My Iyashikei Game
My Iyashikei Game
By I Can Fix Air-Conditioners
Completed
110037 Views
855 Chapters
4.19
21 Reviews
Police officer, would you believe me if I say this is an Iyashikei game? — Translator’s Summary: Han Fei is a comedy actor who is down on luck. Things seemed to be turning for the better when he was given an expensive gaming helmet to a virtual reality game called Perfect Life, a soothing iyashikei (slice-of-life) game that heals one’s soul. Little did he know what he thought was heaven was actually a hell filled with terrifying ghosts and vengeful spirits.
CH 146
Disappointing horror novel from author of "My House of Horrors" MHoH.
This is what happens when China's censorship on supernatural stories goes out of whack.
3/5 stars... really tried to bump it up to at least 4, but I felt that doing so would instead be a disservice to MHoH which I rated 5/5.
SUMMARY
A seemingly normal, socially-withdrawn aspiring actor Han Fei, is given a headset for a new VR game by a mysterious old shopkeeper. As Han Fei discovers a hidden "supernatural" world within the game, he has to overcome horror challenges to survive, while gaining powers and uncovering the game's mysteries.
COMMENTS
(1) Flawed world building China's censorship law prohibits supernatural themes in media, requiring that there be some kind of scientific explanation. That's why there are little to no horror titles, and most are lamely explained away as psychosis or aliens.
This restriction really shows up in this novel as it forces the author to create a fictitious VR world. There are two layers -- a normal surface one, and a ghostly cryptic one. MC just happens to be sent to the cryptic layer.
Spoiler
Around C73-75, the VR world is loosely explained by one of the developers as next-gen photon computers that collate and process so much real-life human data, that it seems to go beyond normal simulation. It's unclear if the "ghosts" are just AI constructs, or something that transcends it (i.e. that the gaming devices are actually an accidental method of isekai/parallel world theory).
But that's way too much of a stretch in tech plausibility, so the more reasonable explanation for now would be AI constructs, which if true would completely destroy the horror theme. Esp since MC constantly treats them as actual former living beings which is just weird. How does he know if it's actually the same person that died? There's never actually any link mentioned anywhere.
You could almost think of it as the "My House of Horror" virtual themepark competitor, where MC Chen Ge himself scoffed at such "fake" constructs.
PM me if if I'm mistaken on this and if there's any evidence before c145 that proves the ghosts are "real". I scoured the novel but couldn't find it.
Horror is horror, because of the unknown.
A great quote from an article in Medium summarized horror as "a controlled fall into the unknown... a very human way to project our worst fears, unspoken questions and worries, and express them in a way everyone can connect to. It takes one of the most primal human emotions -- fear -- and turns it into an avenue for catharsis and release, often with a new kind of understanding."
Creating a "game" element for catharsis is still fine, hence the iyashikei concept. But when EVERYTHING is squarely explained away and gamified, there's no suspense anymore.
-- Pointless stats that are hardly used (Int/Sta/Cha/Lck/Malice/Sanity/Personality) and appear to easily quantify the unknown ghosts
-- Pointless min/maxing (my random stat is now stronger than Ghost Type A, so I can overpower them physically)
-- Pointless 24 hr login requirement, with 3 hr min playtime, 1 mission min completion requirement, blah blah blah blah blah (you're no longer afforded any real build-up and detail on missions, unlike MHoH. You're so focused on clearing missions everyday there's no attachment to any one of them.)
-- Pointless levels with random Exp (no explanation how much Exp per level, MC just randomly levels up)
-- Pointlessly numerous grades (MC starts with Grade G missions... so we're automatically expecting at least 7 levels, Grade A-G). We have little understanding of the differences in grades, because MC completes so many damn missions that are all Grade G and F in the first 100 chapters, with no discernable change in difficulty level other than being told he's "more likely to die". How??
Let's use actual horror video games as a reference, and you can see how that juxtaposes with a reading medium like a webnovel.
There is usually some RPG element with min-maxing functions where players can equip/upgrade themselves. But there are at least two very different routes.
-- Games like "Fatal Frame" and "Phasmophobia" are more laid-back, discovery type genres with limited inventory. This is the route MHoH went through, and fits very well into passive, spectator type perspective like reading a novel.
