There’s something consummate and dedicated about One-Eyed Likho – it’s a game adaptation of a Slavic folktale while also serving as a kind of mini-encyclopedia about that folktale and its many variations. Having spent some five and a half hours with it, playing the game to conclusion, I can’t help but feel like I’ve lived through a musty, but fascinating library tome.
In Slavic mythology, Likho is the embodiment of misfortune, depicted as a scary old woman with one eye (hence, One-Eyed Likho). The tales that feature her cling to certain set motifs, which are illustrated both figuratively and literally in the game.
A drunk smith in some remote corner of Russia decides he wants to see ‘evil’ in the world – you know, the evil everyone talks about. He’s joined by a tailor who has the same idea, and together they set out on a night journey through a forest. They come across a cottage, and on stepping into it, their surreal journey into the domain of Likho begins.
One-Eyed Likho might be described as a walking simulator with puzzles, but it also revolves around a matchbox that you must use to illuminate your environment and also burn up obstacles. The crisp sound of a match being lighted never gets old, nor does the rhythm of waiting for the match to be used up and then tossing it away. As I explored the bizarre environments of the game, the simple matchstick was sometimes my only tether to reality.
As the smith goes deeper and deeper into Likho’s world, he also comes across locked chests with simple visual puzzles. These chests contain a page detailing one variation of the Likho tale, going all the way back to Homer’s Odyssey and Polyphemus the cyclops, while also passing through Sinbad the Sailor from the Arabian Nights.
I found these folk tale variations fascinating reads, all of which were sourced from real literature, and unfurled as a remarkable comparative study of one tale told across many cultures.
Coming back to the main game itself, however – the appeal starts to drain as you realise that much like any other folk tale, there’s a lot that doesn’t make sense, likely because the context has been lost to time.
The smith goes through one puzzling trial after another, witnesses baffling and ominous sights, and of course, undergoes the very tale he has been reading over and over through the game. Perhaps the lesson is that if you go looking for misfortune, you can never escape it, no matter how well-informed you are.
The game features some very striking black-and-white visuals in its boxy aspect ratio cutscenes. A wheel rolls over a heap of corpses, a grave keeps descending to the chant of despair, the very moon changes phases at your whim. The presentation is all very arthouse in feel, and I would not have it any other way.
One-Eyed Likho does well to demonstrate the capability of indie games in furthering folk culture, and I think it makes a solid entry in any walking sim collection as a result. It is also, however, quite oblique and its sheen wears off as its surreal order of events goes on. Once all is said and done, it won’t linger in your memory as anything other than a strange Slavic folk tale.
Developer: Morteshka
Country of Origin: Russia
Publisher: Morteshka
Release Date: July 28, 2025 (PC)
The PC version of the game was played for this review of One-Eyed Likho (official website, Steam).
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