Ib is a free to play psychological horror game released in 2012 by the Japanese artist kouri (and subsequently translated by vgperson). The game features a top-down perspective and is set in an eerie art museum with the main goal being to escape from the horrors that players encounter. An Ib remake was released on Steam in 2022 as a paid title with several enhanced gameplay aspects. This included enhanced graphics across the broad, new artwork pieces, new puzzles, puzzle optimisations, the addition of a zoom mode, broader conversation system and remixed music.
The video game is named after the main protagonist Ib, a nine-year old girl who is brought to a seemingly normal city museum with her parents. While wondering off on her own Ib comes across a painting that seems out of place and beyond understanding at which point a power outage abruptly occurs leaving the museum empty and the doors locked with Ib still trapped inside alone.
From here Ib makes her way to the painting of the deep sea which she enters and finds herself in a foreign and mysterious world which leaves the museum behind. Through exploration she discovers Garry, a young adult and Mary an eccentric girl close to Ib’s age who play their own role in your story of hopeful escape.
Gameplay in Ib is accordingly centred around exploration and interaction with the game world as Ib with your success based on how players piece together clues and information they locate. As a result Ib doesn’t require quick reflexes to see success and opens it up to a broader audience that is interested in utilising investigation skills. Much of the gameplay for example in Ib is spent overcoming obstacles that block your path through various means while also avoiding enemies and traps along the way which will deplete the players health on contact and as expected if your health reaches zero it is game over.
Assuming you can survive everything that the game has to offer you’ll enjoy one of five possible endings that each take the final scenes in totally different directions. Players will find two endings at either extreme which are generally referred to as the good and bad endings with three other endings in the middle that are more neutral and unique in nature. With at least 5 different endings on offer this RPG horror game ensures you’ll get several playthroughs out of the experience and due to it’s atmospheric design you’ll also notice more and more subtleties with each time your replay Ib’s adventure.
In addition to achieving one of these endings players can also collect a number of artwork items to put them into your own True Exhibit provided you know the title of the art piece. With literally dozens and dozens of these available it adds a completionist aspect to the game of Ib while also adding that additional layer of lore to the game world.
Summary:
- Explore an eerie museum as Ib, a young girl who has lost her way and found herself alone.
- Make friends with Garry and Mary who are themselves as strange as the various artworks in the museum.
- Defeat puzzles, enemies and traps on your way to one of five endings of different extremes.
- A surreal adventure to challenge your wits and logic reasoning.
- Enjoy a free to play Japanese horror RPG translated to English (paid Ib Remake available on Steam).
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Review Platform: PC