[Chilla's Art] Onryo | 怨霊

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Exorcise a cursed Japanese house, one photograph at a time.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam
Price: Paid
Rated: Mixed on Steam (55% of 191 reviews)
Length: about 90 to 120 minutes
Players: 1
Controls: WASD to move, mouse to look and aim the camera
Made by: Chilla's Art
Released: 2020

What frightens You walk through a dark, cursed Japanese house where onryo, vengeful ghosts, come at you out of the gloom; your only defence is a special camera that exorcises them when you catch them in its frame, and the makers say you will need headphones to hear where they are.
Content: jumpscares, loud sounds.

A short Japanese ghost game by Chilla's Art in which you lift the curse on a haunted house with an exorcising camera. Vengeful spirits come at you through dim rooms, and you have to hear where they are and catch them in the camera's frame before they reach you.

About [Chilla's Art] Onryo | 怨霊

Onryo, named after the vengeful ghosts of Japanese folklore, is a 2020 horror game by the Japanese studio Chilla's Art, sold on Steam for Windows. Its makers call it survival action horror, and it is one of the studio's few games built around a fight rather than a walk through a story.

Your task is to lift the curse on a haunted house. You explore its rooms (tatami floors with an old hearth, a candlelit study, cramped corridors and a grimy toilet) and run into ghosts as you go. The only thing that hurts them is a special camera: raise it, keep the ghost in the frame and take the shot.

The store warns that the game can be hard, and that you should learn how each ghost moves and attacks. It also says to wear headphones, because sound is the only way to tell where a ghost is coming from. This version added a save system, and a run takes about 90 to 120 minutes.

Steam reviews are mixed, a little over half positive. It suits players who liked Fatal Frame's camera fights and want a short, harder Chilla's Art game set in one cursed house.

How to play [Chilla's Art] Onryo | 怨霊

Buy and install it from Steam on Windows.
Put on headphones; the ghosts are located by sound.
Explore the house with WASD and the mouse, and look into each room.
Raise the exorcising camera when a ghost appears, keep it in the frame and take the shot.
Learn each ghost's pattern, use the save system, and work through the house to lift the curse.

Screenshots

Onryo screenshot: the camera's viewfinder raised in a dark corridor, a shirtless figure standing beyond it

Onryo screenshot: a dim tatami room with a sunken hearth and hanging kettle under a fluorescent light

Onryo screenshot: a candle lit bookcase of Japanese books with a small doll on a shelf

Onryo screenshot: a grimy concrete toilet with a sink under a flickering tube light

Tips

Listen before you turn a corner; the store says the ghosts are hard to place without sound.
Watch how each enemy moves before you commit to a shot.
Save whenever you can; the game can be difficult.