By Az Elias 
09.08.2011
In March this year, Marvelous Entertainment released a first-person horror adventure game in Japan called Ikenie no Yoru, which translates to Night of the Sacrifice. Featuring a unique combination of Wii Remote and Balance Board support, here is a quick look at what Western horror fanatics are missing out on in this bizarre take on the genre.
In Ikenie no Yoru (Night of the Sacrifice), five college students visit Tsukuyomi Ravine, a place whose residents supposedly once had the custom of offering sacrifices to the gods. Expecting a fun group trip, they stay at a mansion in the ravine, only to later hear a young girl calling for help, ultimately igniting the beginning of a curse that will lead to the students’ deaths. 24 hours later, the students have vanished, and you arrive at the mansion after seeking shelter from the rain. A bloody floor greets you after opening the door, and the adventure begins.
Peculiarly, the five students’ names are Black, Blue, Yellow, Pink and Red, reflecting the colours of each of them as portrayed in the game, although there is the option to rename them.
Even more interesting is the unique style in which the characters are shown on screen, as they are displayed as flat, shaded silhouettes. If you cast your mind back to the character styles of SEGA’s quirky DS launch game Project Rub you will be on the right track. However, other characters and enemies are depicted realistically, to really give a contrast in graphical style.
Night of the Sacrifice offers a bit of background information on each student. Black invited his friends to come to the ravine, and his father owns the mansion in which they stay. Blue is kind, with a strong sense of justice. Yellow is pure-hearted and was raised well. Pink states her opinion clearly. Red is known to be the leader amongst the group, but has a bit of a temper. The whole mess in the story begins when Red says “Let’s test our courage.” As well as yourself, you will be able to control Black, Blue and Yellow, whilst Red and Pink cannot be controlled.
In first-person perspective, players are encouraged to explore the ravine and mansion, with the Wii Remote serving as a flashlight. Strange creatures will attack, but this is no FPS; there are no weapons to fight back with. Instead, the aim is to run as fast as possible and find a place to hide. Getting caught by an enemy will result in death, with a restart from a checkpoint being required. A second player can join in the ‘fun’ by using their Wii Remote to fend off attacking enemies.
As previously mentioned, the game supports Wii Balance Board functionality. By walking on the board, the in-game character will also walk. Not many games have made use of the Balance Board in inventive ways, but those that have, such as Nintendo's own Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus, have shown how sensitive, accurate and perfectly fitting for a gaming environment the peripheral can be.
The Wii Remote alone can be used for walking by using button presses, but combining the Balance Board and Wii Remote adds a new depth of immersion, bringing the player even further into the game world, building up the atmosphere and upping the ante in terms of trying to freak you out. The main character can be turned by simply pointing with the Wii Remote, whilst flicking it will allow for spinning on the spot, giving the chance to turn swiftly and run when encountering an unfriendly face.
Ikenie no Yoru (Night of the Sacrifice) is played out through short, episodic levels, which will start to reveal the story behind the five students. All sorts of weird enemies will attempt to take you down, such as ghosts, demons and even live mannequins. There is not any voice acting, although again, like using the Wii Balance Board, this serves as a sense of immersion, really making you feel like you are that person lurking those creepy corridors. Puzzle elements are also incorporated, both in physical clues and in figuring out how best to escape from or defeat certain enemies.
Ikenie no Yoru (Night of the Sacrifice) seems to be a really creepy horror game that tries to differentiate itself from other games of the same genre, and one that fans of games such as Silent Hill and Fatal Frame would really be interested in. It is definitely recommended to play using the Wii Balance Board in a dark room with the volume up, so as to put you actually inside the mansion, holding the flashlight, pondering whether to go through the door that just opened. Whether Wii owners outside of Japan will ever get the opportunity to explore and survive the happenings at Tsukuyomi Ravine themselves, though, is another matter. At present there has been no talk of Marvelous Entertainment licensing this out to publishers, but it is hoped that Rising Star Games and XSEED Games will bring it to Europe and the US, respectively, if enough interest is shown by readers.
Thanks for the preview Adam, as I had kept an eye on this one. Good stuff.
