YIIK: A Postmodern RPG — YIIK key art showing bearded red-haired protagonist Alex and party members viewed from above on a stage with instruments and

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG

2019video game controversyclassic

Published October 8, 2026

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is a 2019 indie turn-based RPG from Ackk Studios that became infamous online for its smug protagonist Alex, grinding combat, and a plot beat lifted directly from the death of Elisa Lam. The game turned into a long-running punchline in gaming circles.

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Overview

Alex, YIIK's self-styled hipster protagonist, became shorthand online for insufferable indie-game writing after critics tore into his dialogue over the game's 20-to-25-hour runtime. The PS4 release landed a 54 on Metacritic1, putting it in "mostly unfavorable" territory, with reviewers piling on the plodding turn-based combat, the fiddly leveling grind, and what they described as a forced hipster aesthetic.

The controversy that stuck came from the game's handling of Elisa Lam, the student found dead in the Cecil Hotel's water tank in 20133. YIIK's character Sammy vanishes in an elevator while crying out "Alex, don't let them take me," which lines up almost one-to-one with the surveillance footage of Lam before her death3. The parallel was impossible to miss, and the game earned a second wave of criticism focused on taste rather than mechanics.

Origin & Background

Platform
PC / PlayStation / Switch (release); Resetera and gaming press (viral spread)
Creator
Ackk Studios
Date
2019

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG was developed by Ackk Studios and published by Ysbryd Games, built in Unity, released January 17, 2019 on Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, and Nintendo Switch3. The story is set in the 1990s and follows eight friends trying to work out what happened to a woman who vanished in an elevator3.

The Elisa Lam parallel was baked into the plot rather than added later. Lam's 2013 death became a true-crime fixation years before YIIK's release because of the eerie elevator footage police circulated, and reusing that imagery for a video-game disappearance set piece drew objections on day one3.

How It Spread

Reviews hit the game hard right out of the gate. Destructoid called Alex "insufferably smug" and knocked the game's attempts to court a hipster audience as cliched3, and the 54 Metacritic score on PS41 got cited constantly as a shorthand for ambitious indie flops. YouTube video essays about the game kept trickling out through 2019 and after2.

A Resetera thread about the Elisa Lam parallel drew long replies calling the decision tasteless, with commenters describing the lift as "wrong" and "messed up"3. YIIK kept getting dredged up in gaming discussion any time the topic turned to pretentious indie protagonists or ethically dubious horror references, cementing its reputation less as a game people had played than as a cautionary story people had read about.

Timeline

2013-02-19

Elisa Lam's body is found in a water tank at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles; elevator surveillance footage released days earlier becomes a true-crime fixation[3].

2019-01-17

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG releases on Windows, macOS, PS4, PS Vita, and Nintendo Switch[3].

2019-01

The PS4 version lands a Metascore of 54, with reviewers panning the combat, pacing, and protagonist[1].

2019-01

A Resetera thread spotlights the elevator scene's near one-to-one parallel to the Lam footage, with commenters calling the lift tasteless[3].

Frequently Asked Questions