Yokai

Activity

• Talking in voice chat in the same room as it raises its activity by 30 points.
• Music Box: it has to be within 2.5 m of the box for the event to start (5 m for other ghosts). And the cursed hunt that starts when it reaches the box only triggers if the box is within 0.5 m of its head (1 m for other ghosts). That’s why it doesn’t start instantly if it reaches a crouching player holding the box.

Hunt

• If at least one player talks in voice chat in the same room as it, its threshold temporarily rises to 80%. Otherwise, it’s the standard 50%.
• During a hunt it only hears players and detects held electronics within 2.5 m. Its sight works normally.

Strategy

• It has two clear traits: it hunts more when players are together and talking nearby, but it has a hard time finding anyone who’s hiding, whether by voice or by electronics. It’s less likely to follow you after losing sight of you several times, and it isn’t drawn to the electronics in your hand unless it’s already very close.
• In theory its 80% threshold is the highest in the game (higher than that of the Demon, not counting its ability, and of the youngest Thaye), but in practice those very early hunts are rare. It has no extra advantage when hunting (it’s actually weaker), so escaping is usually easier.
• In a team it’s a bit more dangerous: there are more people who could be talking nearby and raising its threshold. Less experienced players should keep talking to a minimum until its room is found. On the other hand, talking to it on purpose to make it hunt helps with objectives.
• Contrary to popular belief, talking nearby doesn’t make it more aggressive, it only raises its threshold. If average sanity is already below 50%, talking nearby changes nothing: there’s no need to stay quiet anymore.
• The Sound Recorder (especially Tier II and III) records from farther away than the Yokai detects electronics. From a good hiding spot you can record it as it hunts past without it detecting you, and get a high-reward piece of media.

How to identify it

• During a hunt, stand a short distance from the ghost but out of its sight (ideally near a hiding spot) and turn on an electronic device or talk in voice chat. If it doesn’t come for you, especially if it makes the device malfunction and still walks past, it’s probably a Yokai. The interference range is slightly greater than the distance at which most ghosts detect the device.
• Don’t confuse it with the Banshee, which ignores everyone but its target during a hunt (if the target is inside the investigation area). Be especially careful on Nightmare, because they share two evidence.
• The Monkey Paw wish to unblock a hiding spot lets the ghost hear the voice and electronics of whoever made the wish from any distance, canceling the Yokai’s weakness. That makes the test much harder, and impossible when playing solo.

Trivia

In Japanese folklore, yōkai (妖怪, “strange apparition”) is a broad term for unexplained phenomena, supernatural apparitions and spirits, which can take all kinds of forms, from animals to objects.

Change history

Version	Change
0.29.6	Added the Yokai.
0.3.0	Before this version, its evidence was Spirit Box, Ghost Orb and Ghost Writing.
0.5.0	Talking near it increases its activity.
0.17.0	Can no longer hear the Music Box from too far away.