YAPYAP Review - A Screamingly Good Time (Literally)
There is a special kind of panic that only exists when you are trying to articulate the word "Tempest" into a cheap microphone while a goblin tries to shank you in a dark corridor.
I have played enough "friendslop" games to fill a landfill. You know the type. The janky, low-poly horror extractors designed solely to make streamers scream for clips. Usually, they are lazy cash grabs that stop being fun the moment the novelty wears off. YAPYAP looked like another one of those on the surface, but then I played it. It turns out that replacing the standard "loot the scrap" loop with "break everything like a magical hooligan" is exactly the shake-up this tired genre needed. It is broken, it is unfair, and it is the most fun I have had yelling at my monitor in years.
The Art of Magical Vandalism
Most extraction games make you feel like a victim. You crouch, you hide, you pray the monster doesn't see you. YAPYAP hands you a wand and tells you to be the problem.
Breaking Stuff Beats Stealing Trash
The premise is delightfully stupid. You are a minion summoned by a moon-faced wizard to break into a rival's tower. Your goal is not to steal things. Your goal is to cause property damage. You smash vases. You burn books. You turn furniture into fish. This shift from looting to vandalism changes the entire pacing of the game. You are not creeping around; you are running into a room and setting the dining table on fire because it bumps up your "Chaos Quota." There is a primal satisfaction in watching that number go up just because you decided to urinate on a rug with the Grotesque Wand. It turns the horror into a slapstick comedy where you are the one knocking on the door.
The 3-Night Cycle & The Panic of Extraction
The game runs on a three-night quota system. You hit the target, you extract, you buy better gear. Sounds simple, right? It isn't. The extraction point moves every night, and the only visual cue is a tower with flames on top. Finding this while a timer ticks down is stressful enough, but realizing you have to wait for your idiot friend who got lost in the basement adds a layer of social friction that makes these games great. The game explains absolutely nothing about this, by the way. My first few runs ended in death simply because I didn't know I had to interact with a crystal ball to leave. It is trial by fire.
The Gimmick That Actually Works (Mostly)
The selling point here is the voice recognition. To cast spells, you hold right-click and actually say the incantation. "Aero" pushes enemies back. "Up-Dog" levitates you. "Ignis" sets things on fire.
Voice Recognition: The Highs and Lows
When it works, it feels incredible. You feel like a legitimate wizard, calling out plays and coordinating attacks with your squad. When it doesn't work, it is arguably even funnier. Listening to my teammate frantically scream "BLINK! BLINK! BLINK!" while a giant walking armchair beat him to death is a core memory now. The recognition is surprisingly forgiving, but it does struggle if you have a noisy background or a heavy accent. It also leads to accidental friendly fire. I once launched my friend off a bridge because the game thought my casual conversation was a spell cast.
The Wand Arsenal
You start with a basic Wind Wand (grab it from the tree, please, do not go in empty-handed), but the shop opens up the real toys. The Grotesque Wand lets you sneeze on people or turn enemies into fish. The Fire Wand turns you into a DPS machine. The variety is solid for an initial release, though the grind to get them can feel steep.
The "Friendslop" Reality Check
This is where the cracks in the facade start to show. YAPYAP is an indie game in the truest sense, meaning it is held together by duct tape and dreams.
Solo Play is Dead on Arrival
If you don't have friends, do not buy this game. Seriously. There is no public matchmaking at launch. Playing YAPYAP solo is a miserable experience. The economy is balanced for a group, the monsters are designed to be distracted by multiple people, and the magic comes from the chaos of four people shouting over each other. Solo play is just wandering around a dark room talking to yourself until you run out of stamina. It is depressing.
The Punishing Economy
The economy is my biggest gripe. Gold is shared, but it is scarce. You spend three runs saving up for a Fire Wand, only to die to a bug or a one-shot mechanic and lose it instantly. Losing your gear is standard for the genre, but when it takes an hour to earn it back, it feels disrespectful of my time. The "Wind Wand" becomes useless by Quota 2, but you often can't afford anything else. It forces a "rich get richer" loop where one bad run ruins your entire evening.
Performance, Visuals & The Janky Bits
Visually, the game rocks a "cursed PS1" aesthetic that fits the vibe perfectly. The pixel filter is heavy, maybe too heavy for some, but it hides the low-poly edges well.
Bugs & Stability
I fell through the floor three times. I saw wands clip into the void. I had a crash that wiped a good run. It is janky. You have to accept that going in. The monster AI also fluctuates between "brain-dead" and "seal team six." The Jester, for instance, is a run-ender that feels unfair rather than challenging, often killing you through walls or with zero counterplay if your wand is on cooldown.
The Verdict
YAPYAP is not a polished masterpiece. It is a jagged, buggy, hilarious mess that knows exactly what it is. It creates moments of unscripted comedy that triple-A studios wish they could engineer. For the price of a sandwich, it offers a playground where you can turn your best friend into a fish and then get eaten by a clown.
Is it perfect? No. The lack of matchmaking is a sin, and the economy needs a balance patch yesterday. But is it fun? Absolutely.
7.8/10 he most fun you'll have screaming at a monitor this year, assuming the game doesn't crash while you're doing it.
- Vandalism mechanic is a fresh twist on the genre.
- Voice-activated magic leads to hilarious chaos.
- "Cursed" visual style sets a perfect mood.
- High replay value if you have a full squad.
- No matchmaking makes solo play miserable.
- Economy is too punishing for casual groups.
- Voice recognition can be finicky with accents.
- Frequent clipping bugs and crashes.
