How old is Sonic the Hedgehog?

After playing The Bridge Curse 2 earlier this year, I found myself in the mood to continue playing horror games similar to it. The school setting was really interesting, and I enjoyed the game's take on urban legends and horror stories. While The Bridge Curse (1) was something I could still go back to, I instead found myself facing down an entirely different beast. This next game was one I had had my eye on for quite some time, and now was my chance to finally dive on in.

The game is called White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, and it is actually a remake of a slightly older title. While the game itself basically is the "same" concept as the original to an extent, it was actually rebuilt from the ground up, and altered quite a few things along the way. New puzzles, changes made to existing ones, redesigned sections of the school, and new story elements were added in to this new version. Of course the game's visuals were revamped as well, but the core game also received a fresh coat of paint. 

That being said, I had never played the original version of the game, nor did I fully understand the differences until I began playing. Because the thing I quickly learned about White Day is that this isn't simply a game you "play." It is a game you must fully embrace, and "learn." And not just learn how how to play, but also learn about the history of the title, and learn new skills outside the game. White Day is a puzzle horror survival, and it doesn't hold your hand. Even on the easier difficulties that DOES hold your hand, it still doesn't really hold your hand. It might point you in the correct direction and provide you with tips, but it still expects you to understand the concepts needed before hand.

This is a game that not only takes place in a school, but also expects you to put what you learned in school to use. And that is easier said than done.

Now, I want to be completely transparent here and make one thing clear. This is NOT a game I actually "completed." Typically I wouldn't review a game I haven't "finished," but there are a few exceptions, and White Day is one of them. Not because I couldn't finish the game, but because White Day requires you to beat the game over 25 times to actually complete it and do everything! And that is no small feat even with its 5-10 hour run time.

On another note, I'd like to thank PQube for providing me with a free review copy of the game as well, and finally giving me the opportunity to check this one out! I really do appreciate it!

The Story of White Day:

White Day begins with a pretty simple premise. A girl named So-Young Han leaves her diary behind on a bench, and our main character Lee Hui-min decides to be a nice guy and return it. He enters the school late at night when he learns she is there, and quickly realizes that he has been locked in for the night. Undeterred by this however he continues searching the halls, and soon gets caught up in a series of events he never expected.

Upon meeting other students there, Lee Hui-min begins interacting with them, and questions them for their reasoning for being there. While Sung-A Kim is there simply because she forgot her book and came back for it, Ji-Hyeon Seol was asked by none other than So-Young Han. This is when the game splits, and it becomes completely up to the player what story path they wish to follow.

It shouldn't be of any surprise, but the school has a dark history, and is haunted by the ghosts of the past. A crazy janitor roams the hall and kills anyone he comes in contact with, and the supernatural is waiting for Lee Hui-min around every turn. Throughout the game players will discover notes and letters left behind, and in return will explain a bit more about the ghosts themselves. Not only are these notes key to understanding the story, but they also provide context on how to actually advance through the game. They also act as a warning, for example the story of the person who died in a locker, as they let the player know what they could possibly expect. 

And that is where things get even crazier with this game's story.

While the initial premise of returning So-Young's diary to her is the initial setup, once you enter the school it becomes your own story. Characters you meet have dialogue trees, and every decision you make will alter the story and ending you get. Not only that, all of the ghost stories you get to collect and read about throughout the game? They may or may not even happen to you during your playthrough. The give you a heads up on what is possible, but they may never even appear. So while you sit on edge opening doors and lockers awaiting a jump scare, it may never actually happen. In fact you can go the entire game without encountering many of the ghosts, with some ghosts being controlled by the difficulty as well. 

This means every player will have their own unique experience going through the story, and it will take many playthroughs to see all possible plot lines and outcomes. On top of this, your knowledge from previous playthroughs will allow you to see the game in a different light as well. Even some of the earliest dialogue will be seen in new light once you understand the school a bit better. That is what makes the game so special, and will ultimately push you to play through it more than once. (The randomness of the ghosts helps as well!)

