Ah, school days. Such fun times … and quite possibly the most terrifying too! Being in school has all manner of horrors, but having to deal with creepy murderous janitors, evil curses and spooky Japanese ghosts takes it to a whole new level. White Day: A labyrinth named School was originally released just over 20 years ago and has become one of the most influential games in the horror genre, next to the likes of Resident Evil. A remake of the game came along in 2015 for mobile and then along to PS4 back in 2017. I reviewed the very same game back then and now have a chance to revisit the terrifying school in this next-gen port.
Have my feelings changed over time? Read on.
What is White Day: A labyrinth named School
White Day back in 2001 was something of a game changer or at least set down the foundations for many horror games to come after it. The likes of Outlast, Amnesia, and many more have clearly taken inspiration from it. While the concept was not entirely new even back then, as the original Clock Tower game had come out a little while before it, White Day still managed to join up many interesting components together from its evasion gameplay, intense item management, and compelling horror elements.
The remake follows the same story of Lee Hui-min, a typical high school student whose crush on a fellow student, leads him to be trapped within the walls of Yeondu High. Going off to his school late one night, Lee is hopeful to leave his crush a box of chocolate in celebration of White Day. However, when he arrives the shutters close behind him, and soon enough, he comes across other students trapped in the building. But things become incredibly strange very quickly, and Lee finds himself pitted against a murderous janitor, a conspiracy to raise the dead, and plenty of vengeful ghosts looking for their next victim.
It's up to Lee to venture through the massive complex that is Yeondu High and uncover the truth behind the madness. Players will have to explore multiple areas of the school, find key items, solve puzzles and use stealth to avoid human foes and supernatural forces.
Teenage angst, spooky ghosts, and creepy janitors
White Day’s core gameplay revolves around exploration, puzzle solving, and the evasion of enemies. Lee is unable to fight off his foes and so much either hide or run. Players will need to keep their senses sharp to hear the jingling of the janitor’s keys from the next room, the heavy breathing of an angry spirit, or the outline of a shadowy figure in the corner of the room. Aside from running for your life, players will be able to use very simple stealth tactics to avoid detection. This normally revolves around either hiding behind a desk or cabinet or taking refuge in a bathroom stall.
These are simple, yet effective methods to keeping out of danger, and aren’t 100% guaranteed for full evasion. The janitor can still find you if you make noise, and ghosts tend to have a nasty habit of popping up when you least need them to. The school itself can be your worse enemy too, as its interwoven hallways, limited exits and frequent dead ends can mean a chase could end in death very quickly.
Having such a complex environment did lead to some moments of frustration, but it also made me learn the layout of the areas as quickly as possible, and in most instances, there are plenty of places to hide and run through. As you have no weapons of any sort, you won’t be downing the janitor for a quick break, and instead must be patient, wait and observe very carefully your surroundings.
While not having the most complex stealth gameplay, there is enough here to make White Day quite thrilling with its intense cat and mouse style hunts, and random hauntings that can easily make you jump out of your skin. There is enough here to keep you engaged, from its random encounters, backtracking, evasion, and numerous ghosts which you need to keep an eye out for.
I feel my biggest gripe with White Day is down to the janitor, who acts as the main stalker. Now there are quite a few memorable stalkers in gaming history, and even the early ones had refined logic and balancing including Clock Tower’s Scissor Man and RE3’s Nemesis. The janitor does not compare to them and comes across as more of a nuance, rather than a thrilling hunter.
The janitor does pose a genuine threat, but usually overstays his welcome and appears too frequently when you ideally want to explore. He reminds me of the worse moments of Alien Isolation, where your hunter knows exactly where you are and leaves very little breathing space, thus progress is incredibly slow. Yet, to escape him, all you need to do is run and hide behind a waist-high object and that’s it. But due to his frequency and popping out of thin air, the janitor ends up being quite tedious to deal with. Thankfully the ghosts are a lot more interesting.
Resident Evil meets Saved by the Bell
Players will also have to deal with item management, as exploring, and finding key items and resources is vital. The school has plenty of ground to cover and being far from the Spencer mansion in Resident Evil, Yeondu High is very much grounded in its design for the most part. There are classrooms, storage areas, bathrooms, music rooms, and everything you would expect to find. So plenty of puzzles are also quite grounded, with combination code safes, locked doors, and more to overcome. But there are also some supernatural elements thrown in for good measure.
The exploration and puzzle solving while not as visceral as Resident Evil were still interesting enough. The developers had pushed as many creative ways as possible for solving quite ground problems. From hiding a coded message on a chalkboard, to playing a song on several blood-covered piano keys.
The only real problem is that a lot of items tend to blend into the environment and can be easily missed. There is at times a sparkle effect over key items, but this can be easily missed, or at times didn’t occur. I did find that there were quite a lot of codes to find, and the answer would often be on documents, scattered across in random, easy-to-miss locations.
