I'm going gaga for this rhythm game where a psychotic anime girl is trying to convert me to the ways of her 2D waifu one deranged song at a time

Yunyun Syndrome!? Rhythm Psychosis — (Image credit: Alliance Arts)

As someone who plays a lot of arcade rhythm games, Yuynyun Syndrome!? Rhythm Psychosis is a who's-who of big hardcore composers in the space: REDALiCE, t+pazolite, Laur, P*Light… basically anyone currently under the HARDCORE TANO*C label. Which might mean a big load of bunk to you, but to me? It means I can confidently say this game is gonna be a good'un, especially after an hour with its demo.

That's if you can deal with the denpa-ness of it all, which thankfully I am fully equipped to handle. Some might even go so far as to say I enjoy it. Yunyun Syndrome is bizarre and creepy, dressed up in wailing anime girls and pinky-purple hues that almost offset how unsettling the entire experience is, both in its visuals and denpa-heavy song list.

Qtie is a hikkikomori—a shut-in, someone who has essentially withdrawn from life beyond the comfort of their room—regularly seeking solace in the arms of anonymous internet shitposting and worshipping her favourite fictional character Yunyun while teetering on the edge of insanity.

That insanity only ramps up when Yunyun—again, literally a fictional 2D anime girl—starts talking to Qtie through her computer, encouraging her to go ham with Yunyunposting and entrance even more people into the Yunyun lifestyle.

Yunyun Syndrome takes place exclusively through Qtie's PC: the game looks like a little desktop with different icons and folders to click on. Some of them help you dive further into what life is like for Qtie—I text her "mommy" asking her to come home. She responds with a bunch of emojis that were the graphic design equivalent of "fuck you". I can get a better shot of her bedroom, too—a space strewn with trash, Yunyun merchandise poking out between the plastic waste bags.

And all of this is even before I get into the main meat of Yunyun Syndrome, its rhythm game portion. The tracklist is, unsurprisingly, a veritable hub of strange, intentionally off-key tunes. J-Pop artist Kotoko dominates most of the demo list here with some classic tracks like sakuranbokissu and Raspberry. But there's also some neat extra additions, like the theme song from fellow denpa-themed videogame Needy Streamer Overload, and Touhou arrangement Marisa Stole the Precious Thing.

Songs are divided into three difficulties across nine levels, and I did find the jump between Level 6 and Level 7 tracks a little too wide—with the former being incredibly easy for me while the latter quickly flung me into finger-breaking territory. Charts only require four buttons, and hitting notes sees Qtie type her obsessive words of praise along the bottom of the screen. The better you do, the more Yunyun propaganda Qtie is able to spread, with the ultimate goal seeming to be causing the entire world to devolve into the same brainrotted otaku degeneracy.

All the while, Yunyun hovers along the screen lavishing Qtie with praise. I will admit the dialogue leans a little too heavily into gen alpha internet brainrot slang for my liking—I visibly recoiled upon reading the phrase "Time to skibidi denpa all up in this bihhh!" and there's also a rizz percentage that I wasn't quite able to figure out in the demo—but considering it was turning me insane as I played, maybe that was the whole point.

I wasn't sure what I'd make of Yunyun Syndrome when I first downloaded it—high-quality rhythm games (that aren't mechanically bolted onto metroidvanias, platformers, and rail shooters as a side-piece) can feel few and far between. But between its disconcerting music, cute-crazy animations and excellent voice acting, I can already tell this game is going to have me spreading the Yunyun agenda before long.

Unfortunately there's no firm release date right now—the game was recently delayed into a vague window of "this winter," but you can still check out the demo and wishlist the game on Steam right now.

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.

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