Junji Ito is one of the undisputed masters of horror comics, creating the most creepy and disturbing horror manga since 1987. Comprising several short stories and longer issues, such as Uzumaki and Gyo, Junji Ito created a world where Japanese mundanity meets unexpected horrors. His short stories are pure nightmares, often lacking a conventional explanation of how the ordinary suddenly gets shredded by pure horror. The Japanese countryside is one of the favourite places to set his disturbing stories.
The grotesque and disgust are common elements in the aesthetic and atmosphere of his works, with shocking images full of revolting fluids. This also reflects on the creatures part of these nightmarish worlds, a set of demented, uncanny, and utterly disturbing humanoid monsters, or even more eldritch beings. If you want to know more about the creatures from Junji Ito’s works, you can check my two-part bestiary: PART1 and PART2.
The art-style is another striking and easy-to-recognise trait of the horror master, with an intense black-and-white technique with insane attention to detail, especially when portraying the disturbing or the grotesque.
In the following article, I will analyse games inspired by Junji Ito, from official games to more indie releases. I will focus especially on games with strong inspiration for art-style or atmosphere, not simply small references, but the entire essence of the game should look like a Junji Ito story. Especially for atmosphere, the games must be focused on the ordinary broken by the grotesque, with a peculiar nightmarish setting intruding inside the life of everyday characters. And of course, if a game is specifically inspired by a Junji Ito story, even better.
As for other articles before, this one will also be constantly updated when new and fitting title release.
Uzumaki Official Games
Let’s start this list with the official Uzumaki games. Yes, you read right, at some point official Junji Ito’s games were released. But we have to go back to the 2000 and the portable console Wonderswan. Moreover, an even bigger surprise is that there is not only an official Uzumaki game, but two of them. Sadly, they released only in Japan. The first Uzumaki game is a visual novel following the comic, with nice art for the hardware, especially in the colorful cover. However, it doesn’t have many twists, but it offers some branches and a different way to experience the famous manga.
The second game released shortly after, Noroi Simulation, is far more obscure but also far more interesting. Because if the first game adds very few to Uzumaki, the second one shows a very peculiar side. In fact, in this game, you don’t play as a human being, but as the “spiral entity” in charge of cursing the town. As this entity, you move around the map cursing people and collecting items to increase the haunting level of the deadly curse. The city will be your playground, and even the protagonist of the manga could become victim of your powers. The game has strategic elements and, together with the unique view of playing as an evil entity from Junji Ito’s work, it is definitively an interesting discovery for every fan. Sadly, few is known about both games, since they are quite old and rare, both for the released console and to be only in Japanese.
World of Horror
Probably the most famous indie horror game directly influenced by Junji Ito, both for art-style and atmosphere. World of Horror is an adventure with RPG elements and a roguelike component. In the beginning, the player select between many characters, common people not prepared for what they will face. Moreover, in the beginning the player will also select which eldritch entity is trying to awake, with the aim of stopping it. The art is especially amazing, looking like a proper transposition of Junji Ito works, painted pixel by pixel using MS paint. The world is also breathing from Junji Ito’s atmosphere, a silent rural Japan full of mysteries and forbidden traditions. The references to Junji Ito’s works are all everywhere around, from backgrounds to the grotesque monsters and the inspired stories. For example, there is a gigantic entity known as Oetaru that resembles the spiral creature in the end of Uzumaki, while a mannequin missing the head or a deadly puppet are clearly inspired by The Headless Sculptor and the creepy Jean Pierre. However, if you want to find more about the grotesque creatures infesting the game and their references to Junji Ito, check my analysis on Dark RPGs: https://darkrpgs.home.blog/2020/06/11/the-most-disturbing-eldritch-creatures-from-the-bestiary-of-world-of-horror/.
The player will roam around a rural Japanese town, around the 80s or 90s, solving mysteries and fighting grotesque creatures and cultists. Each case opens an independent story with multiple possibilities, locations, and endings. The stories are mainly inspired by Junji Ito and Japanese urban legends, including the Slit-Mouthed Woman or Aka Manto. By solving enough mysteries, the player can access the lighthouse to stop the summoning of the selected entity. But of course, the doom clock is always moving, and if it reaches 100, the creature will awake causing a peculiar and apocalyptic game over. However, World of Horror is a roguelike game with replayability set at its core, with multiple endings and random events for each scenario and hidden monsters to face and discover.
Ghost in the Pool
Even in this case, just by looking at the images, you can see strong influences from Junji Ito. However, the game is instead officially inspired by a Chinese comic, but I still think that the references to the horror mangaka are there. Ghost in the Pool is a simple visual novel with a great art-style. The plot is set around urban legends, especially related to a school environment. And, as you can imagine from the title, the main one is around a haunted pool and a disturbing drowning ghost. From the setting inspired by urban legends to the striking style, Ghost in The Pool clearly shows strong inspiration from Junji Ito’s works and art.
The game is a short visual novel with multiple endings, and a peculiar way to convey terror by shacking and altering the screen during some tough choices. Moreover, in some specific sections, the player must also interact with items and explore to proceed. The plot is simple but enough entertaining, with 3 endings, but the great art is what truly captures the attention of the player, willing on seeing new panels and scenes.