Along with some incredibly difficult puzzles which require a lot of patience and deduction. One puzzle sees a coded message written in Korean, which ends up being a maths problem. Yet the symbols are drawn rather poorly and are hard to make out. There were a few of these puzzles that really did kill the flow of the game. I love a good puzzle, but these are proper 90s/00s style puzzles that can be infuriatingly tedious to solve.
But overall, many of the puzzles are a lot of fun, but be prepared that you might need a guide to help you out for a few of them. I consider myself a master of puzzles, and White Day did stump me a few times. And one of the more interesting features is that a few puzzles are randomised. Good for repeated playthroughs, but also a slight problem for the trickier puzzles.
But there were some neat ideas includes, such as finding money to spend at vending machines, and discovering additional items which give more exposure to the great lore of the school.
Spooks, Tofu, and Soyabean milk White Day’s main highlight to me, and the stars of the show are the ghosts that haunt you. The variety, lore, and designs really do stand out compared to the likes of the janitor. While my old review of White Day felt they were underutilised somewhat (and maybe a little still), I can’t deny the impact they have regarding horror and world-building. There are plenty of ghosts ranging from spooky children, disembodied heads, angry demons, and many more.
The school itself is also one of the major stars, with such rich and disturbing lore you can sink your teeth into and feel unnerved as you stroll through its many halls. Documents and letters give a better idea of the horrors of the school and those who have perished within its walls. White Day is by far one of the best in the genre when it comes to world-building, it’s spooky denizens and pushing the notion of home-grown horrors within a place we can all recognise.
With regards to the story, it’s decent overall, but feels a bit off at times. The general plot is a little clunky, with some events feeling quite random, and most of the supporting cast doesn’t leave much of an impact. However, there are some genuinely good moments and a story thread later in the game involving a grieving parent which really stood out. White Day comes from a time when video games were diving into more mature themes, with the likes of Haunting Grounds and Rule of Rose. While not on the same level as those titles, White Day does have some interesting, and disturbing thematic elements at times. It's these elements that amplify the horror elements and even the gameplay to higher levels. And the supernatural elements, such as the ghosts, do strengthen the venture overall.
There are multiple endings too, and these are determined by choices and conversations made during the game. So, this does add plenty of replay value and meaning to the choices you make.
Looking like you’ve seen a ghost
Hearing the news of this re-release for next-gen, I was keen to see what improvements there would be to White Day. And for those who played the 2017 release, you will be surely a little disappointed. There are no new major visual elements introduced, no redesigns, no environment changes, and overall (after some investigating) the visual style appears less impressive than the mobile version.
After checking out footage of the mobile version, I saw a much darker-looking game that oozed the atmosphere when compared to the console port. Everything in the console port feels too clean and bright, making it feel less scary. Whereas the mobile version makes better use of shadows, greater lighting effects, and more interesting use of colour.
One key scene that comes to mind sees the ghost of a young girl (who has hanged herself) falls from the ceiling and crawls toward you. In the original and mobile version, the girl is covered by complete darkness, only to be revealed by the lighting strikes through a massive window. Making this an incredibly tense moment. In the console version of the remake, the room is brightly lit, the thunder is redundant and even though she’s crawling towards you, there is no impact or suspense.
The remake in many ways lacks tension or visual dread, as it’s too bright and reveals too much. The ghosts do excellent in the console version, even though personally some looked more intense in the original release. I think limited hardware can indeed lend to better creativity, and it shows that more shadows and the old notion of less is more, really did make the original game and remake for the mobile look and feel scarier.
Even the light from the janitor’s flashlight looks better in the mobile version. But the game itself looks fine overall, but having another facelift, or bringing back elements from the mobile remake, could have made the game more visually striking.
But for those who have already bought and played White Day back in 2017, you might be asking if this is worth buying this again.
Well, there are costumes in this edition, but very little else. As mentioned, the visual updates are limited, and there are no new major additions here for the next-gen. The costumes are quite a lot of fun … just don’t let your mum see you playing White Day with the bikini costumes on …
Overall?White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is truly worth remembering, and deserves its status as a beloved cult classic, among the likes of Clock Tower. There is news of a sequel in the works, which is amazing. Yet is it worth revisiting again if you played on PS4? Sadly, I would say no, unless you wait for a price drop. Not much has been changed visually, to make this worthy of a next-gen release, and the little extra content doesn’t seal the deal. I feel White Day needs a full remake as some elements have not aged too well. But so much is still incredibly well executed, including the intense survival horror gameplay, exploration, and ghost stories that are worth checking out.
And for those who’ve not played White Day, then definitely worth checking out.
++ Excellent horror elements
+ The ghost encounters and lore are thrilling
+ Lots of replay value
-- Visually lacking
- The janitor becomes tedious quickly
- Some outdated elements and poor puzzles
An Xbox One review code for White Day: A Labyrinth Named School was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