-- Games like "Dead Space" and "Resident Evil" relies on actively engaging and fighting monsters, basically an adventure-type genre. But it requires an active player taking full control to deliver a strong sense of player agency. This is the route that My Iyashikei Game is trying to follow, and DOES NOT translate well in a medium like a novel.
Also, perhaps due to poor writing for the first 75 chapters, there's a lack of any perceived risk and palpable fear because MC was under the impression that if he died in the game, he WOULD NOT die for real (only his character would be reset).
Later it's revealed that at least in the cryptic world, in-game death for the MC would result in coma.
You should just assume MC knew that from the beginning, else it makes the first 100 chapters really boring.
The ultimate failure of all this is that you end up way more interested in MC's real life as a famous actor than his escapades in the VR ghost world. Especially since MC can use his newfound powers.
(2) Weak, incongruent MC This was the biggest problem for me. You have a socially withdrawn/anxious MC Han Fei that doesn't do well when around other people. But he's also an actor, which necessitates he's around other people. Huh??
Han Fei is supposed to be a lifelong passive, kind-hearted do-gooder. But somehow within a short few days in VR, he turns into a highly calculative, manipulative person. He learns to lie and think quickly on his feet (despite no change to his Int stat). Huh??
As per @DarkD, Han Fei's relationship with the police is completely implausible.
Han Fei doesn't do any crime-busting besides soliciting info from VR cryptic/ghost world (i.e. he's just a tipster). He conjures info for the police out of nowhere, and nobody questions him. Literally, he responds with "I used logical deduction." End of story. Seriously??
Chen Ge from MHoH was an active vigilante/Good Samaritan so he could plausible solve crimes since he's always at crime scenes.
Han Fei doesn't go anywhere and he's just supposed to magically produce evidence. Huh?? If his power is to experience what the victim went through, take a cue from "Movies Are Real". At least that development was better.
(3) Unrelatable cast of characters Unlike MHoH where MC Chen Ge slowly interacts with psychotic criminals before actively confronting with powerful specters, our MC Han Fei goes straight into the deep end starting from a haunted apartment complex.
He immediately confronts various horror scenes where people/ghosts inexplicable want to kill him on sight for no apparent reason. We're given ZERO backstory before all this happens, which is confusing.
When Han Fei does meet up with friendly ghosts, they are totally unrelatable and episodic.
Spoiler
  • A random amalgamation of 7-8 specters in his apartment, we don't know why they are there except being mu*dered by 1 guy). We don't find out much till dozens and dozens of chapters later.
So, am I supposed to relate to being randomly mu*dered?
  • A granny who adopted 3 kids, some of which backstabbed her. We don't find out why until dozens and dozens of chapters later. Even when we do, they are totally unrelatable since granny was just unlucky enough that 2 of the kids are naturally psychotic. Huh?
So, am I supposed to relate to unfortunately adopting psychotic kids?
  • A shadow child who lures other children into his apartment. We don't find out why...
  • A beautiful mu*deress with a penchant for flesh. We still don't know why she's there even after MC is friendly with her....
Contrast this with MHoH, where the circumstances that led to the ghosts' death are often known ahead of time or quickly discovered (there's actual build-up to understanding the ghosts). We can often empathize with the ghosts' situations. And the focus of MC Chen Ge is how to use the info to counter them.
(4) Similar webtoon So this novel was supposedly published on Qidian 1/25/2021, and I'm inclined to trust the author's authenticity. That said, there's a webtoon with REALLY similar beginnings called "Movies Are Real", first published on Kakao around 2/28/2021. At least for the 1st horror case of playing the victim, "Movies Are Real" wrote it way better, maybe in hindsight.
(5) True purpose of My Iyashikei Game MIG?? Totally speculating here, but I almost have a sneaky suspicion that this was a throw-away novel written by author, with loose-references to MHoH.
Spoiler
-- Red specters are occasionally mentioned
-- You have "Building Managers" in MIG, alluding to the "Door Pushers" in MHoH which control entire buildings/infrastructure
Maybe by creating a sci-fi element in MIG, the author is sneakily allowing himself a path to continue publishing the supernatural elements in his REAL novel MHoH, without being forced by Chinese censorship to make edits??
65
0
2023-07-11
CH 301
If you guys are hesitating cause of thr vr and the weird description. Just don't. Believe in the author, who gave us my house of horrors. Yep, vr game got risks and is deeply related to real life and is not just a bunch of codes. MC is not another Chen Ge, but he is as smart and got great character development. So give him a chance.
