- War and Sacrifice, Sin and Faith, The final decision between destruction and redemption.
Arrogation: Unlight of Day is a first-person psychological horror game developed by CORAX Studios.
In 1980s China, you're a lone reporter exploring Yunlin, an abandoned rural village whose occupants mysteriously dissappeared in the 1940s, allegedly massacred during the Japanese invasion in World War II, while on the search for your sister who was last seen in said village. In the midst of your investigation, you uncover deep, dark secrets from the war in the past, and realize the deceased villagers weren't at rest ever since their deaths from four decades ago... who would've known?
Uncover the Mystery of Yunlin Village...
- Always Night: The entire game is set at dusk, except for one stage where you put on a sacrificial mask and sees a vision, which is set in the evening.
- An Arm and a Leg: You can converse with a reanimated corpse who fills you in the details of the village's backstory. Said corpse will remove his own arm for you after the conversation.Reanimated Corpse: Oh listen kid... you don't want to know what happened... do me a favor and I'll tell you, how about that?
You: What favour?
Reanimated Corpse: Don't worry. It's not difficult. In the village, there's an altar built. Just help me bring the sacrifices to her...and then bring back the candles on the sacrifice table.
You: Which sacrifices? Who to bring it to?
Reanimated Corpse: Hoy hoy hoy, I'll take the offerings to you now...you must not lose it.
[rips off own arm] - Apocalypse Cult: As it turns out, the disappearance of the population of Yunlin village's is caused by a Japanese Cult who took over the place and conducted some inhumane experiments on the locals; havingforced the entire village to convert to their cause, they drove the village's population of 2,348 to killing themselves, with 2,236 bearing self-inflicted injuries with rudimentary farming tools. Another 111 set themselves on fire when tools doesn't work, and the last one of the lot, a 6-year-old boy, is left unknown.
- Apocalyptic Log: From a cassette tape you recovered in an empty house early on. It appears to be leftover recording of the village's former inhabitants:It is now... 11.30pm on the 24th.
Just finished my night patrol.
This time we've finally found something.
We saw three dark figures passing in the mountains
But when we try to catch up, the shadows had all disappeared.
Faster than ever.
But although it was just a glimpse, I am sure
That is definitely not the wild wolf mentioned by the village chief and uncle Xie
We've decided to lock up all the iron gates in the village...
But at least this is safe enough... - Bird People: You're attacked by a raven-headed humanoid who appears from out of nowhere in the first stage. It will pursue you relentlessly, claw and peck you to shreds, and ambush you at random times, though thankfully it can't fly despite having wings.
- Black Eyes of Evil:
- You finally defeated the evil priest leader and retrieved your unconscious sister from the sacrificial altar. But as you desperately tries shaking her awake, she then opens her eyes...
- In the final cutscene after you regain consciousness, you have these eyes as well, proving it's not all over yet.
- Blood Magic: The vision from the sacrificial mask can only be activated by blood. You collect said mask and a ceremonial dagger in the same area, and as you reach an altar you then slit open your palm to activate the mask.
- Body Horror: The fireplace zombies, who somehow comes to life without their skin.
- Creepily Long Arms: Shown on some of the zombies, both hostile and non-hostile ones. For instance, the reanimated corpse near the altar has arms that dangles a feet above the floor when it chases you.
- Dead Weight: An extremely overweight zombie appears in the warehouse level, and chase you until you reach an exit. It's thankfully a really sluggish enemy because of it's size.
- Empty Shell: You, in the aftermath. Having lifted the curse and saved your sister from a Human Sacrifice ritual, you try waking her up... only to look into her Black Eyes of Evil. Which makes you pass out in shock; you're eventually found by a second rescue team who then brings you to a hospital in the city, where you regain consciousness 3 months later in a hospital without any memories of the game's events.
- Genuine Human Hide: One of the necessary items you collect is an apparently normal drum, until you add it to your inventory. Turns out it's a "Human Skin Drum".
- Ghost Town: The game takes place in one, located near Nanjing and used to be an urban area until the Japanese invasion forty years ago.
- Human Sacrifice: Practiced by the Yunlin Cult, a sect which took control of the village and ordered the population sacrificed to their pagan gods. You can come across the aftermath of their rituals in several areas, from skinned human bodies hanging from ceilings to piles of skeletons and dismembered limbs and a circle of badly-burnt human figures around a campfire, most of them still standing upright... it isn't a pretty sight. The game's climax sees you trying to prevent your sister from becoming the latest victim.
- Implacable Man: The Raven-demon man, who seems to be the game's analogue to Nemesis, who keeps popping out at random and pursuing you.
- Jump Scare: The game employs this time-to-time; for instance, one room sees you being spotted by two hostile zombies, and in a cutscene one of the zombies - exposed eye-holes and all - roars into the camera
, with a Gross-Up Close-Up. Even though in-game, you're nowhere near the undead. - Nothing Is Scarier: Employed by the game, to surprisingly effective levels. Most of the game is completely silent, doesn't have background music, and unlike other Survival Horror entries it averts throwing swarms and swarms of undead at you, with most areas having enemies countable on one hand. Yet a dark, silent abandoned house or an empty courtyard with bodies surrounding a still-burning bonfire is more than enough to unnerve a player.
- Ominous Music Box Tune: Early in the game, you're exploring an abandoned house when a music box suddenly starts playing.
- Our Zombies Are Different: You can come across zombies in the game, but their levels of sentience tends to vary. For instance, of the badly-burnt remains of the 111 villagers who chose to kill themselves via Self-Immolation in the village square, one (which you can interact with) will come to life when approached, however it averts classical depictions of zombies by being completely sentient, giving you answers on the village's backstory.
- Run or Die: You're a journalist in this game instead of a soldier or policeman (like most Survival Horror games out there), so when confronted with hostile zombies or the Raven-man, your best hope is to simply run like crazy until you lose them.
- Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: Your quest went from seeking your missing sister to discovering the conspiracy of a decades-old ancient cult, and trying to prevent her from being sacrificed, but unfortunately if the final cutscene is any indication, you didn't quite succeed.
