Yomawari: Lost in the Dark is the third entry to the Yomawari series, and it keeps up the series’ tradition of having you explore a town that’s inhabited by deadly spirits with only a flashlight, rocks and paper planes to help see you through the night.
This time, you’re wandering the town in hopes of finding the memories that you’ve lost, so that you can remember enough to lift the curse on you by morning. To do that, though, you’ll have to defend yourself against lost, lonely and downright creepy spirits. Here are some tips to help you begin your journey into the night.
Preserve Your Stamina
One of the main mechanics of the Yomawari series is the stamina bar that appears at the bottom of your screen when you sprint. In normal circumstances, i.e., when you’re not being chased by a malevolent spirit, your stamina bar is lengthy and lasts quite a while.
However, when you’re in the presence of spirits (if you can’t see one, you’ll still be aware of them by the loud heartbeat that begins to play), you’ll notice that the stamina doesn’t last anywhere near as long as usual.
When Yuzu is around spirits, she feels stressed and her heart rate increases, meaning she can’t run for long periods. This means you’ll need to be careful about preserving your stamina — running out of stamina at the wrong time will cost you your life.
When you can, preserve your stamina by walking. You’ll also need to be strategic when using your stamina and avoiding spirits, especially when one is chasing you.
One of the best things to do is to sprint ahead a few paces to get some space between you and the spirit, walk for a second or two to refill the stamina bar, and repeat.
Be Cautious – Don’t Run Into New Areas
When you’re heading to a new area, it can be tempting to sprint, especially if there are no spirits in the immediate vicinity, and you’ve got a lot of stamina to spare. However, you should still be cautious and continue preserving your stamina.
Spirits can appear from anywhere — they can materialise from thin air, drop from above you and appear from below you. They can appear in a second, and kill you just as quickly.
When you enter a new area, scope it out with caution. Take note of where the spirits appear, as most of them will follow the same pattern when you encounter them again.
Close Your Eyes Or Run
As you walk around the town, you’ll pick up rocks and paper planes. These are meant to be thrown to distract spirits so you can run by them without them noticing you, but this isn’t as efficient as simply running (most of them will be slower than you) or closing your eyes.
By the time you correctly aim your rock or paper plane, and throw it in a place that actually attracts the spirit’s attention, you might as well just try your luck at running past it or closing your eyes so that it ignores you.
Unless it’s a particularly nasty spirit, most won’t be able to keep up with you, or they’ll just ignore you if you close your eyes and walk by.
Be Prepared To Die
Death happens quickly in Yomawari, and it happens a lot. You might think you have a spirit’s movement patterns down, but then it just slightly grazes you, and you’re a goner. But don’t worry — this is to be expected.
The load times between deaths are extremely quick, meaning you can get back to where you were without too much trouble. You also keep any items you’ve collected, so you don’t need to worry about that.
The only time you need to worry is if you haven’t saved at a Jizo statue in a while, and you have to walk a long, long way back to where you were…
Coins Are Plentiful
…but that shouldn’t be an issue, because coins are plentiful! While saves are limited to how many coins you have, you’ll almost always find a coin near a Jizo Statue, meaning you can save.
You’ll want to save at every Jizo Statue you see. Not only does this mean that, when you die, you’ll respawn there instead of the last Jizo Statue you saved at, but you’ll also be able to fast travel back to any Jizo Statue you’ve previously saved at.
You can travel to any Jizo Statue without saving (and using a coin) first.
Simply interact with a Jizo Statue, say “No” when it asks whether you want to save, and you’ll be asked whether you want to travel to another Statue.
Don’t Be Afraid To Explore
While there’s danger in every corner in Yomawari: Lost in the Dark, that doesn’t mean you should be wary of exploring.
There are lots of secrets to uncover in this haunted town, and you’ll only find them by venturing off the main path and exploring all the nooks and crannies the town has to offer.
Alongside the main memory items that you’ll need to find for the game’s story, there are other collectibles and puzzle pieces to discover. You’ll see these sparkling on the ground, just like when you find coins, rocks, paper planes and key items.
So don’t let a particularly troublesome spirit put you off — there might be something worth looking for right behind it.
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