YIIK: A Postmodern RPG

About

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is an indie video game developed by Ackk Studios and published by Ysbryd Games. The game received generally unfavorable reviews and drew controversy for referencing the death of Elisa Lam, who was found dead in a water tank after footage of her last moments showed her seemingly trying to escape something in an elevator.

History

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG was developed by Ackk Studio and published by Ysbryd Games. The game runs on Unity and is available on Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4, PS Vita and Nintendo Switch. The game is set in the 1990s and stars eight friends working to solve a mysterious disappearance. The game was released on January 17th, 2019.

Reception

The game received generally negative reviews from critics. Destructoid criticized the main character, Alex, as insufferably smug during the game's 20-25 hour runtime.^[1] They also noted how the game's attempt to appeal to a "hipster" demographic came off cliched and forced. The game's PS4 release has a score of 54/100 on Metacritic.^[2] Other critics criticized the game's tedious battle system and complicated leveling system.

Elisa Lam Criticism

Some critics criticized the game's clear reference to the death of Elisa Lam as a central force driving the plot.^[3] Elisa Lam was a student at the University of British Columbia who was found dead in a water tank at the Cecil Hotel. Five days prior to the discovery of her body, police released footage of Lam's last moments in which she appeared to be running from something and hiding in an elevator. The force was never seen and the strange circumstances of her death made the story popular as people suspected paranormal activity. In Yiik, a character named Sammy dies in similar circumstances, crying out "Alex, don't let them take me" in an elevator (comparison between Lam video and Yiik scene shown below). A thread on Resetera^[4] about the connection featured many commenters saying it was wrong and "messed up."

Related Memes

Yiiking Out

Yiiking Out refers to a sprite of Yiik: A Postmodern RPG protagonist Alex grabbing his head with two hands and holding his mouth agape as if he is screaming. Popularized by the OneyPlays' playthrough of the game, the sprite was dubbed "yiiking out" on /r/OneyPlays subreddit and later gained popularity as a reaction and as source material for redraws and remakes. The phrase has also been as the online slang counterpart for "freaking out."

Search Interest

External References