The Core Gameplay:

The central part of White Day is actually pretty straight forward. The game takes place from a first person point of view, you explore the school looking for ways to solve puzzles, and you have to run away and hide from enemies. There is no fighting back, and healing items are limited if you do get hurt. Enemies are attracted to light so turning on light switches can hurt you, but you also need light to be able to see and interact with objects. Your lighter can help in some cases, but even that isn't perfect. Ultimately you need to keep doors closed, turn on lights for as long as possible, and get out before the janitor or a ghost gets to you. In easier difficulties you have indicators to let you know when an enemy is close by, but in general you must listen for audio cues to know when to run or hide.

As mentioned before, the game is mainly puzzles and exploring the school. Your goal is to make it from building to building to escape, but along the way you'll also meet up with other students. Interacting with these students and answering their questions will alter the game, but the main goal of escaping stays the same. Talking to students outside of cutscene dialogue choices will also impact their relationship with you, and this in return can result in you getting an ending you weren't going for. In general it is better to avoid extra interactions, but sometimes that is harder than it sounds (especially when they stand in your way).

If a ghost or the janitor catches you, your only choice is to run and hide. The janitor is slowed down by closed doors, so closing them behind you can help, but to truly get away from him you need to hide somewhere safe. Lower difficulties means hiding in the bathrooms where you are always safe, but harder settings will require you to outsmart him. Hiding behind chairs and desks in classrooms are your only safety nets, and sneaking out the back of the room while closing a door will be your best bet to escape. Strangely the janitor cannot see under desks or chairs, so even if you are clearly exposed, you are usually safe as long as you are not directly in his line of sight. This was a lesson I had to learn pretty quickly to survive, but it wasn't so obvious to me at first.

To top it all off, save points are limited to key checkpoints, and writing on boards hidden throughout the school. This requires the use of a marker item, and such items are pretty hard to come by. This means you need to be smart with your saves, as you'll want to progress as much as possible before having to use one. On the other hand the auto-save system can hurt you if you're not careful, as sometimes a death will actually reload you before your manual save, and you can lose progress if you don't realize this has happened. 

Thankfully you can simply back out and reload, but only if you notice it has happened. I personally missed out on items I had previously collected because of this, so I had to go back, and resolve a puzzle in the process. This might not seem like a big deal but...

The Puzzles:

White Day's puzzles are NOT what one might think. First of all, every single answer is randomized, which means you cannot look up an answer or ask for help. Second, even if you look up how to solve a puzzle, that doesn't mean it makes it any easier. In short, puzzles in this game require you to have prior knowledge about the subject at hand, and without it you will struggle even more. Easier modes provide extra hints, but the game itself mainly describes basic concepts and wants you to go learn more about it. Don't know how to read mores code? Better learn! The game will tell you the very basics in a very basic way, but that isn't going to be enough to solve the puzzle.

One of the earliest puzzles in the game that is pretty simple however, is playing a piano. It doesn't tell you to actually play it, but you can hear a ghost tapping away at the keys when you walk into the room. It wasn't too difficult to realize all I had to do was play the exact same tune back, but that's going to be more difficult for someone who doesn't know how to play the piano. You can fumble around and figure it out, but someone familiar with music will have a much easier time.

However, around that same another puzzle had me completely confused. Not only was it hidden on a chalkboard and could only be revealed if the lights were off and I used the lighter, but what was on the board asked me to understand Chinese. After spending over an hour running around looking for more clues, only to turn up empty, my "easier difficulty" hint said to look at it as a picture and not numbers... Yeah, that didn't help.

Eventually I had to turn towards online and that is when I learned the following. Apparently "不" means "not" and can be seen as a subtraction sign. The puzzle wanted me to look at the two symbols, "subtract" the similar line-work from each side, and whatever I was left with would correspond to one of the numbers at the bottom. The characters are all written sloppily as well, so knowing what they are supposed to look like is really the key here. The third set of characters ended up being a 4, despite the leftovers not looking like the same character to me.

