time, but man, made me remember how weird ancient Japanese art was
My mom used to play a lot of P&C horror games over the years, I distinctly remember one that was Cthulhu themed or at least had a humanoid squid-faced figure in the game, and that it was set in some sort of ship hull or something.
Thanks for this video. I'm currently on a Japanese history kick, so this game is right up my alley. The Heian period tends not to get as much attention in pop culture as the Sengoku or Edo eras, but it is very interesting. It was the infancy of the samurai and the era when the Imperial court had actual power rather than just being a spiritual figurehead.
That’s cool. Yeah, creeping closer to the ancient times makes Japan feel even more foreign, because it’s much less covered than the periods when the samurai were riding high. I’m also a fan of old Japanese horror movies from the 50s and 60s too. They dealt with a lot more folklore
@@t0xcn253 It was certainly much different from the future Japanese periods which were almost always dominated by warriors. I've been watching Linfamy's Japanese history videos and discovered that Heian Japan (well, just the capital) was all about art and culture and loads of sex. But based on what I see in this video, there is a little bit of samurai myth in the game. Watanabe no Tsuna was a legendary samurai and retainer to an even more legendary samurai, Minamoto no Raikou.
@@fattiger6957 Pretty sure Watanabe and Raikou are considered THE mandatory figures of legend to make a good Heian era setting, I don't think I've seen one time where they weren't involved or at least mentioned when any media takes a stint in the Heian era or is set there. When they're not there it's because Abe-No-Seimei steals the spotlight.
There’s something I absolutely love about videos deep diving into and even narrating an edited full walk through of eerie and creepy games that add occasional humor to the video like Norm Macdonald quotes. 😂
good lord, this is gnarly. i love it. weird old games like these are my bread and butter, i appreciate the guy who made the DOSbox version because i feel the need to play this ASAP
Heian period of Japan is really untapped period of ancient Japan. Most often where media portray ancient Japan it often about the Sengoku period (1540-1600). Heian period is an interesting period it history is mix with "Mythological and historical" like how the Oni was living amongs the humans and where Watanabe No Tsuan or Minamoto Yoritmitsu become demon slayers (although must take grain of salt if "oni" do exist and they were probably fighting off normal human bandits that roamed in the lawlessness countryside of Japan)
i was fixated on this game years ago but was too stupid to figure out how to run it myself, glad to see coverage of it pop up randomly and i might give it another go cause of you. thanks!
This is awesome! I actually live in Kyoto now, and as soon as I saw the thumbnail for this video I had to open it. How creepy and interesting! I'll check this game out immediately.
The poem being presented on a fan and the subsequent ghost murdering your lover is a reference to the chapter of genji monogatari: yuugao about genji meeting a woman after being presented a poem on a fan accompanied by a yuugao (evening face) blossom, after which he takes her to a manor where she is killed by a vengeful spirit. The woman wearing purple is probably also vaguely referencing Murasaki Shikibu, the author of genji
The art style for this game reminds me a lot of the works of Japanese illustrator/animator Takashi Taniguchi. I even thought he might have worked on the game until I found out it came out long before he started working in animation. Most of his work is absurdist comedy, but he did direct the 3rd season of the short horror series Yami Shibai, and that season did have a notable focus on grotesque monster designs.
This was the game that *Roger Ebert* loved when he played back in the day. I read about this game on Kotaku's website, they made a really nice video about it there (sadly not on RUclips)
I remember there was a scroll or something of the (Possibly Japanese) Buddhist cosmology, which notes that there is a layer below the regular world that is like the regular world but spirits and such are more visible and reincarnation is quicker if I recall right. Its been a long time, so I don't remember it all, but I thought it was a twist that basically explains why the hell this is all happening so quickly and so many spirits are active and visible.
Growing up i wasn't a fan of scary or point & click games. But I really like this one. The unsettling atmosphere & historic lore is crazy! The art style is straight up dream backrooms; as a demonic village haunting. I instantly subscribed. This was a fantastic review!
This game needs a spiritual successor. The retro style definitely fits in with today's analogue horror trend and the Monty Python like animations breaths such a bizarre life into it.
that was fantastique! thanks for discovering me to this game, I personnaly like yokai themed and this type of horror I would be happy if new games were inspireted by this
Wow this game is truly a hidden gem, I would've never expected this! Your explanations made me hooked enough to stop the video before the "spoiler area" and play this on my own. Great video!
Glad to see a decent overview/walkthrough of this game finally being uploaded. I love folklore and this is by far my most favorite piece of media that explores it that anyone outside of the culture can explore it through. It's a miracle it ever got a non Japanese release. Also I'm pretty sure the building your in at the end gets struck by lighting. That demon was the storm god Raijin that descends and kills all the men inside.
Not only that, but the fact that they didn't ruin it with the common ethnocentrism of the time. No dub, no burgers instead of whatever food is depicted here, no renaming the characters...Ahead of its time...or just before the trend happens and greed would make away with authenticity.
