When evil spirits are released from an old cursed jar, you are tasked with defeating them! Don’t let their cuteness fool you, your heroes are evil spirit killing machines! In Yokai Dungeon, you will play as a variety of different characters to destroy the monsters lurking in each dungeon.
Start the game off as Tanuki, a Japanese raccoon dog that is devoted to free the world of monsters. Travel through this simple, but majestic game and save the festival from the evil spirits. Follow our Yokai Dungeon guide to conquer randomly-generated dungeons. :
1. Get Comfortable with Walking
Although it seems like a very simple task, it can be quite challenging for new players. The task of walking is imperative to the game to avoid enemies, move different items into enemies and progressing from one room to another. To walk, you drag your finger on the screen in the direction you want to go.
In some games you need to swipe in the direction you want to go and you will continue in that direction until you swipe another way. But here, you only move so long as your finger is on the screen.
2. Kill Monsters
To advance in the game you must kill monsters. To kill monsters, you must ‘push’ items found in the room into them. These items may be boxes, shrubs, stones and other various items. To push an item into a monster, you must stand behind it and swipe forward. This forward direction is based on the direction your character is facing.
By killing monsters, you gain coins which is the in-game currency. Every room you enter there are different monsters that you must destroy. Most of these monsters require one attack in order to die. In some cases, you cannot advance to the next room until you kill all the monsters present. In other cases, you can avoid the monsters and escape!
You will occasionally have to fight boss monsters, these monsters will require more attacks to kill. They also sometimes have unique abilities.
Keep in mind, if a monster touches you, runs into you or throws/drops an item on top of you, you will lose half a heart. When your hearts are gone you lose and must start over.
Ex: The first boss monster you fight will crouch and pause before jumping to land on whatever space you currently occupy. To kill this monster, stand on a tile that has a box you can push from another empty tile into the boss monster. This empty tile must be easy for you to get to in a short amount of time. The boss monster does not linger for long on one tile. To kill this monster, you must hit them 3 times with various items.
3. Collect Coins
Coins can be collected by walking over them or by pushing different items over them, but be quick! Coins will disappear from the floor after a short period of time. There are different items you can hold; one item will spawn 20 coins every room you advance to. These coins are valuable being the in-game currency. Coins can be used to purchase other heroes who have varying statistics.
4. Buy New Heroes
You can purchase new heroes on the main menu. Each hero, excluding Tanuki who you start with, costs a certain number of coins to buy. Different heroes have different stats and based on your game play style one character may suit you more than the others. Characters with lots of hearts will take more attacks before being killed. Characters with many bars for shoes will be able to move faster and avoid enemies or attack them faster. Finally, four clovers represent luck and the more you have, the more coins that drop when you kill an enemy. When you are looking to unlock an expensive character, increase your luck and collect coins faster!
5. Tap on the Jars to Destroy Them
Firstly, who doesn’t like to destroy things and secondly, who doesn’t like making money for destroying things. When jars are destroyed, they can sometimes leave behind coins. Before leaving a room, destroy all the jars and other breakable items.
Another useful piece of advice regarding breaking items, is when two objects are pushed up beside each other, you can sometimes push one item into another and break the item closest to you. This works with pots, some blocks and shrubs. More permanent items like stones cannot be broken by pushing one into the other.
6. Don’t linger on stages
In most games, you sometimes get distracted and leave it on and you return when you are free. In Yokai Dungeon , you MUST hit the pause button in the top right corner of your screen. If you don’t, after a certain amount of time, whether you have destroyed all enemies or are sitting in a safe spot, an invisible monster will be summoned. This monster cannot be killed and all you can do is run! If you have not finished the stage yet, as soon as you are damaged and lose half a heart the invincible spirit disappears… for now.
7. How to Get Rare Items
While in the dungeon you will have the opportunity to visit the “Market”. In the market you can walk onto the “?’ in front of each item in order to get more information about it. To pick up the item you want, merely walk on top of it. There is an option to watch a short video for a “rare secret item”. This item may help you walk faster, not slow down when in water and other various abilities.
8. Read the Map
In the top left corner of your screen there is a simple map that shows you the general layout of the dungeon. When you pause your game, you will also see the dungeon map layout. In one of the dungeon’s rooms, the area will be occupied with a black and white horned monster. This shows you where the boss monster exists and enables you to either take the most direct path to them, or take the more scenic route away from them. In the end, to progress to the next level you must defeat the boss monster.
9. Identify Monster Patterns
Pattern identification can help you conquer rooms fast and advance to the boss monster. By understanding what different monsters do and the patterns, if any, that they travel in, you can set ‘traps’ so to speak. Meaning, if you know this monster walks in a straight line you can plan when to hit it with a block or other item. If another monster walks in a zigzag pattern, you can predict where it will be as well. For the monsters that don’t seem to walk in any pattern, make sure you have multiple ways to move in order to avoid them. Boss monsters also have specific patterns that you can identify and use to your advantage.
10. Understand your Surroundings
In Yokai Dungeon, there are many monsters to fight and items to collect. There are also some creatures that are not monsters and can be ignored. Chickens for instance can be ignored and even walked over without losing any hearts. The boar like creatures will occasionally float and skip over the next tile, making that tile save.
In some dungeons there are squares that the enemies cannot move to. Identifying these squares make conquering dungeons a lot easier. Rooms with running water slow you down when you walk through them, either kill the enemies, acquire the item which prevents a speed reduction, or time out your movement to be between evil spirits.
Yokai Dungeon is a unique game that explores Japanese folklore. It is a game that beginners can quickly learn and a game that advanced players can appreciate, for its strategy and masterful artwork. I encourage everyone who has the chance to try this beautifully designed game.