White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is a survival-horror game that hails from Korea. Originally a PC game from 2001, it has since been remade and was released on PlayStation 4 in 2015. Developer Sonnori has a history making RPGs like the Astonishing Story, Forgotten Saga and Arcturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity.
White Day was their first attempt at making a horror game and they got it right on the first try. The original never got an official English release but thankfully we did get the remake. White Day: A Labyrinth Named School from 2015 turned out even better, making it one of the few times when a remake surpasses the original.
Now that White Day: A Labyrinth Named School has made it to Nintendo Switch, how does it fare? What makes this game so scary and is there anything new that returning players can expect? Find out in this White Day: A Labyrinth Named School review!
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Developer: Sonnori
Publisher: PQube Limited
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Release Date: September 8, 2022
Players: 1
Price: $29.99 USD
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School has everything a survival-horror fan could ask for. The setting is a compact, yet fully realized location – in this case a Korean high school.
There are cheeky puzzles, an inventory system, and currency that can act as a soft difficulty modifier. There are multiple endings based on actions and interactions with cute girls.
On top of being an intricate stealth-horror game with persistent stalkers; White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is unrelentingly scary. On top of evading possessed janitors, Lee Hui-Min will have to also contend with vengeful spirits from the school’s past.
The only thing scarier than a ghastly lynched woman that shakes the screen and has a blood-curdling giggle, is giving the girl you like a box of chocolates. “White Day”, isn’t just an ominous sounding day, in Korea it is the equivalent to Valentine’s Day in the west.
Lee Hui-Min gets a lot more than he bargained for when he tried to confess his affection to Han So-Yeong. This is where White Day: A Labyrinth Named School gives the player the opportunity to affect the story.
Han So-Yeong is not the only girl who decided to stay late after school, players will encounter other girls and based on their actions will affect the ending.
There are ten endings and players can earn more than one at a time. Getting some of these endings can be tricky. Little innocuous details like choosing to buy a can of coffee in a vending machine very early on can lead to drastic ramifications in the story.
Lee Hui-Min will also get many dialogue options- almost as if White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is part dating sim on top of being part Clock Tower.
Even though the budget may be low, the visuals and aesthetics serve the atmosphere and the girls all manage to look pretty cute.
This new release of White Day: A Labyrinth Named School goes above and beyond by including all DLC costumes for all characters, including bikinis for the girls.
The janitors even get in on the action and can wear costumes inspired by famous movie-slashers like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger.
The costumes do show up in cutscenes. The POV for Lee Hui-Min does switch from first-person to third in cutscenes too, so even his costume does show up in all scenes.
Getting to ogle girls and trying to get to know them is only a small piece to the White Day experience. The real meat of the game is classic survival-horror gameplay; where players explore, find keys, solve esoteric puzzles, and try to stay alive.
Resources are highly limited; even saving requires a consumable item and there aren’t enough tokens in the game to max out inventory of snack boxes or healing items.
Planning Lee Hui-Min’s route has to be considered with care and on top of evading the physical threat of violence, the ghosts will fill you with dread and most of them can also cause damage.
Fans of classic survival-horror must not miss White Day: A Labyrinth Named School. It may not look like much, but it uses its limitations to enhance the uncanny ambiance. The chilling scares make it the ultimate Halloween game.
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a copy provided by PQube. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is now available for Windows PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One,Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch.