Its been a while after the Heiyan-Kyo chapter in FGO released but seeing all the Servants we clashed with as well as the Oni and usual Japanese Yokai here is damn good. Now most of the stuff there makes more sense.
OMG I HAVE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR THIS VIDEO legit the past few days but I couldn’t remember the name so I put in like old Japanese horror game only released in Japan that takes place in a village with mythical creatures. Ugh I’m so happy I found this video again 😭😭😪
I just had to comment and say I saw this video right on the front of my homepage 2 days ago and clicked it immediately, as soon as I saw the shining in the darkness intro screen I knew you were my now #1 favorite RUclips channel, and I've been going through all your videos. this is like exactly the type of channel I've been looking for. keep up the good work your videos are amazing and I cant wait for more videos on obscure and chill gems of games
Right on! Thank you so much! And good on you for recognizing the SitD background. Not many people do. Definitely got a lot more on the way so welcome aboard!
Woah your channel is a gold mine! Thanks for amazing content, will definitely binge through the channel in coming days! Never knew Cosmology of Kyoto was so widely known back in the day, I thought it was some obscure hidden cursed media.
Thanks! I enjoy really sinking into these weird games. BTW, are you the actual dev of Fear & Hunger? (Some people make fan channels, that's why I ask) If you are, I love both games! I want to cover them on the channel when I have time to invest and make videos about longer games.
@@dungeonchill yeah I'm the dev. Glad you like the games! Would ofc love to see videos of F&H too on your channel, but I can see how they wouldn't necessarily fit the format.
Usually the algorithm gives me nothing but crap, but today I was lucky. I'm often reluctant to watch obscure game reviews because the tone tends to be either too pretentious and dry, or way too reliant on humor, but I was pleased to see you juggled the tone of this video perfectly. Looking forward to watching the rest of your stuff.
This vid deserves WAYYYY more views. I cant believe i just realized it didnt have more than a million views, it certainly feels like it should! Amazing video, thank you for uploading it!
It’s such a cool concept and the horror (despite it being an old 90s DOS game) is really effective at creating a sense of dread and foreboding. Games that deal with mythology and history as a whole are easily some of my favorites and the way it weaves itself into Japanese history is immaculate, particularly given that it’s a much earlier Japanese period. A game that comes to mind is The Witcher III, traveling from town to town, picking up contracts and immersing yourself in the lore of these creatures. I’d love to see a Witcher style game based around Japanese mythology, playing as some mercenary for hire hunting Onis and Spirits, learning about them as you go along.
Awesome video!! I would have never known this game even existed until I randomly found your channel. You talk about incredibly interesting stuff. Thanks!
This game is GORGEOUS looking! This game would take me weeks though, I’d get stuck reading every little literature update or checking every single nook and cranny lol very interested to give it a go
Paranormasight is somewhat like this. It deals with Onmyouji. It also rewards you for looking at odd places. And every time you discover something, it adds an entry into the in-game wiki.
The atmosphere of this game is really similar to a bunch of nightmares I've had where I'm just lost in empty dark roads at night but minus all of the orange streetlights very spooky
oh man, I remember playing this game as an interactive folklore encyclopedia... Didn't even consider it a game really, just wanted to find as many of the monsters as I could :D
I love games that record the things you discover/encounter in something like an in-game journal. Keeps track of stuff, helps me immerse myself further into the game, and encourages me to explore and unlock as much knowledge as I could. As a completionist, I also wouldn't consider a game 100% if there's something missing on the journal.
Up until surprisingly recently, Japanese history and folklore were recorded together. This is how you get real historical figures like Minamoto no Yorimitsu (Raikou) also being involved in legendary exploits, like the slaying of demons. There was some Musou game, I don't remember the title now, that touted itself as being all about highly realistic historic Japanese wars, and then in one segment enemies turn into giant crabs. While confusing for non-Japanese players, I got excited because hey, that's from the Tale of Heike! Yeah, they turned into crabs! If you get the chance to read the Tale of Genji, you'll see a lot of references to the same folkloric events in this game (for obvious reasons but). For example, in one of the earlier chapters, Genji takes a lady to an abandoned house to spend the night with her. She dies, killed by a malevolent spirit. Later, Murasaki no Ue becomes deathly ill because of the spirit of the Rokujou Lady, similar to the vengeful spirit killing the poem lady in the game. Also, when the lady in this game passes you a poem, that's typical Heian Era flirting. You'd show off your best composition and handwriting skills to win over a partner. There was a lot of sleeping around, and this method shows that this is a Lady. Very cool game! I'll check it out.
Thank you for this. This game has been on my mind for years, ever since I found it on Home of the Underdogs probably two decades ago. I have very rarely seen it mentioned at all despite how interesting it is.
I tried to play this on my Mac a few years ago but the emulator I used constantly crashed. It's cool seeing you give a synopsis of all the content I missed out on. 👍🏻
By the way, if you run it straight out of DOSBox there’s a big chance you’ll get cracks and pops in the audio. This is a result of the audio going out of sync, likely due to vsync synchronisation, as most things run single threaded. It’s especially egregious in Cosmology of Kyoto. If you want to fix it, find a way to either turn off v-sync in your emulator or use a g-sync or Freesync monitor. The only way I know to do that is to use DOSBox as a Retroarch core and turn the vsync off or enable g-sync or Freesync in Retroarch itself. You could also try to play with the cpu cycle configuration in DOSBox, but that is a hard balancing act and less stable in my view.
