A haunted mansion of tension, terror, and tiny triumphs.
Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol is a one-of-a-kind horror game made by a small group of people who were deeply influenced by the works of famous manga artist Junji Ito. Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol isn’t a straight adaptation of any one story, but it takes a lot from Ito’s art style and way of telling stories. The creators got ideas from several Ito works and combined known themes into a single, playable haunted house experience.
The idea for this project came from a love of Ito’s weird and scary movies, not from a desire to make money. The team worked hard to capture the unease, tension, and creeping fear that are typical of Ito’s work.
This makes it clear that Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol is mostly for people who read his manga. Some textures and text fragments were made by AI, which the developers have admitted to using. However, the bulk of Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol was carefully made to keep the visual and atmospheric integrity of Ito’s art.
For people like me who don’t really like manga but have a lot of respect for Ito’s work, this game stands out as a short, well-thought-out experience that is both a love letter to the artist and a stand-alone scary house journey.
You play as Yota Takahashi, a college student who wakes up in a huge Western-style house and has no idea how he got there.
At the start of the story, there are only jumbled memories, a broken phone, and a creepy feeling that something very bad is happening. As you look around, you come across two more characters: a strange young woman who looks a lot like Tomie, one of Ito’s most famous characters, and a strict female detective. As they try to get away, the three form a tense and uneasy partnership that helps them solve puzzles and avoid danger.
From the very beginning, the house makes you feel like something is wrong. Doors move, hallways bend, whispers reverberate through the halls, and small, unsettling routines hint at horrors that are just out of reach. Fans of Ito’s work will notice right away that there are visual and thematic references to it, such as floating heads, bloodstained vanities, grotesque statues, and twisted architecture.
But the story falls short in how it’s told. It’s fun that the story has monsters and well-known characters, but it lacks emotional depth. The way the characters talk to each other is stiff or overly dramatic a lot of the time, and the connection to Ito’s famous Tomie isn’t explored enough. Players will feel like they are going through a spooky gallery of Ito references instead of a fully fleshed-out plot because the story is more like a collection of creepy short stories than a single story arc.
Instead of fighting, the main part of Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol is exploring the mansion, working puzzles, and avoiding enemies. Yota isn’t a fighter, and he doesn’t have any guns or flamethrowers. To stay alive, you need to be sneaky, aware of your surroundings, and good at setting traps. There are many places to hide, dangerous environments, and interactive features in the house that can slow down or hurt enemies that are chasing you.
Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol does a great job of building stress through its mechanics.
In one famous early part, for example, you have to hide in a closet while an enemy that looks like a mannequin hunts you. The AI is responsive; if it senses your presence, it will open the closet door. This requires exact timing and close attention. Some parts add traps that can be set to hurt or slow down enemies, which makes the game more strategic.
Combat and enemy mechanics, on the other hand, have their limits. There isn’t much difference in the enemies, and fights tend to feel like they happen over and over again. The only big exception is the fight with Rin the Boss, which has been attacked for getting too hard. Unlike other enemies, Rin will keep chasing you, but she doesn’t follow a routine, and her stamina quickly runs out. If there aren’t any checkpoints, this fight might feel unfair, which would turn a scary scene into anger. Even though the creators may have meant for this to be a powerful ending, it ends up showing flaws in the pace and design.
The puzzles are simple, and Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol relies on these simple mechanics to keep things going quickly.
They do their job, but they don’t really test the player beyond simple tasks like observing and placing items. This works well for people who like to breeze through tasks, but it might feel light for people who want more challenging gameplay. The traps and environmental dangers make the battle more interesting, but as was already said, the limited enemy types make them less powerful.
There is more tension than movement in battle. Most threats are avoided instead of destroyed, which makes you feel helpless in a way that makes you think of old survival horror games. The AI cleverly follows your last known location, which makes the game’s players feel like they are being chased. But having limited stamina and not being able to save your progress at key points, especially when fighting bosses, are problems that ruin what would otherwise be an immersive experience.
Because the game doesn’t have an experience or progression system, survival depends on the player’s skill, ability to observe, and planning, not on grinding or getting better gear. This works well for the short, tense experience and keeps the horror constant without adding meta-progression that could weaken the sense of urgency.
Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol looks great. The house is detailed and moody, and the lighting and architecture make you feel uneasy all the time. A tense atmosphere is created by shadows, flashing lights, and halls that aren’t straight. Fans of Ito’s work and players who pay close attention will notice small details like grotesque statues and creepy pictures.
But the cutscenes aren’t very good. Using a lot of still pictures and simple animations breaks the immersion, especially when there is a lot of story going on. Even so, the general style does a good job of making you feel uneasy, and the mansion itself becomes a character, with each room telling a small story.
One of the best things about the game is the sound design.
Whispered warnings, creaking floorboards, and other sounds from the surroundings keep the tension high the whole time. There isn’t much music, but it’s used well to break up scary scenes. Players will often have to be careful as they move through rooms because they don’t know if the next sound will be a jump scare or just background noise.
There isn’t a lot of voice acting, and the conversation between characters can feel stiff at times, but the background sounds and environmental audio more than make up for it, keeping the player interested and on edge. The effects of sound and lights work especially well together to make the haunted house feel alive, or at least evil.
An homage to the works of Junji Ito, Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol is a short, atmospheric, and beautifully made game. The game does a good job of building tension, satisfying Ito fans, and giving players a unique haunted house experience. The standard survival horror thrills are brought to life through exploration, stealth, and environmental traps.
The game does have some problems, though. The puzzles are simple, the enemies aren’t very different, and the story, while full of references, isn’t very dramatic. Boss fights, especially with Rin, show where the pace and design are lacking, as the game’s limited stamina and lack of checkpoints make things more frustrating than tense. Some AI-assisted material and cutscenes also take away from the immersion a little.
