The opening scenes of developer Morteshka’s One-Eyed-Likho are bleak, and not in a thematically compelling way. The environments feel flat, the character models look blocky, there’s a lack of soundtrack, and the animations are stiff and jarring. There’s an immediate lack of visual appeal, and while the monochromatic palette eventually feels meaningful, at first it just adds to the sense of lifelessness. I ended up putting the game down within the first 30 minutes but eventually pushed myself to return so I could finish the review.
Once I crossed into the underworld, however, I was hooked. I played through the entire game in one sitting and was glad to have a reason to push through and see the rest of it.
The Land of the Dead Breathes Life
Once you enter the underworld, One-Eyed Likho confidently finds its stride. The art direction sharpens with more texture, depth, and visual intrigue. Low light becomes a key part of the presentation, helping hide weaker design elements in the shadows while creating a much more immersive and surreal atmosphere. The world becomes twisted and strange, and the lack of color feels intentional rather than a limiting factor.
It embodies elements of early silent films, such as Nosferatu. It should be noted that the game is not silent, and it includes Russian voice acting (with English subtitles) and a minimalistic yet haunting soundtrack. Cutscenes narrow to a 4:3 aspect ratio with blurred edges, playing into the early cinema aesthetic. The environmental storytelling leans heavily into the eerie aesthetic and bleak themes of Slavic fairy tales.
The story follows a blacksmith and a tailor who naively seek to understand true evil by searching for the mythic Likho. Their quest twists into a desperate fight for survival, and the character’s bond develops throughout in a touching way. By the end I cared about these characters enough that their fate had weight.
While the final gameplay sequence is epic and the score swells to match, the final scene fell flat comparatively. There’s ambiguity in the final scene that undercut the emotional payoff and left me feeling like my triumphs didn’t quite matter in the end. But I suppose this is fitting with the folkloric themes where happy endings are near nonexistent. But, regardless, I would have preferred a nice clean bow to wrap up the narrative arc I just experienced.
Matchstick Mysteries
Gameplay in One-Eyed Likho leans heavily on exploration and puzzles. While there’s no combat to be found, there are chase sequences where you’ll need to outrun the Likho. You’ll rely on shadows and environmental cues to escape her grasp. These moments are well-spaced and not overly difficult, adding a welcome tension between the slower periods. The Likho, herself, is genuinely creepy and unsettling. The way she moves (often seen only in silhouette or through the flicker of your matchlight) makes each encounter unnerving without revealing too much. This is a game that understands relying on the player’s imagination can oftentimes be scarier than a full reveal.
The primary mechanic throughout is the use of matches. You’ll use them to light your path, burn away obstacles, and uncover hidden objects or routes. Early on, it’s an effective tool, particularly in narrow dark spaces where the flicker of light or a match burning out builds palpable tension. I appreciated the way the game would occasionally use the sudden plunge into darkness as a moment of horror or to support a surprise reveal. But as the game progresses, the match becomes a crutch. You use it for everything, and there’s little variation in how it’s applied. By the end, I found myself wishing for more key mechanics to freshen up the moment-to-moment gameplay.
That said, the puzzles that support the exploration are well-crafted. Most notably, the collectable lore pages hidden in locked chests were consistently fun to uncover. Each chest is protected by a code you must break by deciphering environmental clues. The puzzles were intuitive and satisfying, and the lore pages you recover tell interesting snippets from historical mythologies. These pages strengthened themes and added to the narrative identity.
There are also dolls hidden around the environment that you can ignite with your match to collect, but they aren’t much fun to find. I didn’t realize they were collectibles until I was a decent chunk into the game, missing my opportunity to find them all. Even then, I didn’t feel particularly interested in searching them out.
A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing
There’s one standout sequence I have to mention. You find yourself gathering wool from singing sheep to craft a disguise. Each time you shear a sheep, they start to sing a haunting little melody that gives away your position to the Likho. You have to carefully explore the environment while avoiding getting caught. The combination of musical cues and stealth felt brilliantly executed. It’s weird, unsettling, and perfectly in line with the dreamy, otherworldly vibe the game excels at.
One-Eyed Likho doesn’t over-explain its references. The game pulls from Slavic folklore throughout, but it doesn’t waste time with heavy handed exposition. It thrusts you into its twisted world and trusts you to explore and uncover meaning through the world book pages or your own research. I appreciated this approach. After finishing the game, I was curious enough to go read more about the game’s source material. It’s a game that rewards curiosity and a willingness to dig deeper.
Unfortunately, there are a few moments where the story telling stumbles. There’s a late-game sequence which involves collecting various artifacts. As you find each one, the game tells you they will explain more about each of them later, which is jarring and confusing. When the artifacts’ significance is later explained, it’s all delivered in one big lore-dump. It breaks the pacing and asks the player to stop engaging with the game to read a bunch of text that should have been explained as you explored and found each.
One-Eyed Likho is a game I didn’t expect to like based on my first impressions, but I’m really glad I stuck with it. What starts as a visually bland and uneven experience grows into a fascinating, folklore-rich journey full of strange moments, eerie atmosphere, and strong emotional beats. It’s not without its flaws. The match mechanic is overused. Some collectibles feel tacked on. And the ending, while epic in presentation, doesn’t deliver a satisfying narrative resolution.
But when the game is at its best, which is most of the back half, it’s haunting, smart, and visually distinct. It delivers a four-hour experience that kept me engaged from the moment I hit the underworld until the final credits rolled. And honestly? I could’ve played more. I always appreciate a game that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
One-Eyed Likho is for players who don’t mind taking their time. It’s a little bit slow, a little strange, and more interested in folklore than jump scares. If you’re looking for something action-packed or traditionally scary, this isn’t it. But if you like games that feel like falling into a dark, ancient fairytale, something strange, cerebral, and a little off-kilter, then there’s a lot here to love.
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