Whether $10 gives you enough value for a mechanically simple, short game is down to you. It's rare to to play a game that has such simple mechanics but resonates in the memory for so long.
The Yawhg is fantastic. The art of the game has a wonderful story book charm to it and goes quite well with the writing which can be many things, from witty, quirky, light and happy to dark and depressing. The music fits amazingly to set the mood of the game. Droning, foreboding tones that give the impression of something horrible about to happen or could happen before the end. The ending/credits song fits so well with the game that it works with any ending you get, good, middle of the road, or bad.
The Yawhg is basically a random story based fantasy RPG of pure choice, with the outcome of most of your choices being based on the stats of your characters, with the stats playing a large roll in what happens in the end. There are four unique (in look) characters to chose from, two men and two women. The choice of character just gives a different look at certain scenes, with each character showing different appearance from one another in each situation possible in the game. You must choose at least two characters to play as, even if you are playing alone. The game is better with friends, as you experience their reactions depending on how you or they effect the game for everybody playing, because one bad move could get a bad ending for everybody. The game is still extremely entertaining alone, finding out different story branches and outcomes.
The main goal of the game is to guide the characters in their lives and build their attributes so that they can do well with helping out with the final part of the game. While the game is short, 10 to 15 minutes depending on how quickly you make your decisions and read through the choices and story points, it has phenomenal playability. Each place a character visits each day in the game has two things that can be done that day, like helping patients at the Hospital or cleaning it, or working at the town bar or drinking/partying. Each of these choices have random story bits that occur, and depending on your stats, the bit you encounter could end up differently if you encounter it more than once.
With all the places one can visit and interact with, there are many story threads that can occur in each place. The places you got and interact with have an effect on the ending story of your character. There are 8 places around town that your character can go to, so right their is 8 possible story endings if you just focus on only going to one of those places for the entirety of the game, but that branches out since you have a choice of two things to do at each location, so the stories endings can branch even more. If you got to more than just one place, you can get a ending that is mix with a couple or more of the things you did.
I've played the game eight times so far and I've encountered several new things on each playthrough. I recommend basing your decision of getting this game on the user reviews, not the "professional" ones. Looking those reviews over, I can tell that they didn't spend enough time with the game. Ten dollars is perfectly acceptable for this title because of it's depth within the short playtime, and it's artistic quality.
In many respects, I do consider games an art-form. The Yawhg is definitely a work of art along with being a thoroughly entertaining game.
Nice little indie game. Endless choices, cute, variable story, with drama and comedy as well. The environment is fantastic, all the artwork is amazing, and combined with the soundtrack really creates the relaxing fantasy mood.
Seems like there are countless endings, although it is short, can be played in 10 minutes, it is replayable, and it is advised to replay it many more times.
Interactive storytelling proceeding differently every time you play the game. It's short, uncompromising, and if you value games for their ability to tell stories in interactive fashion, you should not miss your opportunity to meet The Yawhg. Just wait for the right moment and the right discount to buy the game because The Yawhg is also a hell of a lot of a short title.
The Yawhg is original enough to draw the attention of your guests away from Wii Sports, but if you like to read stories alone, this game is not for you.
Here again, there's humor and occasional pathos to be found in The Yawhg's brevity, but it's just not very moving to be told that you were a strong leader, or that you never found love, in as many words.
It only takes a couple of playthroughs for events to start recurring, and that severely diminishes The Yawhg’s spell, but it can’t take away the charm with which Carrol and Sommer’s game weaves together fairy tales.
The game was designed with high replay value in mind (one playthrough lasts ca. 15 minutes), but the second time I played it part of the situations repeated and with every subsequent attempt it got worse. [06/2014, p.61]
This game is amazing. An absolute blast to play, even better with friends. Games are short, but the replayability is great. There are so many different outcomes. I can imagine myself playing this hours upon hours just to see which choices effect the outcome in what way. The art is amazing as well as the music. The only real criticism I can make is that there are probably a lot of people that wouldn't want to pay $10 for this. I personally think that the price is justified by the art and all the stories the game has to tell.
A thoroughly enjoyable little indie game with great art, great music, a great atmosphere, and an interesting story. Also supports four player coop locally!
The Yawhg is a terribly short game and will only take you 10 minutes to complete one playthrough. It is however a great "Choose Your Own Adventure" style game with appealing comic book style artwork and a magical soundtrack to boot. You may end up playing the game a few more times to experience "better" endings or to see how many different interactions you're able to stumble across but that might only amount to one or two hours gameplay maximum. A (very) short but sweet experience so I'd recommend you wait until it's on sale before giving it a shot.
A fun little party game, I bought this to play with the missus. We tried to squeeze out as many endings as possible, however after about 2 hours of solid preparing for that 7th day we realized, there aren't actually a huge amount of endings. Unless we were prone to doing things similarly by accident.
However the endings that are there and the build up to them is brilliant. We had a huge amount of fun trying to rebuild after the Yawhg had been to destroy the town. The music is also extremely fitting and added hugely to the atmosphere.
The only huge gripe I have to make is that there is no way to change the resolution as of yet and the game was unplayable on the first monitor we tried as the stats of player one were covered by the top of the screen making the game not unplayable but reduces the enjoyment dramatically, and would avoid until a fix has been found.
I wish I could give this a higher score. I'm a huge fan of Emily Carroll. If you like her work, you'll find plenty to enjoy here. However, the money spent on the game might be better spent on books that contain her work, or maybe her new solo book, "Through the Woods" which is fantastic. Ms. Carroll is a uniquely talented storyteller, and she's best suited by tales where she guides the entire tale.
It's a tough one, because the amount of love and hard work that's gone into this game is enormous. It would be ridiculous to ask for more possibilities in the game, since every new branch of story requires so much input from the authors. In theory, they easily earn your £7 with the effort they've put in, but in practice you're going to see situations repeating themselves quite a lot within three plays.
If you like fantasy storytelling, you will create interesting stories between your choices and the creators' input, but for most players this will be only 30 minutes or so of entertainment.
SummaryThe evil Yawhg is returning. How will the towns locals lead their lives in the meanwhile, and what will they do when the dreaded Yawhg finally arrives? The fate of a community hinges on the characters actions, and the decisions of their players. The Yawhg is a one- to four-player choose-your-own-adventure game that randomizes a unique st...