Addictive and energetic battles
A simple and lovely world you can get lost in
A plethora of quick and satisfying sidequests
Monster-collecting that feels arbitrary
A lack of control over your yo-kai
Not much depth
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At first glance, Yo-kai Watch can look intimidating. It opens with a premise foreign to many players outside Japan (those ‘yo-kai’ can defy English description at the best of times), introduces you to over two-hundred new creatures with their own strengths and weaknesses, then drops you into battle and wishes you good luck. But don't let those tricks fool you - in practice it's deceptively simple, light, and so easy to play you can do it without trying (and sometimes even looking at the screen). It doesn't offer much for players looking for someth🍃ing strategic and demanding, or as involved as its closest analog, Pokemon. But what it does offer is a game delightful in its simplicity, breezy and sweet.
In Yo-kai Watch, you play as a young kid who stumbles on a magical timekeeping device (one guess what it's called), which allows you to see and interact with supernatural beings making mischief around your hometown - think My Neighbor Totoro rather than Ghostbusters. That's as deep as the story goes, and you'll spend the majority of your time solving slice-of-life mysteries through the city of Springdale (deeply Japanese in everything but name) and 'befriending' new yo-kai with no greater aim in mind. That leaves the game with little to offer players looking for an involved plot, and those uninterested in the trappings of childhood will want to look elsewhere; between its school-days story, focus on friendship over competition, and unabashed teaching moments (you'll actually be punished for using a crosswalk without hitting the signal), this is Nintendo's most child-focused game in years, and that's saying ꦬsomething.
But far from being a detriment, that tone adds to Yo-kai Watch's unique charm: the soft-watercolor world of Springdale is a joy to 🦂explore with your marshmallow-y yo-kai partner bobbing at your heels, and the variety of low-key tasks you can do (playing hide-and-seek with sneaky spirits, running errands for your neighbors, spending a day at the catfish pond) make for a nice and relaxing bit of playtime. The whole experience is wrapped up by a delightful soundtrack that highlights just how lighthearted your time in Springdale is meant to be, and traipsing around town with that in the background is a near-instant stress-killer. And even if children are the target audience, there's still plenty for adults to enjoy here - the English translation maintains much of the original Japanese game's puntastic humor and fourth wall breakage, all ridiculously delightful even when they make you groan.
As many yo-kai as there are hiding in Springdale, there are perhaps even more tasty treats that you have to sort through on your adventures. While food always helps boost your 𝔍yo-kai team's health or special-move energy, giving food to an enemy yo-kai can make them like you and increase your chances of befriending them. Unfortunately, the game doesn't tell you which yo-kai like which food, and the the answer is only occasionally intuitive. You have to experiment to see what food works with what yo-kai, which can hurt when something delicious you paid out the nose for does nothing.
| Genre | Role Playing |
| Description | A Monster-befriending adventure where only you can see them. |
| Platform | "3DS" |
Former As𓆏sociate Editor at GamesRadar, Ashley is now Lead Writer at Respawn working on Apex Legends. She's a lo𝓰ver of FPS titles, horror games, and stealth games. If you can see her, you're already dead.