I wonder if it makes a difference playing your character as a woman or a man? Is there any gender specific cut scenes? Are you treated differently as you would have been in real life in that place in that time period?
late reply but i played the game as a married female and you can get the encounters with the "nice girls" among other things lol everything was about the same :)
@@maxc.7770 oh, interesting. It probably would have been hard to program multiple pathways because of gender attitudes and beliefs of the time in the culture back when the video game was made and distributed.
I'd never even heard of this game before stumbling across this video and it legit terrifies (and fascinates) me in a way few games do. I'm also pretty surprised that THE Roger Ebert not only played this game, but really liked it, which is pretty cool. It'd be awesome if this could get an official re-release and find a wider audience. With how many obscure older games are getting remasters these days... who knows?
Alas if its abadonware possibly no one can remake it. Something similar from scratch would be easier than figuring out and fighting the copyright demons attached to this.
I like when they try to keep things (for the most part) historically accurate. Or based on true events. It adds realism and helps with immersion of the story. 👍🏻👍🏻
The piss all over the screen part made me laugh. So random. I'm sure there's a meaning to it, and I can't remember related lore off the top of my head, but it was funny nonetheless.
No, it is thoroughly an educational game as it tries to be as true to real-life events and lore as possible. The references tab is super expansive and detailed it should be clear what the developers goal was
This is insanely creepy. The fact that the graphics and sound are so bad I think just makes it that much worse. I would have lasted about five minutes as a kid before I threw this in the trash.
![Кто звонил ЗАХАРОВОЙ на самом деле? 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/oroU44-To8U/mqdefault.jpg)
I’m not gonna lie I clicked on this video because I thought the thumbnail said “cosmetology of Kyoto” and really wanted to know how a game about hair and beauty trends in ancient Kyoto were so scary 😅
lmao same!!!
me too
Same
lmao I read it that way too but then I was like "wait that makes no sense" and read again XD
@@kymo6343 I literally didn’t even notice until he said cosmology in the video lmao
The game had little success in Japan mostly due to the fact that it depicted Heian period mixing realism and mysticism, a dark landscape ridden with poverty, disease, demons and suffering to which Japanese audience are not generally used to. In general media Heian period was generally depicted from the view of nobles a glorious and romantic approach.
The game Onmyoji...
@@onikirimalewifean onmyoji fan…
That's understandable. Most people would be extremely embarrassed by all of that. BUT... We can't just pretend that all of that didn't happen. If we don't teach our kids about our history then they will be doomed to repeat it. (As they say)
@@DonCarlione973I disagree, we can recognise things generally as wrong and right without knowing past wrongs. Thus why I always fail to understand why people talk about denialism being as dangerous as they make it out to be, that denialism is an affirmation of their view that the act was wrong. Wrong enough for them to make a big deal out of denying it. And I don't know about you, but I personally opine you don't need so extensive knowledge on history. In any case the game isn't a good example, it is rather a good example of consumer preferences.
@@Cecilia-ky3uwThe danger with denialism is that it is purposely ignoring easy to prove facts to favorise entirely invented turn of events. Most of the time to push extreme ideologies and to erase the knowledge of their consequences. Like: never did this political extremism led to genocide, or things like that.
8:09 The Beardcutter Sword, aka Higekiri, aka too many other things, is a legendary artifact with many famous owners throughout history. And this guy just gives it to you in the tutorial for being a bro.
one of the legendary blades with way to many names. one of them being Onikiri, so it being a sword able to cut a demon. makes sense.
❤@@ghoulchan7525
Now I'm just picturing a guy helping a knight slay a dragon and the knight just nonchalantly hands the Excalibur as thanks.
@@ChimeraMK that's kinda what happened here.
Later on in the game you have the opportunity to give it back to him, and he uses it again to kill demons, and after he's finished he thanks you again for being a bro lol
Kind of sad a lot of these game are left to time. It's great that these are still able to be emulated. I would totally pay for these games though.
Yeah, I would absolutely buy digital versions of these kinds of games if someone could resurrect the licenses.
Yes, this belongs on GOG
Fun fact: The monk in 11:55 is named Maudgalyayana, he saved his mother from hell
You just couldn't catch a break in medieval Japan. When the demons weren't busy killing and torturing you they were mercilessly cock-blocking you.
So why not just fuck the demons instead ?
Could be worse, at least you knew you could die by demonic forces beyond you means and comprehension. In Ireland you could be walkin' down ta street, havin' a grand night! Suddenly, *BAM!* Nuckelavee!
Damn, imagine how scary this would have been in 1993.
For comparison, that same year I was having nightmares from just the first Space Hulk game, and people thought The 7th Guest was creepy.
What's so scary about fighting genestealers brother?
