Video Game Review: White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

Developer: Sonnori

Publisher: PQube

Reviewed For: Nintendo Switch

Also Available On: PC, PlayStation, Xbox

A good cult horror game can go a long way and find itself on many platforms across a few generations. It isn’t surprising, but the Nintendo Switch is getting quite a few of these now, giving players the opportunity to find some scares on the go. Earlier this year the Fatal Frame and Corpse Party franchises were ported over, and now Switch players are getting the same treatment with White Day: A Labyrinth Named School.

For those who aren’t familiar, White Day is a Korean horror game that wears tons of inspiration from games like Amnesia and Fatal Frame. Players take on the protagonist who sneaks into his high school in the middle of the night to drop off a gift for his crush to find the following day. He finds that other students are also sneaking around the school, and it doesn’t take long for the supernatural to occur and for the students to find themselves in a fight for their lives.

I say that White Day is a lot like Amnesia because players will find themselves consistently sneaking around enemies as they solve puzzles that give them access to new areas. Stealth and evasion are essential, as there is a murderous janitor and quite a few malicious spirits floating around. Making use of the dark while crouching behind furniture is essential. Hiding from enemies can be genuinely tense, making this an effective horror game.

It’s also a lot like Fatal Frame in that there are a wide variety of spirits that the players have to face in order to proceed. Players will be aware of certain ghosts that haunt them and what triggers them, and players will often need to face the condition to spawn those ghosts head-on. For example, players will be made aware of someone who was locked in a small closet, and unable to move until she eventually died. From then on players will dread opening lockers and closets, fearing that the spirit is in there. Players will also find themselves wanting to light up rooms so they can interact with what’s in them, but this will alert enemies. Balancing light with survival is effective, though it does sometimes become an inconvenience at times.

These inconvenient moments are mostly present when players have excessive amounts of backtracking, where they just want to solve a puzzle but an enemy keeps delaying the process. There are tons of keys scattered around with doors begging to be opened, and when players gain access to new rooms they will need to sneak around the school. It’s a large map, making this more annoying than tense. Sure, sometimes a new ghost or enemy will pop up to keep the experience fresh, but this doesn’t happen quite enough.

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School will frustrate many, but the solid presentation and spooky scares make it an excellent game for those looking for something to play in October. The frustrations only feel minor when looking back, and the replayability to find all of the ghosts is noteworthy. Horror fans should pick this one up.