[Terukazu Yoshida's Picture Diary] What Happens If You Watch It All the Way Through? The Meta-Horror Video "Taro-kun Came In"

This time, I’m playing *Taro-kun Came In*, a PC title released by YAMI GAMES! This meta-horror game follows a streamer who explores ruins as you watch a video of him visiting a certain village, trying to figure out what happened to him.

The Steam store page features a close-up image of Taro-kun’s face rendered in a realistic style, giving off an atmosphere that’s somewhat reminiscent of *Kuso Deka Hayashi* or *Darukoromi Hyakurei*.Those titles are comedies disguised as horror, and even I—who’s not a fan of scary stuff—was able to enjoy them with a laugh. So, what about this one…?

◆Taro-kun Went In and Never Came Back…

Taro, a streamer who explores abandoned ruins, was visiting a certain village to celebrate surpassing 50 subscribers. Rumors circulated that in that village, several young girls had once been sacrificed.

The protagonist isn’t Taro-kun… but rather the viewer watching the video Taro-kun filmed. Rumor had it that “you can never play this video all the way through.” That’s because when you finish watching his video, ××× befalls the viewer…

Before the main story begins, you enter your personal information into an account creation form. Since this is a form used for narrative purposes, the information entered here will likely be used within the game. My name is Terukazu Yoshida. I set my address to Ojisan City, Osaka Prefecture.

Next, I answered questions like “Name of your closest family member,” “Name of your closest friend,” and “If you had to betray a friend, who would it be?” When it comes to my family, it’s actually my four beloved cats, but since this is a horror game, I’m sure they’d end up being used in some gruesome way.

Even if it’s just in the game, I can’t let my beloved cats suffer, so I listed my friend Ohara-kun for all those entries.

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He often appears in this series and, despite being married with kids, is a real character who frequently finds himself unemployed. If he were in the game, he’d probably just laugh it off and forgive me even if I died.

What’s more, there’s even an option to choose the sound of your doorbell. He’s definitely planning to make it ring right at the scariest moment in the game! If you pick a sound similar to your own doorbell, that fear will be amplified many times over.

Instead of the chime from my current home, I selected a sound closer to the one at my parents’ house. That way, nostalgia will likely outweigh the fear.

Finally, the main story begins. The game progresses when you play the video displayed on the website in your browser.

Once the video starts playing, the game switches to a section where you control Taro. Taro’s goal is to explore the village and find suspicious spots that would look good on video.

You don’t even have to look for them, though—creepy stuff keeps popping up in the video anyway.

Even while the player is controlling him, Taro-kun keeps talking, explaining the situation to viewers and responding to their comments.

Sometimes you’ll pick up important keywords—when that happens, pause the video and return to your browser.

You can look up the keywords you’ve obtained in detail using the in-game search engine. The search results provide additional context for the story and information that can serve as hints for beating the game. Comments from other viewers can also sometimes serve as clues.

While the video was playing, an error occurred at the same spot, and I couldn’t proceed any further. When I checked the comments, I found a post from a viewer who had encountered the same error, and using that as a clue, I was able to resolve it. In this way, I keep watching the video by switching back and forth between Taro-kun’s segment and the viewer segment.

Later, using information found on the website, he obtained a blunt weapon and forced open the locked door of a shrine. That’s vandalism, Taro-kun. You’ve really crossed the line.

Inside the gate was a cave, and Taro-kun, getting carried away, started spray-painting graffiti. Not only did he cross the line, but he even left behind evidence of a crime—oh well.

As he ventures further in, the path is flooded and seems to be a dead end… or so it seems, but Taro-kun boldly pushes forward through the water. Normally, anyone would turn back to avoid getting their wallet or smartphone wet, but Taro-kun just waded right in, splashing through the water. That’s the kind of streamer who’s always looking for that next big viral moment.

Even in superhuman action games, some characters have a breath gauge that hits zero and results in “Game Over” if they stay underwater for too long, while others can stay submerged indefinitely.

It’s not exactly karma for his past mischief and criminal acts, but I couldn’t help but wonder, “I wonder how Taro-kun would fare?”—a mischievous thought just popped into my head. Since this is something that happened in the video, it’s not like I made him do it—he’s doing this on his own…!

I was able to clear it in about four hours.

The gameplay mechanic—gathering information while watching the video and solving puzzles by relying on hints from the comments section and search results—is fascinating, resulting in a meta-horror experience that goes beyond simply watching a video.As I watched Taro-kun’s actions, I found myself wondering, “What’s going to happen next…?” and was so hooked on what would come next that I ended up watching it all the way through. That said, I was the one controlling Taro-kun.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I initially thought it was a horror comedy, but it turned out to be a full-fledged horror game. The horror elements were fairly mild, so even someone like me who isn’t great with horror was able to enjoy it all the way through.

"Taro-kun Went In" is currently available for PC (Steam).

ソニー ゲーミングイヤホン INZONE Buds:WF-G700N Fnatic監修/ワイヤレス / 低遅延2.4GHzワイヤレス接続 USBType-Cトランシーバー同梱/LE Audio対応/アクティブノイズキャンセリング/立体音響 / 最大約24時間バッテリー / 急速充電/マイク付き / PS5 スマホ PC Switch グラスパープル
￥20,800
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ソニー ゲーミングイヤホン INZONE Buds:WF-G700N Fnatic監修 / ワイヤレス / 低遅延2.4GHzワイヤレス接続 USBType-Cトランシーバー同梱 / LE Audio対応 / アクティブノイズキャンセリング / 立体音響 / 最大約24時間バッテリー / 急速充電 / マイク付き / PS5 スマホ PC Switch ホワイト
￥20,798
(価格・在庫状況は記事公開時点のものです)

Amazon

楽天市場