Oninaki review – a beautiful, ethereal and frustrating experience

Nintendo Switch; PC; PS4
This role-playing adventure's interesting, haunting premise can't stop you wanting to fling your controller at the wall

Initial impressions of Oninaki, the latest game from Tokyo RPG Factory, creator of ethereal adventures I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear, are strong. A fascinating world centred around reincarnation and regrets, sombre and elegant music, gorgeous art direction, and promising (though mashy) combat. But though the high-quality trappings remain, the ultimate core of this top-down action RPG is decidedly disappointing.

The setup begins decently enough: taciturn protagonist Kagachi is a "veil watcher", able to travel between the worlds of the living and the dead in an instant. Watchers assist lost spirits towards reincarnation by helping them deal with their earthly attachments - or by putting them down when they otherwise turn into shadowy monsters. In a world thus centred around mortality, plenty of fascinating topics arise including death cults, assisted suicide, serial killers and the societal role of your own little band of psychopomps.