@@hotcauldron7918That they still exist, brother.
i wasn’t alive in 1993 but this definitely would’ve scared the fuck out of me until i was like 16
On the other hand Waxworks was released a year earlier.
but Waxworks didn't drill into your head that every woman who would ever want to sleep with you gets murdered.
I could not stop laughing when you said the backgammon game in this crashed when you were winning, as my Dad once owned a really old backgammon game (I forget what system it was on, but it was pre-Atari) that would crash any time the human player was close to a win or a draw. Clearly the machines take backgammon personally!
Imagine if the events of Terminator happened because a human has beaten Skynet at backgammon
My dad had the same problem with one of the PC chess master games
Reminds me of the old story about an AI that was made to “never lose” in Tetris, it paused the game right before it lost. Well, you’re not losing if the game never ends/finishes!
I howled at your story of your dad tho. Sneaky, sneaky computers.
People in the comments talking like buddhism is just one single doctrine and not a bunch of teachings that were added and tergiversed by different sects through time
Blablabla who cares
@@BeruCampos hurt much?
So, like every other religion then.
@@BeruCamposClearly you cared enough to comment
@@xXSamir44Xx yeah not a lot, since take animism. Other tribes in south east asia and polynesian practised animism, living in tranquility. So I don't know what you're applying.
I wonder why so many women died horribly in this game, but then i remembered the linfamy channel and realized this game was based on Old japanese budhism teaching that basically condemns women as evil temptress by default
Yeah, unfortunately that's how most of these old folktales and fables present things.
@Karen: Stop projecting and making everything about you, particularly if you have as much clue of buddhism as a toddler.
Well it's a timeless trope,
If women become ghost, if man become slasher/ serial killer.
@@candide1065lmao what? recognizing a misogynistic cultural or religious trope is Karen behavior?
As if Modern Western Women were any different. Then again they might as well be demons.
Imagine how traumatised the kids who played this were. I was already terrified of the uncanny valley of early videogame graphics In general
I know Buddhism is the theme of the game but uh . . . Jesus Christ! This puts mostmodern horror games to shame!
It’s goes pretty hard, that’s for sure!
Most religions exist to help people cope or makes sense of life suffering. There for the more suffering the stronger the test of Spirit
@@1001johny The dynamics that Buddhism (especially the versions in Japan, I can't tell which of the traditions this one uses but it's probably zen or mikkyo (they're on my list to research but I haven't checked which hells each contain)) has to hell isn't about suffering testing strength.
It's the other way around, actually; you suffer because you were spiritually weak/immoral in a previous incarnation, and the suffering in the various hells is meant to relate to WHAT you did to earn that punishment. Think of it as a spiritual prison sentence.
The goal of Buddhism is detachment from all earthly desires. Material, emotional, etc, and if you showed that, it wasn't only YOU that was punished-- you could also bring misfortune to others.
Oh, and THINKING about going to one of the hells would also send you to hell, so you were supposed to have someone there to assist you in your dying moments to think of nothing earthly or hell-related, so you wouldn't end up in hell.
This is just the basic gist of it that I know without deep dives, but yeah in Japanese Buddhism it's not a strength of spirit (Ironically thinking of that would be a ticket to hell-- you're not supposed to think of yourself, either, just of Buddha and his teachings-- but not the hell ones).
That's pretty funny. You must have never played Resident Evil 7 or the Outlast games.
I just thought it was one of those Asian Jesus statues. Like the black Jesus statues & pics 🤷🏾 in some countries he has blonde hair & blue eyes. I'm some countries his a red head. There's a Jesus for every race & country. No joke, I'm totally not being racist. Google it.. 🤨 the priest who went their told them Jesus was there race. I guess the priest thought, it would be easier to get them to join if they thought Jesus was one of "them." I use the word then lightly 🤞🏾
YES. The game that really made me realize just how dire the world must have seemed in some ways to a person back then.
or now if you're unlucky...
There was this belief during the Heian period that the world had ended into a kind of "apocalypse" age where there were no buddhas to be found and attsining nirvana was impossible. Also life would be bad for all people and full of suffering. This period actually started just after the start of the heian period and was called "Mappou"
@@sukitron5415 Did something happen for that belief to kickstart?
@@katzea.a7880 it was part of Buddhism. Basically they thought the world would go through several ages after the death of Gautama Buddha with the final being Mappo. Once Mappo ended the cycle would start anew
@@sukitron5415 Starting anew with Maitreya Buddha or does he appear much later?
This reminds me of a weird dream I had when I was a kid where there was this first person educational computer game where you're in a haunted house and there's a ghost (that resembled Sadako or The Grudge) constantly coming after you with math questions and if you take too long to answer or get it wrong she kills you. Really weird!
Sounds like Baldi's basics, Japanese Horror style lmao
@@luchirimoya While I was thinking about it recently it reminded me of Baldi too! I had that dream long before Baldi was a thing tho, maybe I should've turned it into an actual game 😂
That sounds like the maze section in Jump Start 4th grade.