Great novel. Whatever kkgoh writes is plain bullshit. Yep, I have read My house of horrors.
  1. The dude is hating the author for adding vmmorpg aspects to it. What the hell is the author supposed to do, when chinese3 government banned horror unless it has an scientific explanation or its in vr world.
  2. Cant believe people don't get it, its not a f*cking video game, its disguises as such. So they are not just a bunch of games. The horror alternate world is based on games, so yeah there will be stats, missions, mission rating. Author is doing all he can so roll with it.
  3. Unlike s*upid readers the MC knew, death in the game will nit be as simple as a simple reser, so he took the game as life and death from the beginning. Later it is revealed that death in game will result in cerebral death or brain death. A brain has absolutely zero chance of living.
  4. The vulnerabilities about the MC is the greatest thing about the novel. MC in the beginning was just a normal guy who is spooked by someone knocking his bathroom doors at night. He is nit a crazy guy with firm will, nor is he a man with very strong body with great strenght. Doesn't mean he is s*upid though. But like a normal person he faces tough scenarios, go through lots of emotions and becomes braver and braver till the earliest sh*t barely fazes him. Earlier all he wanted to do was to escape from the game, but as he interacts with ghost and knows their stories he slowly changes and wants to turn the twisted iyashikei game into a real one. And no iyashikei is not just a comedy stuff.
  5. Can't relate to getting mu*dered. Wow, just wow. Ghosts attacking people cause they are ghosts.
  6. Iyeshikei game is basically a more polished version of of MHOH, won't say better but is definitely more polished.
The stuff that made MHOH great, iyesekai game got it.
Props to lonely tree for translating it for practically free and with such great grammar quality. Love you bro.
35
0
2023-07-11
CH 501
So this is a LOT like My House of Horror. The author clearly wanted to write something for the exact same audience with a few minor revisions. Imagine if MHoH was remade with acting as the protagonists job instead of House of Horrors operator. The problem is that many of the flaws from My House of Horrors are magnified this time. The author does great ghost stories, but terrible human interaction.
There are some improvements. My House of Horrors felt like pokemon for ghosts. The protagonist would simply overwhelm any ghost story with his uber powerful ghosts and a lot of ghost stories were deflated like that. This problem has largely been fixed as the protagonist has to do the harder missions with only a small amount of items. So he has to actively hide from the wandering ghost stories or beat them with intelligence.
Another change this time the ghosts aren't accessing the real world (so far) but they are stuck in another dimension (think Dimensional Sovereign).
Things I love about this author
His horror is top notch fun to read. NOTE: I don't find horror novels scary. Rather, I find them extremely fun. I love monsters that are bound by obscure and weird rules. One ghost will be extremely powerful, but he won't hurt you unless you turn around to see him.
Edit: I take it back a little. His horror stories have degraded. This feels like Dragonball where every season feels like it needs to top the previous one. So this new series has completely given up on doing simple horror stories right from the start. The early antagonists are almost cartoonish with how evil they are. In My House of Horrors you could identify with the horror stories and it only started to get cartoonish later on. Cartoonish is the starting point now.
I also love that this author comes up with unique idea after unique idea. I think this can largely be attributed to horror/litRPG being almost entirely unexplored, but props where they're due.
Once again we have LonelyTree translating. Absolutely top of the line translator. And FAST. Note, you can get about 30+ unreleased chapters on patreon. More chapters for more money. I am getting the full backlog myself for about $27.
Things that I hate about this author.
I'm also not sure the author understands what he's good at. As with MHoH, there are features I loved early on that are being thrown out or watered down later in the story.
When the author incorporates the real world, the character interactions between normal people are almost cartoonish. "Han Fei is the most empathetic person the ghosts had ever seen. His words were like rain in the desert..."
Han Fei like Chen Ge in MHoH is helping the police solve crimes again. And just like in MHoH, the interactions make no sense at all. If someone like Han Fei or Chen Ge came into the police station with half the information he provided the police, the police would make him reveal his sources then tell him to keep away from the investigation while the "professionals" handled it. End of story. At best they might bring him in as a consultant at a crime scene.
Han Fei is also like Chen Ge in that he makes ridiculous emotional appeals to the families of victims that would never work in reality.
