Just because One-Eyed Likho favors shades of gray doesn't mean all is bleak within. Learning to navigate the darkness and manipulate the light are both crucial skills that can help players survive. It's easy to get distracted by Likho's enchanting world, but matches will light the way. Fire will burn away obstructions, too. The same flames that cast creeping shadows upon the wall can spell salvation. It's just wise to remember that misfortune isn't the kind of monster you outrun. If Black Book taught any lesson, it's that the journey into nightmares can be dreamlike indeed.
Exploration is a reward in itself when the setting looks this good. One-Eyed Likho's vibe is haunting: at times a lullaby, at times a thunderstorm, but always foreboding. Weird island? Creepy artifacts? Disembodied head that scuttles around on sketchy spider legs? Likho delivers oddities as often as outright horrors. The result is a game that's not afraid to pivot from quietly building atmospheric tension to the sudden shock of gore. For players who like their horror stories mercurial, Morteshka delivers big. The unexpected has always been the bedrock of horror, and Likho has its share of that.
One-Eyed Likho lets its world do the talking (and scaring).
Within the world of the game, Likho is the embodiment of misfortune. A one-eyed woman in black, it's the specter of calamity lurking at the corner of your vision. Rotting necromancers and gelatinous blobs make for mighty foes in other horror games, but doom and fate are a whole different kind of villain in One-Eyed Likho. There are endless interesting ways to explore folktales, and Morteshka's take gets undeniable results. Though sparse on gameplay, the official release date trailer is heavy on attitude. If trekking through grim forests and crypts sounds like jolly recreation to you, the game oozes reasons to explore.
Particle effects are a particular delight in One-Eyed Likho. The release date trailer makes good use of them, too. From the sparks off of a blacksmith's hammer to the flare of a lonely match, light dominates each shot. Knowing the kind of visual spectacles the developer pulled off with Black Book, expect horrors to rival anything Blumhouse is cooking up. Players can experience the terrors of One-Eyed Likho for themselves when the game releases on Steam on July 28. Misfortune, meanwhile, arrives on a schedule all its own. Here's hoping players and Morteshka can both escape its grasp.