Nami
Often if you think of games inspired by Junji Ito, the majority of the references are from Uzumaki. Very few games take inspiration, for example, from the manga Gyo, where fishes come out of the water on weird legs to attack the human population as a swarming army. The Brazilian game Nami is an exception, and it is in fact based on Gyo and the terrors coming from the sea. However, this time the terror is set on the sunny beach of a small town in Brazil. Even if the art-style style is quite far from Junji Ito’s work, the inspiration is clearly there, plus a pinch of Lovecraft’s Innsmouth. The people in the town range from plainly weird to aggressively psychotic, plus, deranged marine abominations are nesting in the city. The weirdest thing? Everybody in the city is obsessed with waves, just to throw also a nice Uzumaki reference.
Nami is a classic RPG adventure divided into small sections, like a sort of fragmented nightmares. The main character must roam around the town while solving puzzles to access the next area. She will also quickly find a gun, with infinite bullets but very slow reloading, which must be used to defeat both insane townspeople and grotesque marine wildlife. The monsters are tough, variegated, and with well-designed battles. For example, cut a rope from a ship, and be ready to shoot down the gigantic crab abomination that will come after you. Other enemies need more strategy to be defeated, such as damaging only a grotesque static body while its shadow hunts for you. Other battles are instead optional, especially in the underwater nightmare events. Nami is still in Early Access, but it is already showing clever ideas and good potential. However, at the moment of the writing, the game is only available in Brazilian Portuguese.
From Next Door
A short free adventure available on itch, this game is a love letter to one of the creepiest Junji Ito’s stories: The Window Next Door. From Next Door is an adventure game completely inspired by Junji Ito both for style and gameplay. The protagonist of the game discovers a mysterious locked room in her new house, with a nailed window. And even more suspicious is that this window opens on the only window of a completely sealed neighboring house. After a slow beginning, the game will get more and more creepy, using a daily-based routine to convey the unexpected more subtly. The feeling of dread will increase every day, with new clues about a possible intruder. When something will come out of that window?
Gameplay-wise, the game is a straightforward adventure with multiple endings, small puzzles, and tasks to do. Especially toward the end, there are different approaches on how to “solve” the problem coming out of the window. Graphic and sound make their job of creating a creepy atmosphere so typical of Junji Ito’s manga. In general, the game is well-able to convey curiosity, stress, and then anxiety through a slow-burning pace and a simple but effective graphic, especially during the cutscenes. There are some challenging chasing sequences toward the end where it is possible to die, especially since getting cornered by the creatures is a common occurrence.
Mycorrhiza
Weird, surreal, and bizarre, Mycorrhiza is a visual novel deeply rooted in Junji Ito’s references. This is very clear in the art-style, with strong black and white colours resembling the works of the famous mangaka. In general, the characters are more anime-looking, but instead, the disturbing and grotesque monsters, with their twisted and demented faces, are a clear recall of the circus of monstrosities from Junji Ito’s works. The game has such strong references that, even when you simply select a chapter to play from the main menu, there is a comic book opening with really inspiring horror art. Yes, for sure Mycorrhiza wins the most “Junji Ito accurate” main menu price. And if you are a fan of Junji Ito, you will feel at home with some references, including images resembling Uzumaki or the grotesque model appearing in many stories. But be aware, Mycorrhiza is not a simple copy and paste, but a work with its own world and identity.
The game is composed of three small chapters to be played in any order, nightmarish scenarios full of surreal elements, multiple paths, and recurring characters. The main character will wander through different sides of a mysterious town, where the people are getting obsessed with creating new pets, or with competing for the most “funny” face. And if you play some specific paths in each story, it will be like truly playing an interactive Junji Ito story. The creatures are terrifying and grotesque beings, from a humanized dog with a creepy and dumb-looking expression, to a jester with many heads stitched together. There are also some surprises while playing, including some tough decisions where the mouse will try to move alone toward the “game over” choice, and the player must actually fight against this force to peek the correct one. Even in its short length, the game has many secrets and paths, including some cryptic rules to unlock a mysterious hidden mode called Pengembara.
Evolution Straw Doll of Grudge
Evolution Straw Doll of Grudge and its prequel, Evolution Japan Doll of Grudge, really look like Junji Ito games. Available only in the Japanese store (at least for Android), the game is about evolving a straw doll… by making it devour moles and insects. The art is still really gorgeous, and this time the visual references to Junji Ito are even stronger, with some of the creatures being a mix between Uzumaki and Tomie. The background will also morph each time into a more deranged scenario, with a huge female face grinning behind, an insane creature recalling somehow Tomie. You can read more about these games, and other disturbing Japanese-only evolution games, in my other article: Welcome into the world of obscure and creepy Japanese pet/evolution games: when your Tamagotchi will evolve in something each time more disturbing and horror
This article is also available as a video in the official Surreal and Creepy YouTube channel, with slightly different games. Have a look at the video here:
Surreal and Creepy 