30
0
2023-07-11
CH 123
The MC enter a VR game that boasted to give the player Iyashikei life ( a healing life where every single moment makes a person fully feel the appreciation towards life, world, and people ). The game that should give a player a happy life full of smiles, actually turn into a bloody horror life when the MC enter. Is this a failure in the game system? Or perhaps this bloody horror life actually hid many secrets inside that could make the MC achive the "Perfect Dream Life" he always wanted to have?
When forced to pariticipate in the game min. 3 hours every day, the MC who lived his life boringly finally realize the beauty of such a "boring" reality, after he spent night full of horror. Perhaps this game indeed create the "Perfect Life", as in making the MC realize nothing beat the beautiful reality, not even the fake Virtual world.
Or perhaps... something else entirely, because
Spoiler
MC has hidden past. This past is influencing his deepest thought. The world full of horrors that appear in the VR of "Iyashikei Life" he attempted to have actually have more meaning. Every monster, every ghost have their stories. Every malicious being has their story. The pain, regret, malice, griefs, and sorrow that those monster and ghost experienced in their life before have turned them into what they are currently.
Attempting to make those monster who have deep regret and pain finally smile and liberating their sentiments... perhaps is what the MC has always wanted to do. His Iyashikei life, his Perfect Dream Life is perhaps... relieving the pain and regret of the human who died unjustly and had been turned into malicious ghost due to their death...
If it were so, then what exactly happened in MC's life, and what actually hidden behind the kind soul and naive front that the MC had?
Well, the novel is still ongoing and the answer is barely there, LOL~
22
0
2023-07-11
CH 1
I know that some people would say that it's still too early to give a review, but I have enough trust in the author and the translator to put this here.
The horror genre isnt something we see a lot of, and probably one of the best, if not the best, out there is "My House of Horrors" The novel by the same author of this one, if you read that one, you should know why I'm saying that, if you haven't you really should give it a try, even if you don't like horror, most of the people I recommended it to said that it wasn't like how they expected it to be, it's a great unique novel that you need try.
And from my trust in the author, and the few chapters they I've read of this one, I can say that this will be another great novel too, so please give it a chance😍😍😍🎉🎉
15
0
2023-07-11
CH 261
I've read the raws up until c106, and I can confidently say that this is very similar (maybe perhaps an improved version) of My House Of Horrors. So, if you like the author's previous work, you will like this. You will feel the same emotions you felt while reading MHOH, but instead of improving a Haunted House, the MC is cracking old cases. If the ghost is treated horribly in life, he will hunt down the mu*derers and make them suffer/offer them to the ghost too. There is more of a game system here and doing those tasks makes him level up. After leveling up, he obtains skill points and attribute points that also levels him up in real life.
EDIT: I'm at c260 and the story is getting better and better. Really like this.
13
0
2023-07-11
CH 701
So, A basic premise of this novel is,
Weirdly, An actor with social anxiety, Han Fei is fired from his studio due to nepotism or favoritism (IIRC). After that, He spends his days like a recluse, in a depressed state; Coming out only to buy food or video games. Seeing this, The old shopkeeper sells Han Fei a VR game that promises its player a perfect relaxing VR experience, soothing their souls and washing all stress or anxiety; Hence, The name of the game, is "Perfect Life".
Han Fei logs into the game and slowly realizes something is weirdly off about this game. The "NPCs" act weirdly. The setting doesn't really suit the promoted theme of the game. And apparently, He is stuck in the game until He finishes any one mission and stays a minimum of 3 hours logged in the game. What is this game hiding? What is his perfect life? Is his life at stake here? The answers remain a mystery but this very recent recluse will do whatever it takes to survive! Be it running into terrifying ghosts or helping police solve decades-old mystery cases and fight supercriminals whilst regaining his professional life as an actor.
Now, If you've read "My House of Horror", the previous work of the same author, This novel will seem like an alternate version of MHOH with science, technology, and the entertainment industry mixed in instead of a Haunted House business. The main characters, Chen Ge and Han Fei also share quite similar personality traits at first glance. But, I won't go too much into details and just say, Continue reading; The author won't disappoint. This is a polished version, and IMO, the better, MHOH.
As for new readers, I will tell you what to expect.
-Chilling horror scenes.
-Character growth from the MC and clear distinctions and changes being left on MC by the characters
-Great story progression between the real world and the virtual world (Tho virtual, MC's life is at stake here)
-A long but extremely well-connected cast of characters. Like, the backstories of the first 3 ghosts MC interacts with are connected somehow to the characters that appear a long way.
