At PAX West this year, T-ONO had the opportunity to play a few rounds of Obakeidoro 2: Catch and Seek with its director, Katsunori Tanaka. With its cute aesthetic and simple yet nuanced gameplay, it was an unsuspecting party game that was able to grab our attention among the bells and whistles of the show floor. 

Obakeidoro 2: Catch and Seek is a family-friendly take on the asymmetric multiplayer survival horror genre, think Dead by Daylight but cute. Up to 4 players can play 3 minute matches of hide and seek with up to 8 being able to play online or locally with 2 Switches. The seeker can choose from a cast of 9 monsters while the hiders choose from a roster of 5 humans. Each monster has their own unique skills and methods of catching, like a giant toad slurping up its prey with an arcing swipe of his tongue or a haunted marionette sending out a ring of fast moving strings while standing in place. As for the humans, each one has unique skills to help them better at hiding, and they can carry a one time use lantern to stun the monster. When the match starts, the monster hunts down the humans and puts the player they capture into a cage in the center of the map. However, human players can free their teammates by opening several locks on the cage. Manage to do so, and everyone is set free and all nearby humans get the stun lanterns relit. Matches are only 3 minutes long, and both the monster and humans move decently fast. Even though I was caught pretty quickly in my first couple matches, the short burst of each match let me get back into the action.

Controls are rather simple with only a catch or a charged up “super catch” move for each monster, and the humans only being able to run, jump and use their lantern. This makes things really easy for people to just pick up and start playing. During the few matches I played, our team consisted of me, an elementary school kid, and two members of the Obakeidoro team. The simplistic controls allowed the younger player to avoid getting frustrated trying to figure things out and to just enjoy the match. Whereas, Director Katsunori was able to show off his skills as a human character; jumping and juking out of my ill attempts to snatch him up. 

Overall, Obakeidoro 2 was a fun game to play, and its 3 minute matches and beginner friendly controls make it a decent, family friendly party game. However, I can see this simplicity and the repetitive gameplay causing me to lose interest in the long term. Obakeidoro 2 is a game that shines most in short bursts or during some couch co-op sessions with your friends and family. If you are looking for a party game that can be enjoyed with the whole family, Obakeidoro 2 might be worth checking out. Obakeidoro 2: Chase and Seek is out now on the Switch and Switch 2.