Now we haven't had any news related to the port of Fatal Frame 2 for Wii for a long time. I wonder if this is still being worked on.
Additionally, if anyone at Rising Star Games is reading this, you have a potential buyer for this game right here if you were to bring this to Europe 
.
( Edited 09.08.2011 22:12 by Kafei2006 )
Kafei2006 said:
Thanks for the preview Adam, as I had kept an eye on this one. Good stuff.
Now we haven't had any news related to the port of Fatal Frame 2 for Wii for a long time. I wonder if this is still being worked on.
Additionally, if anyone at Rising Star Games is reading this, you have a potential buyer for this game right here if you were to bring this to Europe
Aaaah my bad, sorry Az' .
I clicked on the link in the feeds to the left, and saw that "jesusraz reviewed Night of the Sacrifice", that's what mislead me. Thanks for the preview dude .
EDIT : Thanks for the info anyway Adam .
( Edited 09.08.2011 22:22 by Kafei2006 )
Cheers Kafei.
Really would like to play this for myself. Always welcome new takes on the same genres, and I can just imagine how freaky it would be to play in a pitch black room with surround sound. Just you, the remote, and the balance board, all in first person view would really make you feel like you're in that mansion yourself.
Here's hoping that those interested can make their voices heard and lead to this game making its way over here.
live mannquins
Now that's just mean 
Azuardo said:
Here's hoping that those interested can make their voices heard and lead to this game making its way over here.
Azuardo said:
Just you, the remote, and the balance board, all in first person view would really make you feel like you're in that mansion yourself.
Nanashi no Game is FANTASTIC!! Never got to try the sequel, sadly. Some people are working on a translation, finally, for the first game.
Apparently Square Enix USA was thinking of bringing it over, but a focus group's negativity put them off 
Fatal Frame 4's fan translation is good...anyone tried that?
;O I think I remember that game! The fact it was Square had me interested at the time, but must have totally forgotten about it since it never came out of Japan. Gonna definitely have a look into that. Thanks for bringing it up.
Sadly not played Fatal Frame 4, but I might actually see what I can do there as well.
I was looking to import a Fatal Frame 4 disc so I could play the fan translation, but could never get my hands on any. Not being able to get a Paypal account and buy directly from Japan sucks, believe me :/.
jesusraz said:
Nanashi no Game is FANTASTIC!! Never got to try the sequel, sadly. Some people are working on a translation, finally, for the first game.
I did beat the first one as well ... through untold ways, because it was already out of print by the time I wanted to import one on Play-Asia . But I enjoyed every bit of it, even without understanding most of the story. This was the last game that really had me jump because it scared me. No other game since made me jump. Silent Hill Shattered Memories made me feel anxious when chased by monsters, but not scared.
( Edited 09.08.2011 23:09 by Kafei2006 )
Black, Blue, Yellow, Pink and Red
Very first thing I thought of in regards to that was Power Rangers.
But anyways, great preview Az. If anyone from Rising Star is reading this; you were awesome with Muramasa and Little King's Story, please give this one a go too, please? It looks great! 
( Edited 10.08.2011 07:03 by Phoenixus )
Hopefully devs pay attention to us across the lake & send this one over since we so UNJUSTLY missed out on the Fatal Frame game on Wii....that's just inexcusable even if it had glitches the devs never bothered fixing!!
Black, Blue, Yellow, Pink and RedVery first thing I thought of in regards to that was Power Rangers.
It sounds interesting, very interesting. Sadly, these games use experimental gameplay, which in my opinion should be heavily marketed and shown to the people in stores with installed hardware. But sadly, this seldom happens, since this space is occupied with booths with just another generic shooter for x360 or another boring shovel-game for Wii or PS3 or X360.
I would play these games, but since I couldn't get a hand on Shattered Memories and it sold poorly due to mediocre reviews (which in my opinion happened to all Wii games which were great but not understood by reviewers aside from IGN or Cubed3) it will set standard for a lot of other games to come: don't release it in the West, since these innovative hardcore games don't sell.
Sadly the 300th generic shooter does sell a lot more then hidden beauties like the one above.
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