Akai Onna

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You passed a woman in red on the way home. Now someone is always watching.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (87% of 242 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Yamoto
Released: 2024

Not on iPhone or Android. Akai Onna is on Steam and PC. It is not in the Mobile part of the site you came from.

What frightens A student walking home late at night passes a woman in a red dress, and from that day he feels someone's eyes on him. The store calls it a psychological J-horror drawn from Japanese urban legends, played as a first-person walk through quiet night streets and his small apartment, and warns of violence and bloodshed.
Content: violence, blood.

Akai Onna is a short first-person J-horror game by Yamoto. A student walking home late meets a woman in red, and from then on he feels watched; you walk him through empty night streets and his apartment toward one of two endings.

About Akai Onna

Akai Onna (赤い女, "the red woman") was released on Steam in January 2024 by Yamoto, who made and published it. The store sums it up in one line: a psychological J-horror game featuring a student. On his way home late at night he meets a woman in red, and since that day he has felt someone's eyes on him.

It is mainly a first-person walking simulator. You follow the student through narrow lanes between block walls, past phone boxes and apartment walkways under street lamps, and through his small room, while the story, inspired by Japanese urban legends, closes in. A VHS filter gives it the grain of an old tape, and you can turn it off in the settings. There are two endings.

The fear is quiet for most of its length: ordinary Japanese streets at night, mostly empty, and the sense that the woman is somewhere behind you. Players who liked it single out that atmosphere and a few strong scares; several mention that the English translation is rough and that the better ending is hard to find without a hint.

It costs little and is over in an evening, so it suits players of Chilla's Art's short J-horror games who want one more night walk through a Japanese town. Players looking for puzzles or long survival will find little here.

How to play Akai Onna

Buy and install Akai Onna on Steam (Windows).
Choose English or Japanese, and decide in the settings whether to keep the VHS filter on.
Walk the student home through the night streets with the mouse and keyboard, interacting with what the story points you to.
Follow each chapter's task as the woman in red closes in.
Play again from the last part to try for the other ending.

Screenshots

A narrow lane between block walls at night in a Japanese residential area, lit by one street lamp

Looking up at a plain two-storey Japanese house beside a street lamp at night

A dark lane at night ending at a phone box, with Japanese road markings on the asphalt

An empty town street at night lined with apartment blocks, shop awnings and a red post box

A small, tidy Japanese apartment room with a bed, an old television, boxes and a desk

An apartment block's lit open walkways beside a dark street at night, with a grainy VHS look

A road closed with cones and barrier tape beside a parked kei truck under a street lamp

Tips

Play at night with headphones; most of the fear is in the sound of the empty streets.
If one ending leaves you puzzled, explore the area more closely on the second try; the other ending depends on what you do near the end.
Switch the VHS filter off if the grain makes dark streets hard to read.