On top of the act of simply figuring out the puzzle, the janitor and ghosts are still after you as well, so you don't really have a lot of time to stand around. Sometimes it is better to take a screenshot of the puzzle, pause the game, and take your time to figure it out. Other wise the janitor will find you, and you'll have to hide and come back later. This can be said about every single puzzle though, including the ones that require you to actively complete it. Punching in passwords, investigating items, etc, the ghosts and janitor are always out to get you during every moment of the game... They also almost always know where you are.

The other thing to keep in mind when working on puzzles is the fact that items are not obvious. In a lot of horror survival games you'll see a shiny mark or something to tip you off on what you can pick up. That is not the case in White Day, with most items being tiny and hard to see. You can open a drawer to nothing, but later realize you had to turn the camera up all the way to notice a tiny coin up against the front corner. These coins aren't required, but they do allow you to buy life saving healing items. Of course there are also key puzzle items hidden in this way, so you really have to pay attention to everything.

Boss Fights:

The Boss Fights in White Day are also puzzles, and are completely based off of the ghost stories and notes you read leading up to it. These sections of the game are put on a timer, but thankfully the janitor is turned off for you to freely explore the school. Usually the timer is something short though, roughly 8 minutes, so the game expects you to be ahead of it before you reach the actual fight.

Without going into too many spoilers, the first boss is based off of the stories of a teacher killing himself, and his strange obsession. This obsession is the key to winning the boss fight (which is none other than the teacher), and understanding how to fight back is how you have to win. In this case there are some visual cues to help, but they are something players (in theory) should've noticed before the fight even began. And not just near the boss, but throughout the entire school. While it might not be obvious the first time you see them, simply reading the ghost story will completely change your perspective of them, and using that knowledge is how you win.

This is how all the boss fights play out. They rely on your knowledge of the school's history, and what caused the ghost in the first place. These fights are really just more puzzles, but they are puzzles you can die in if you mess up or miss something. Thankfully the start of the fight is a checkpoint however, so no need to worry about having to save before hand. On harder modes these auto-saves are actually your only way to save the game, boss fights can actually become life savers.

Should you play it?

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is a unique game, and anyone interested in it should understand what it is first. Does the game have jump scares? Yes it does. But is it really that scary of a horror game? No, it isn't. The ghost stories are fun and creepy, but the game itself is a massive puzzle with hide and seek elements thrown in. It requires a lot of outside knowledge to solve some of the puzzles, and the game gives you little to no direction when playing on normal or harder. Ultimately it is a game you want to learn how to play before you play it normally, and that can take outside research as well as playing the game on Very Easy or Easy first.

Since the Easy modes give you hints and direct you where you need to be, without telling you how to solve the puzzle, they are a perfect way to start out the game. It gives you a general idea of how to progress for future runs, and it gives you time to learn how the janitors AI works. It'll also help you learn the layout of the school, and learn how to solve the puzzles without knowing all the solutions. Since the game is randomized with what ghosts appear and puzzle answers always change, you never truly know what to expect, and you still have to put the leg work in to solve the game's many challenges. Just because you know four different rooms will give you the answer to the code when combine together, it doesn't mean you already know the code. You will have to evade the janitors and ghosts (possibly new ghosts too), and make your way to each room to find that code. It's just this time you'll know to do that, rather than stumbling around for hours in the dark.

Ultimately White Day isn't that long of a game, but you do have to play through it many times to see it all. Knowing the game inside and out can cut your playtime down to a few hours, but each difficulty offers new challenges, and the random element can always throw this off. To actually collect everything and get all of the achievements though, you need to basically do every route on every difficulty, and collect every item and ghost data across them all. Again, this is a massive time sink, and could easily take dozens of hours simply going through the motions. This means those looking for a game with a lot of replayability will feel at home here, while many others may only find themselves beating it once or two instead.

Overall I really did enjoy my time with White Day, and I will be playing through it again in the future. Again, the randomness makes it feel like a different game each time, so it really is a nice game to come back to from time to time. If this sounds like fun to you, then yes, you should for sure play it.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co