Kuon

Kuon is a survival horror video game in which the player takes on the role of three characters—Utsuki, Sakuya, and Abe no Seimei—exploring the buildings and grounds of Fujiwara Manor. The characters are seen from an overhead third-person fixed perspective. The characters navigate the mansion during gameplay; the standard pace is a slow walk, with an option to run, but comes with a greater risk of attracting enemies. To progress the game, the characters explore the mansion to solve puzzles and find key items.

Items are displayed in environments using flashing points of light. From the beginning of the game, certain doors within the mansion grounds are sealed, and require a particular item to open. These items can be restricted to particular characters.

Kuon takes place in and around Fujiwara Manor, an estate in Kyoto, Japan during the Heian period. Central to the plot are two magical Mulberry trees planted near the present Fujiwara Manor by the Hata clan. The trees birth silkworms which weave cocoons around the dead and resurrect them. The resurrection can only be sustained by merging with other living beings, including humans, and absorbing their "grudge". The ultimate goal of the Mulberries is to perform the merging nine times, completing the Kuon Ritual and birthing a being which will become a new Mulberry.

Many of the characters are either qualified or trainee onmyōji—referred to in the English version as exorcists—practitioners of mystical onmyōdō powers. A key character and antagonist is Ashiya Doman, an ambitious onmyōji who becomes fascinated by the Mulberry tree and the Kuon Ritual. The playable characters are Utsuki, Doman's daughter who lives near one of the Mulberry trees with her sister Kureha; Sakuya, an onmyōji-in-training and one of Doman's apprentices; and Abe no Seimei, a master onmyōji and Doman's rival.

Kuon was developed by FromSoftware, a company that made its name developing the King's Field and Armored Core series. The producer was Atsushi Taniguchi, who had previously worked on The Adventures of Cookie & Cream for PlayStation 2, and Lost Kingdoms for GameCube. The art director was Nozomu Iwai. Work on Kuon began following Lost Kingdoms II in 2003, with the target audience being people wanting a new approach to horror.

Having previously handled dark adventure-based titles before, Taniguchi wanted to create his own take on that style using a traditional Japanese setting. Production was difficult and hectic, with the game going through unspecified production troubles. The weapon assignment for characters was intended to invert the typical precepts for their character styles; the weakly Utsuki used a knife, while the stronger Sakuya used a fan. The battle system was an evolution of the card system from Lost Kingdoms.

Kuon received mixed reviews from critics and journalists. The game was described as having "mixed or average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic, earning 57 points out of 100 based on 20 reviews. Similar contemporary website GameRankings gave the game a score of 59% based on 19 reviews.

When mentioned, the narrative and world design were praised. The gameplay saw mixed responses, with many finding the combat unenjoyable and the puzzle design outdated. The controls also met with general criticism due to lack of response, and noted its slow pace.