The more I played Yo-Kai Watch, the more I wanted to play. I wasn't convinced at first — the RPG has a weird and sometimes frustrating battle system, it relies too much on fetch quests, and it's not super challenging. However, I very quickly realized that the draw of Yo-Kai Watch is in its fascinating world. It remains fun and charming even when dealing with sort of dark ideas, so I was ultimately happy not to meet too many challenges and instead just exist in its world for a while.
Watch the first 16 minutes of Yo-Kai Watch!
Yo-kai are basically meddlesome spirits — some are mischievous, some are malicious, and others are just looking for a friend. Basically any strange phenomenon can be attributed to unseen yo-kai, and Yo-Kai Watch revolves around solving the mysteries and problems they cause. For example, freak car accidents in town are actually the work of Jibanyan, who’s been trying to fight trucks because he was hit by one before he became a yo-kai. Most yo-kai fit into and affect the world in their own individual ways, and I immediately became interested in learning more about them.
The first yo-kai you meet is Whisper, who serves as your guide to the yo-kai realm (and quests). As far as companion NPCs go, he’s one of my favorites. He’s helpful without being too obvious or interrupting too often, and his quips can actually be pretty funny. He also sometimes gives information about the different yo-kai you encounter, most of which are entertaining and charming in their own right. (The only one I really dislike is Cheeksqueak, who looks like a butt. Not a fan.)
Jibanyan looks like he needs help fighting those trucks...
My favorite thing about Yo-Kai Watch is the sense of adventure and imagination it encouraged in me. I didn’t mind breezing through basic quests, because it meant getting to explore. For example, in order to go out at night, I had to befriend the yo-kai Baku so she could pretend to be me asleep in my bed. But then something called “Terror Time” happened. I learned that it has to do with kids’ nightmares and that I’d have to run to safety, and then I actually had to start running. It wasn’t challenging, but it was really cool — I loved everyday problems and kids’ issues in particular could all be explained with yo-kai.
I immediately became interested in learning more about yo-kai.
I spent hours just doing random side quests around town, getting information about yo-kai and people a bit at a time. Because most activities in Yo-Kai Watch involve helping those people, it was rewarding to do easy or even tedious things... at least for a little while. A lot of quests, story included, require you to fetch items, and I found that really tiresome after the first few times. Still, I adored exploring and talking to the funny, charming NPCs.
Baku just wants a friend.
I was especially impressed that Yo-Kai Watch didn’t shy away from more serious problems. One of your first tasks is to defeat the yo-kai Dismarelda, who’s causing your parents to fight. Solving a common issue right away — one that a lot of kids can relate to — gives the world of Yo-Kai Watch depth and meaning. I wanted to continue playing to see what else it had to offer.
Yo-Kai Watch’s combat is a weird but interesting hybrid of real-time and turn-based elements. Yo-kai take turns attacking but do so on their own, and I handled healing them and rotating three of my six yo-kai in at a time. I very often felt like a manager or a coach instead of a player. My team could take down low-level opponents with little to no input from me, so I’d just hit the fast forward button and wait it out. The strategy lies in organizing your team well beforehand, which I liked, but it was frustrating to watch my yo-kai use status moves instead of dealing obvious final blows.
Whisper, one of the most helpful companion NPCs ever, gets informative.
This unique battle style works way better on more difficult bosses. Instead of just sitting back, I often had to coordinate which yo-kai were out in combination with each other. Bosses deal a lot of damage, so healing in time was critical.
I very often felt like a manager or a coach instead of a player
There’s also a special move called a Soultimate that’s more powerful than yo-kai’s regular attacks, and it’s not passive like those attacks. You have to play a short minigame on the touch screen while the battle rages on up top. That combined with keeping yo-kai healthy and handling both screens made boss battles frenetic and fun.
Multiplayer battles are unfortunately not very notable. They’re local wireless only, which is a misstep — Yo-Kai Watch doesn’t particularly lend itself to competitive play, but keeping multiplayer local severely impedes the possibility. Playing with friends can be fun, but it’s subject to the same limitations as regular battles.
As an RPG, Yo-Kai Watch mostly fumbles its battle system and creates a relatively passive experience. However, I adored exploring every corner of its compelling world. The low difficulty ultimately works in its favor — I was always eager to move on to the next charming character or compelling idea. Yo-Kai Watch is a “kids’ game” that doesn’t talk down to or sugarcoat darker themes for kids, and I appreciated not being talked down to either.