-A really long story. In the MTL version, the Author really pulled a 'Congrats! Tutorials completed successfully!'.
-Cool scenes. A lot of them.
-Kinda half confirmed half ambiguous romance. It has been hinted at many times already. But, I assume the author will tie the knot at the end of the story at this pace.
-Mystery. So much, It will make your brain hurt.
-Damn great cast of characters. Familial love with all.
And many more great points. Any problems you have with this series may be a little bit of repetition after 300-400 chapters, But The repetition will disappear soon. I don't wanna make it too long so that's it. :D
11
0
2023-07-11
CH 1
It was okay at the beginning. The slow burn of getting into the horror (a.k.a getting along with lot of ghosts) was quiet bearable. But it's just like a recycled MHoH with some bad spices
  • 1star for the ghost descriptions. At least, for creating ghost characteristics, author got bunch of imaginations
Reasons why I gave it 1star
  • While it had a unique good plot, it was a turned off for me (couldn't blame author if it was due to gov's regulation) starting from GAME-inside-GAME arc. This was dating arc, and ofc soft-HAREM
  • Using background such as 'intelligent city' and 'praise advanced tech' was to please gov's side. But ended up making it like 'HEY, the game you're playing now ahout to mix with reality' (for every player, not only MC) and yes, it's cringey like AYAKASHI GAME was that good to make most people couldn't live without it. The stereotypical important-game genre of manhwa. AND YES, different from MHoH which was not that obvious. It shown how chuunibyou author was trying to make the MC. He was a depressed adult, a failure one at jobs, couldn't smile, couldn't attract opposite/same gender, awkward bump.. seemed like nothing special. But voila ~ a spin of fate, he was a hero to save the world, to keep balance of two worlds
  • Ghost had a lot of background story with ONE similarity, they're pitiful and met misfortune while alive. BUT somehow the living human that became MC's allies was sharing ONE similarity which was ALONE, ANTI-SOCIAL, in short it's just MC A, MC B, MC C, et. al. A doctor, good at talking but actually loner due to hobby.. a bottleneck-good actor but actually loner too and had an AI wife. In romance shoujo, it would be: MC was platinum blonde with red ruby eyes, his loyal friend was sun blonde with ruby eyes, and his another good friend with a black jade hair & eyes. No red hair, no brunette, no brown
  • Save by plot-armour, almost taken by death. He was playing game. He could log off when there's no solution about his situation (such as dead end when tried to running away from ghost)
  • His talent related to acting became profound bcs playing the game. Dude, it felt like if Ayakashi Game was real and there's someone who got this deadly game, it would make them hysterical or have schizophrenia. BUT here MC became gary stu instead he got talent, popularity, money, honor
  • The last (?), Idk, I skipped some last arc's chapters, antagonist was meh. Author tried to give a complicated background, but it's quiet bland. From what I read, (was he? CMIIW I skipped some chapters), he was good-looking (at least above average), pitiful for exchanged at birth, actually charismatic, pretty smart, got a kind & loyal wife. I guess a completely difference person from MC but both had their own misfortune. Just blackened it with irrational mind and heartless damaged-soul
  • As usual, living female sucks. Dead woman was the best. They helped MC, they're loyal, they would go under immense pain if it helped MC, they're not that good at socialising either, but they're feared by same speciment (ghost and human) bcs how strong they were. As a ghost, they're unique. More importantly, they're ghost so rarely (actually none of) living man atrracted to them (a.k.a only MC loved for who they were, knew their worth). So there's no word for jealousy, and loyalty was guaranteed
  • The so-called "memory world" arc also quiet annoying after being repeated that many times. His companion ghosts would scattered, or he's alone. Then he 'played' in that "memory world", every time he died, his memory was taken away. Yes, yes, this was GAME-inside-GAME
  • MC could increase his state. Sure intelligence due to brain activity. But his physical state (including agility) somehow also increased.... while he's actually laying down inside a capsule (?)
6
0
2023-07-11
CH 91
Quite like it, it's like My House of Horrors, except way less repetitive and with a much better integrated horror/real life setting. Hope it doesn't degrade over time.
6
0
2023-07-11
CH 91
Quite like it, it's like My House of Horrors, except way less repetitive and with a much better integrated horror/real life setting. Hope it doesn't degrade over time.
6
0
2024-02-15