That could make for a good parody, lol
@@bburde2 oh shit, your dream was the OG Baldi's basics then lol. I bet seeing the game for the first time gave you flashbacks 😭😭
The thing I like the most about this game is that it's a Nembutsu Simulator.
In short, Nembutsu is the chant Pure Land Buddhists recite -- "Namu Amida Butsu"; it basically means "I entrust myself to the Buddha of Infinite Light". In Pure Land Buddhism, knowing and chanting the Nembutsu is positive karma. Even if you don't attain nirvana in this birth, this positive karma will follow you through other rebirths, leading you to dharma again and again, and eventually you will be able to attain nirvana.
The game presents Nembutsu to you. It encourages you to chant it, even if by typing it on a machine. In the ending, Kuukai (afaik it's Kuukai, not Nichizou, in the end) chants a mantra, and then it looks like your character attains nirvana and is free from the cycle of reincarnation by the power of the Buddha Amida.
What does it mean karma-wise to the player? Now you've been in contact with the Nembutsu. Maybe this positive karma will follow you through other rebirths.
Being a Pure Land Buddhist, I was amused by the "Nembutsu Simulator" nature of the game.
If you haven't already, check out Rain World. Videocult creates a world that's post apocalyptic ruins are informed by Nembutsu
The monk at the end is Kuya, same one from the marketplace, the people gathered around him at the market literally tell you his name is Kuya.
Interesting detail
This isn't an insult about the content, but everytime I listen to this I fall asleep. Your tonation is just so soothing man, really nice to have on a long day ending here for my japan trip.
Some of my favorite videos are the ones I can fall asleep to, so I take it as a compliment.
Haven't watched past the spoiler warning cause I may want to check this out myself in the future, but this is a really fascinating direction for an edutainment game. I think its approach of giving you easy access to answers to the ever-present question of "WTF just happened?" is an interesting one compared to the usual heavy-handed approaches that shove information in your face whether you want it or not. Definitely going to have to check this out at some point; I'm surprised I never heard about this before.
The best way to experience it is just to go in blind and wander around. And yeah, I was really impressed by the reference section. I didn’t show it off in the video, but it actually has short summaries of all the folktales that the events in the game are based on. Really thorough. But then you can also ignore it and just bumble around having weird, creepy stuff happen to you and enjoy the ride if you want.
12:04 LMFAO 🤣🤣🤣 So the corpse you find in the beginning is your previous self.
Genius 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
It's the Dark Souls of the 90's
Holy fuck, this is darker than I thought it'd be. Also very unique for a point-and-click game, especially for the time. I wouldn't have thought to combine horror and P&C but here we are. It's really unnerving with its graphical style, too. I know it was probably just taking inspiration from actual art of the time, but man, made me remember how weird ancient Japanese art was
Point and click horror games are actually a pretty big sub genre. Don’t worry. I’ve got a bunch of them to cover in future videos.💀
@@dungeonchill I just imagine a 3TB hard drive full of them on your desk
My mom used to play a lot of P&C horror games over the years, I distinctly remember one that was Cthulhu themed or at least had a humanoid squid-faced figure in the game, and that it was set in some sort of ship hull or something.
@mistermorphescarnoe2898 That sounds so familiar, but I can't think of the name.
one of most iconic horror game is clock tower and its point and click. i think most of them were and later transitioning into first person
This game is incredibly ahead of its time. if there was ever a time to utter this saying, this is definitely one of them.
Normally, point-and-click games drive me batty, but based on the setting and atmosphere of this one in particular, I might have a good time with it.
Thanks for this video. I'm currently on a Japanese history kick, so this game is right up my alley.
The Heian period tends not to get as much attention in pop culture as the Sengoku or Edo eras, but it is very interesting. It was the infancy of the samurai and the era when the Imperial court had actual power rather than just being a spiritual figurehead.
That’s cool. Yeah, creeping closer to the ancient times makes Japan feel even more foreign, because it’s much less covered than the periods when the samurai were riding high.
I’m also a fan of old Japanese horror movies from the 50s and 60s too. They dealt with a lot more folklore
Heian period had a certain magic to every aspect of life, perfect setting for an adventure game.
@@t0xcn253 It was certainly much different from the future Japanese periods which were almost always dominated by warriors. I've been watching Linfamy's Japanese history videos and discovered that Heian Japan (well, just the capital) was all about art and culture and loads of sex.
But based on what I see in this video, there is a little bit of samurai myth in the game. Watanabe no Tsuna was a legendary samurai and retainer to an even more legendary samurai, Minamoto no Raikou.
@@fattiger6957 Pretty sure Watanabe and Raikou are considered THE mandatory figures of legend to make a good Heian era setting, I don't think I've seen one time where they weren't involved or at least mentioned when any media takes a stint in the Heian era or is set there. When they're not there it's because Abe-No-Seimei steals the spotlight.
@@neoqwerty The anime, Otogi Zoshi, has all three of them, along with everyone's favourite child bear-fighter, Kintaro.
Ah, I love stumbling onto obscure media that feels tailor-made for me. Thank you so much for making the video and introducing me to this game!
