Kuon

This full blown image on their site gave me a heck of a shock the first time I found it.

Kuon is a really underrated survival horror video game developed and produced by From Software (The same folks who brought you Demon's Souls and Dark Souls) in 2004. 

Oh yeah no surprise there...

The game is based on an ancient type of Japanese horror story called kaidan, in its broadest sense, kaidan refers to any ghost or horror story, but it has an old-fashioned ring to it that carries the connotation of the Edo period Japanese folktales, and so this term is no longer as widely used in Japanese as it once was; Japanese horror books and films such as Ju-On and Ring would more likely be labeled by the katakana hora (horror) or the standard Japanese kowai hanashi. Kaidan is only used if the author/director wishes to specifically bring an old fashion air into the story (Such as this game, which is quite a rarity, even among all the japanese horror games we have seen thus far).

The setting takes place in a dark and gruesome mansion in the Japanese town of Kyoto where mutated creatures and other horrors lurk. The game is set during the Heian Period (794 to 1185) of ancient Japan, most of the game follows the protagonists as they explore a feudal Japanese manor at night (Oh god why?!), as well as an old mountainside temple. The main antagonistic forces or the game are various forms of undead, including ghosts and resurrected corpses, but the latter aren't just your typical zombies, they are horribly mutated monsters created from fusing several dead bodies together.

There are a total of three playable characters featured in the game (The third one however will only be unlocked once the chapters involving the first two characters have been completed), throughout the game the characters encounter a pair of mysterious twins, often found singing a dark aria, the player eventually learns that they are the manifestations of two evil mulberry trees (Kids… right?).

While it most definitely has a fantastic ambience to it, it is once again the game mechanics that causes the overall grade for the game to fall short (The running feature seems almost pointless, so as long as you have the utmost patience when it comes to your characters walking throughout the whole thing). 

Nonetheless, it is most definitely an entertaining game with really interesting (And dare I say beautiful) visuals, the creature designs are pretty darn amazing, while they might not seem like the most creative ones at time, the designers have done a great job in bringing out the creepiness factor for each and every one of them. The atmosphere is just so darn amazing, especially when one normally might consider that a gore-fest staging might ruin the eerie mood and tone (I mean, tunnels flooded with blood and rooms filled with severed body parts are scary, but it definitely does not give off the same feeling of the unknown like a deserted factory or hospital will, with no signs of the true horrors that are hidden within until it is too late...), and folks should simply give this game a try just for the experience.

Now if you will excuse me, my laptop has been behaving weirdly throughout this whole write up… I think it's time to restart it before moving onto the next subject...