...Seriously? Even after a headline like that, I still need to say something? How are you not already excited for this game just based on the above scenario alone? Are you really that heartless? Ugh, fine. You're just lucky that Ackk Studios' upcoming game YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is still coming along quite superbly and shaping up to be one damn fine and creative title, meaning that there's more which I obviously want to talk about. RPG demos are always tricky to pull off at events like PAX West, as the hefty focus on narrative and intricate gameplay mechanics can create something that's rather lengthy, but the one found at publisher Ysbryd Games' booth left me walking away satisfied and wanting more of this quirky little gem.

Set in 1999, YIIK begins with a mysterious video of a young woman by the name of Sammy Pak being abducted from an elevator by something appearing to not be of this world. Once the video makes it online, the message boards become obsessed with deducing what happened, going to whatever lengths possible to figure it out. We play as college graduate Alex Eggleston, who after checking the Geocities-styled ONISM1999 message board for conspiracy theorists, gets interested by the kidnapping as well. Soon he teams up with other companions, including those trying to find explanations behind the additional disappearances of loved ones that they feel may be connected.

After taking a quick look around Alex's house, we check the message boards and learn that there was a new sighting of a woman looking similar to Sammy in some nearby caverns. We take a short trip around town first, interacting with some of the locals, visiting hangouts like the arcade, purchasing some spaghetti for health later on, and generally just indulging in the quirky charm and humor of the surroundings, which is well-written indeed. The weird thing about YIIK, though, is how several parts of it feel like an amalgamation of RPGs released by Nintendo. There's the quirky small-town aesthetics of Earthbound, of course, but then you have attacks that require unique timed maneuvers right out the Paper Mario games (such as the previously-mentioned hackey sack example), and even multi-layered dungeons and areas with obstacles that you need special skills to clear, like in the Pokémon titles.

So after traversing the overworld and descending into the caverns with our friends Vella and Claudio, you have to use amps to blast away boulders in your path, your trusty pet cat to activate switches, try and avoid a pinkish ooze that saps your health, and fight off bats, aliens, and animated traffic cones that you can run into. The combat was highly enjoyable, much like the aforementioned Paper Mario games, making sure to include a lot of variety and making things easy to understand. There were a few issues with switching between the skills needed to get past obstacles, but overall, everything still controlled quite well. It also helps that YIIK is absolutely lovely to look at, with the old-school polygon visuals used just perfectly and cartoonish expressions and details helping to accent things.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time with YIIK before the more surreal bits of the story (involving the potential end of the world and whatnot) could appear. That said, what I did experience still suggested a fantastic RPG indeed, one that oozes enjoyability from every corner that is equal parts colorful, crazed, comedic, cute, and clever. Undertale comparisons are somewhat unavoidable (even though YIIK has been in development well before that game's release), with Toby Fox even contributing to the soundtrack, but those who enjoyed last year's surprise hit, or even any unique RPG in general should get a kick out of this. And again, you get to kill an alien with a hackey sack. I mean, come on. YIIK: A Postmodern RPG should be due out sometime this year for PC, PS4, Vita and Wii U, with the PS4 and Vita versions even getting physical releases with the help of Limited Run, so watch out for those.