There’s something I absolutely love about videos deep diving into and even narrating an edited full walk through of eerie and creepy games that add occasional humor to the video like Norm Macdonald quotes. 😂
good lord, this is gnarly. i love it. weird old games like these are my bread and butter, i appreciate the guy who made the DOSbox version because i feel the need to play this ASAP
Heian period of Japan is really untapped period of ancient Japan. Most often where media portray ancient Japan it often about the Sengoku period (1540-1600). Heian period is an interesting period it history is mix with "Mythological and historical" like how the Oni was living amongs the humans and where Watanabe No Tsuan or Minamoto Yoritmitsu become demon slayers (although must take grain of salt if "oni" do exist and they were probably fighting off normal human bandits that roamed in the lawlessness countryside of Japan)
I find the heian period to be more interesting than the edo period
@@sebastianmoua2526 Edo is probably a bit overused now. Also it sort of a "calm" period
SO happy to see a video about this game! It’s a hidden gem in a lot of ways, I’ve never really seen anything else like it!
i was fixated on this game years ago but was too stupid to figure out how to run it myself, glad to see coverage of it pop up randomly and i might give it another go cause of you. thanks!
I love how one of the recurring themes of this game is you constantly getting cockblocked by demons 😂
horrific demons, rotting bodies, beheadings pssh they don't scary me
but that 1 single plank does 😱 (20:09)
I must say the art style is incredible
This is awesome! I actually live in Kyoto now, and as soon as I saw the thumbnail for this video I had to open it. How creepy and interesting! I'll check this game out immediately.
The poem being presented on a fan and the subsequent ghost murdering your lover is a reference to the chapter of genji monogatari: yuugao about genji meeting a woman after being presented a poem on a fan accompanied by a yuugao (evening face) blossom, after which he takes her to a manor where she is killed by a vengeful spirit. The woman wearing purple is probably also vaguely referencing Murasaki Shikibu, the author of genji
For the typing part to work you have press delete Button and then write yes or no. There is invisibale space that you have to delete first
This needs to be a pinned comment!!! Thank you!!!
You can also just not click on the text prompt and type, also works
The art style for this game reminds me a lot of the works of Japanese illustrator/animator Takashi Taniguchi. I even thought he might have worked on the game until I found out it came out long before he started working in animation. Most of his work is absurdist comedy, but he did direct the 3rd season of the short horror series Yami Shibai, and that season did have a notable focus on grotesque monster designs.
This was the game that *Roger Ebert* loved when he played back in the day.
I read about this game on Kotaku's website, they made a really nice video about it there (sadly not on RUclips)
This game is more atmospheric than most big title games these days and it also has great voice acting!
To be fair, the true history that spawns cosmology and folklore was pretty brutal and traumatizing for the most part.
Yea - you have to have a pretty rough time for your culture to create some of these things.
I remember there was a scroll or something of the (Possibly Japanese) Buddhist cosmology, which notes that there is a layer below the regular world that is like the regular world but spirits and such are more visible and reincarnation is quicker if I recall right.
Its been a long time, so I don't remember it all, but I thought it was a twist that basically explains why the hell this is all happening so quickly and so many spirits are active and visible.
22:49 that cow got me feeling something
that fox demon lady gyat me feeling something too
Your voice is really soothing, the gameplay, the exxplanation is really something. Your'e in dire need for more views dude
Growing up i wasn't a fan of scary or point & click games. But I really like this one. The unsettling atmosphere & historic lore is crazy! The art style is straight up dream backrooms; as a demonic village haunting. I instantly subscribed. This was a fantastic review!
this new shin megami tensei game is kinda crazy
Real
if only this were actually a dungeon crawler
😂
A shame it didn't sell better. It's such an experience.
This game needs a spiritual successor. The retro style definitely fits in with today's analogue horror trend and the Monty Python like animations breaths such a bizarre life into it.
Terry Gilliam was my first thought as well. Particularly when the husband rides the corpse. :D
that was fantastique! thanks for discovering me to this game, I personnaly like yokai themed and this type of horror I would be happy if new games were inspireted by this
Wow this game is truly a hidden gem, I would've never expected this! Your explanations made me hooked enough to stop the video before the "spoiler area" and play this on my own.
Great video!
Glad to see a decent overview/walkthrough of this game finally being uploaded. I love folklore and this is by far my most favorite piece of media that explores it that anyone outside of the culture can explore it through. It's a miracle it ever got a non Japanese release.
Also I'm pretty sure the building your in at the end gets struck by lighting. That demon was the storm god Raijin that descends and kills all the men inside.
Not only that, but the fact that they didn't ruin it with the common ethnocentrism of the time. No dub, no burgers instead of whatever food is depicted here, no renaming the characters...Ahead of its time...or just before the trend happens and greed would make away with authenticity.
may be my favorite dungeon chill video so far (though I still have plenty left to watch) because of how goddamn weird and unique the game is
Thanks! Many more to come!
