This is primarily a review for YIIK I.V, as someone who experienced the older versions of the game secondhand.

YIIK, at it's core, is a pretty misunderstood game. People compared it to Earthbound, went in expecting a quirky Earthbound style story, and got mad when it was really a very introspective story told to you by a chronic liar of a narrator that expects you to scrutinize everything told to you, and, in truth, does not have a happy ending, despite Alex's own insistence. In my eyes, the battle system was the game's biggest fault. The game markets itself as "A Postmodern RPG", so it is vital to approach it from a postmodern lens, or the story it tries to tell will be practically invisible to you.

YIIK I.V. is a total overhaul of the game. The aesthetics are made stronger, there are now animated cutscenes, it's made very clear that Alex's monologuing is intended to be kind of annoying, some characters get more scenes to make them feel much more distinct, and the battle system has been 100% redone into a very unique and enjoyable system. These don't make the game perfect by any means, but they would, in my eyes, bump what was a 5/10 to about a 7/10. The story is a bit easier to parse, battles aren't a slog, and overall it's a great little package.

What I, and many other people likely weren't expecting, was the additional content after you finish the story. The original primary ending has been completely rewritten, leading into a segment that I will be very sparse on details for, (although I will in a spoilered comment on this review, to prevent people from accidentally spoiling themselves), but said content felt challenging, fun, and gives enough additional story for me to bump YIIK I.V. to an 8.5/10. Not a perfect game by any means, but one I can say I did very much enjoy.