Yomawari: Night Alone is an isometric horror strategy game that places you in the shoes of a small child exploring the dark city all by herself in the late hours of the night. So, what could possibly go wrong?

Developers Nippon Ichi Software launched their new game Yomawari: Night Alone onto Steam today. The game starts with you playing as a young girl going out to walk her dog. The dog ends up running away, and so the girl returns home and tells her older sister about what happened. The girl’s sister tells her sibling to stay at home while she goes out to find the dog for you. Several hours pass, it gets dark out, and still, your sister and dog never returns home. So you grab your flashlight and go out to find them yourself. But the city isn’t a normal city.

When darkness falls, the creepy crawlers and evil creatures come out to play, and this is where Yomawari: Night Alone takes a really dark twist. I’m not sure if this is a psychological horror game where the girl’s natural fear of the dark is causing her to imagine strange creatures that are lurking in the city, or if the game is taking an Earthbound approach and there are literally strange evil creatures walking around the city. Seeing how the start of the game starts pretty twisted with a really dark story setting, I’m going to take a guess and say it is the latter.

The graphics are done in high quality 2D sprites, and majority of the game takes place in the dark corners of the city as you roam around looking for your sister and your pet puppy, while avoiding the evil that is attempting to attack you.

The developers released a trailer to show a bit of the game and its features.

It looks like most of the gameplay focuses on using your flashlight and avoiding danger, but fans of the game have described it as being brutally hard at times because it doesn’t hold your hand when things get tough. Yomawari: Night Alone released on Steam and so far has received mostly positive reviews for its gameplay and concept.

Yomawari: Night Alone also released for the PS Vita, so if you are interested you can search for that version as well. For more information you can visit the official Yomawari: Night Alone website for further details about the game.