Its been a while after the Heiyan-Kyo chapter in FGO released but seeing all the Servants we clashed with as well as the Oni and usual Japanese Yokai here is damn good.
Now most of the stuff there makes more sense.
OMG I HAVE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR THIS VIDEO legit the past few days but I couldn’t remember the name so I put in like old Japanese horror game only released in Japan that takes place in a village with mythical creatures. Ugh I’m so happy I found this video again 😭😭😪
I just had to comment and say I saw this video right on the front of my homepage 2 days ago and clicked it immediately, as soon as I saw the shining in the darkness intro screen I knew you were my now #1 favorite RUclips channel, and I've been going through all your videos. this is like exactly the type of channel I've been looking for. keep up the good work your videos are amazing and I cant wait for more videos on obscure and chill gems of games
Right on! Thank you so much! And good on you for recognizing the SitD background. Not many people do. Definitely got a lot more on the way so welcome aboard!
It struck me about halfway through. There's a really weird Terry Gilliam-esq quality to the animation.
Woah your channel is a gold mine! Thanks for amazing content, will definitely binge through the channel in coming days! Never knew Cosmology of Kyoto was so widely known back in the day, I thought it was some obscure hidden cursed media.
Thanks! I enjoy really sinking into these weird games.
BTW, are you the actual dev of Fear & Hunger? (Some people make fan channels, that's why I ask) If you are, I love both games! I want to cover them on the channel when I have time to invest and make videos about longer games.
@@dungeonchill yeah I'm the dev. Glad you like the games! Would ofc love to see videos of F&H too on your channel, but I can see how they wouldn't necessarily fit the format.
Bruh ain't no way
Usually the algorithm gives me nothing but crap, but today I was lucky. I'm often reluctant to watch obscure game reviews because the tone tends to be either too pretentious and dry, or way too reliant on humor, but I was pleased to see you juggled the tone of this video perfectly. Looking forward to watching the rest of your stuff.
A modern remake of this game (not changing anything else) would be awesome!
One day inshallah
This vid deserves WAYYYY more views. I cant believe i just realized it didnt have more than a million views, it certainly feels like it should! Amazing video, thank you for uploading it!
It’s such a cool concept and the horror (despite it being an old 90s DOS game) is really effective at creating a sense of dread and foreboding. Games that deal with mythology and history as a whole are easily some of my favorites and the way it weaves itself into Japanese history is immaculate, particularly given that it’s a much earlier Japanese period.
A game that comes to mind is The Witcher III, traveling from town to town, picking up contracts and immersing yourself in the lore of these creatures. I’d love to see a Witcher style game based around Japanese mythology, playing as some mercenary for hire hunting Onis and Spirits, learning about them as you go along.
THIS. This is my favourite type of game. I'm so happy yt recommend me this video. Thank you for your time making it too, it's very interesting.
holy shit this is such a good yt recommendation. The way you narrative this game is so good, please make more of it!
I'm surprised a game like this exists and in the past no less. The devs are bold indeed.
While i dont think ill ever play it im really grateful people has preserverd the game and happy you played it
Awesome video!! I would have never known this game even existed until I randomly found your channel. You talk about incredibly interesting stuff. Thanks!
saw this game on vinny's halloween streams last year and i could NEVER think this was an educational game fddffgfgdf
WOOOOOOOAH I didn't know the Collection Chamber was a thing! That's kind of a huge deal, thanks for introducing me!
One of my favourite games of all time. I so wish someone made a sequel or game with a similiar art design
I'm glad I found your channel, it's quite unique if I may. Watching you talk about these old games is so interesting!
This game is GORGEOUS looking! This game would take me weeks though, I’d get stuck reading every little literature update or checking every single nook and cranny lol very interested to give it a go
Paranormasight is somewhat like this. It deals with Onmyouji. It also rewards you for looking at odd places. And every time you discover something, it adds an entry into the in-game wiki.
Thanks for the effort of making this wonderful video and bringing into spotlight a very interesting game. Loved the Norm bits too!
The atmosphere of this game is really similar to a bunch of nightmares I've had where I'm just lost in empty dark roads at night but minus all of the orange streetlights very spooky
oh man, I remember playing this game as an interactive folklore encyclopedia... Didn't even consider it a game really, just wanted to find as many of the monsters as I could :D
Fascinating video! No idea how i got here, but it was well worth it.
This channel is truly a goldmine
People tend to think Buddhism is all about peace and harmony
Well, there's other side of the coin
Yeah the suffering part
Can’t put a religion and words such as “peace” or “harmony” in one sentence
😢😢😢😢😢😢😅
@@Kalitayy
Its ok, you can't really do it for humanity in general.
@@Kalitayyok calm down there Mr edgy 16 year old atheist.
I love games that record the things you discover/encounter in something like an in-game journal. Keeps track of stuff, helps me immerse myself further into the game, and encourages me to explore and unlock as much knowledge as I could. As a completionist, I also wouldn't consider a game 100% if there's something missing on the journal.
Up until surprisingly recently, Japanese history and folklore were recorded together. This is how you get real historical figures like Minamoto no Yorimitsu (Raikou) also being involved in legendary exploits, like the slaying of demons. There was some Musou game, I don't remember the title now, that touted itself as being all about highly realistic historic Japanese wars, and then in one segment enemies turn into giant crabs. While confusing for non-Japanese players, I got excited because hey, that's from the Tale of Heike! Yeah, they turned into crabs!
If you get the chance to read the Tale of Genji, you'll see a lot of references to the same folkloric events in this game (for obvious reasons but). For example, in one of the earlier chapters, Genji takes a lady to an abandoned house to spend the night with her. She dies, killed by a malevolent spirit. Later, Murasaki no Ue becomes deathly ill because of the spirit of the Rokujou Lady, similar to the vengeful spirit killing the poem lady in the game. Also, when the lady in this game passes you a poem, that's typical Heian Era flirting. You'd show off your best composition and handwriting skills to win over a partner. There was a lot of sleeping around, and this method shows that this is a Lady.
Very cool game! I'll check it out.
Thank you for this. This game has been on my mind for years, ever since I found it on Home of the Underdogs probably two decades ago. I have very rarely seen it mentioned at all despite how interesting it is.
I think this game deserves a proper port to modern PC. I can imagine this being a GOG release.
I tried to play this on my Mac a few years ago but the emulator I used constantly crashed. It's cool seeing you give a synopsis of all the content I missed out on. 👍🏻
By the way, if you run it straight out of DOSBox there’s a big chance you’ll get cracks and pops in the audio. This is a result of the audio going out of sync, likely due to vsync synchronisation, as most things run single threaded. It’s especially egregious in Cosmology of Kyoto. If you want to fix it, find a way to either turn off v-sync in your emulator or use a g-sync or Freesync monitor. The only way I know to do that is to use DOSBox as a Retroarch core and turn the vsync off or enable g-sync or Freesync in Retroarch itself.
You could also try to play with the cpu cycle configuration in DOSBox, but that is a hard balancing act and less stable in my view.
I wonder if it makes a difference playing your character as a woman or a man? Is there any gender specific cut scenes? Are you treated differently as you would have been in real life in that place in that time period?
females aren't able to achieve enlightenment (due to not being male) according to Buddhist tenets so I'm willing to bet there'd be a difference
Probably lowers your karma if you're married, and flirting with one of the, uh, nice girls.
Men and women are treated differently in every time period and culture.
late reply but i played the game as a married female and you can get the encounters with the "nice girls" among other things lol everything was about the same :)
@@maxc.7770 oh, interesting. It probably would have been hard to program multiple pathways because of gender attitudes and beliefs of the time in the culture back when the video game was made and distributed.
I'd never even heard of this game before stumbling across this video and it legit terrifies (and fascinates) me in a way few games do. I'm also pretty surprised that THE Roger Ebert not only played this game, but really liked it, which is pretty cool.
It'd be awesome if this could get an official re-release and find a wider audience. With how many obscure older games are getting remasters these days... who knows?
Alas if its abadonware possibly no one can remake it. Something similar from scratch would be easier than figuring out and fighting the copyright demons attached to this.
What a cool af way to teach about ancient Kyoto and it’s folklore and the darker themes of Buddhism!!
へえ！？たまたま見たけど、こんなゲームあったんだ……紹介してくれてありがとう、渡辺綱とか源頼光の鬼退治の伝記好きなんです！
I like when they try to keep things (for the most part) historically accurate. Or based on true events. It adds realism and helps with immersion of the story. 👍🏻👍🏻
What a wild game. Thanks for the great video ❤
Great vid, queueing your other stuff on my playlist. Thank you for your hard work.
The piss all over the screen part made me laugh. So random. I'm sure there's a meaning to it, and I can't remember related lore off the top of my head, but it was funny nonetheless.
This channel is such a hidden gem! I hope more people notice soon.
Really intriguing content and well-made video!! Keep it up bro
Bro these demons are cockblocking me 😫 The videogame
So glad this video got the attention it did, introduced me to Dungeon Chill :D
Thanks for showing all this!
No problem! It was actually a lot of fun to play through and figure out.
Omg i never heard of this one. Thank you so much for making thos video & letting us know where to get a copy 👍🏾
It seems more like a game that is educational than an educational game.
With all these women acting like prostitutes in there, seems quite educational.
No, it is thoroughly an educational game as it tries to be as true to real-life events and lore as possible. The references tab is super expansive and detailed it should be clear what the developers goal was
@@unityofvitality-5875 I wasn't saying it isn't educational
This was very interesting and cool!! Didn’t know 90s horror game would still hold up today
This game is so neat. I wish someone would find a way to rerelease it for modern PCs
Not going to finish the video bc i want to play the game but leaving a comment for engagement. This genuinely looks amazing :D
This is insanely creepy. The fact that the graphics and sound are so bad I think just makes it that much worse. I would have lasted about five minutes as a kid before I threw this in the trash.
Such an amazing video.
Completely one of a kind game.
Thank you
This looks like a fun play though even after watching the whole video!