White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

Overview

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is a re-imagining of the Korean horror game of the same name that was initially released by Sonnori in 2001. Just like the original title, White Day is a first-person adventure game about a student trapped inside his high school after dark while being hunted by a murderous janitor that stalks the school's halls. The remake was created by a company founded by the development team of the first White Day called ROI Games along with another developer named Gachyon Soft.

The title was released in South Korea for Android devices on November 19, 2015 with an iOS release following soon after on December 18th. White Day would later be released internationally on March 11, 2016 for both Android and iOS, however sometime in April the game was re-branded as "The School: White Day" on all English mobile store fronts. A PC and PlayStation 4 port of the remake was later released in 2017 and PQube published these versions in the West under the game's original title, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School. A prequel to White Day, called White Day: Swan Song, is also currently in development for the PlayStation 4 as a VR title.

Development

The remake of White Day: A Labyrinth Named School was initially announced in March of 2014 as a direct port of the original game for the iPhone called White Day: In Your Hands. The port was being co-developed by the newly resurrected Sonnori, who had been out of business for a few years before this announcement, and another Korean developer named Gachyon Soft. However, as development continued, new material kept being added to the game, including redone graphics, additional story content, and new ghosts among other features that the team wanted to include in the first game back in 2001. The title was later re-announced in January of 2015 as a remake and development was switched to the team's new company called RIO Games, which is also a subsidiary of a Korean CG animation studio. Finally, in November of the same year, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School was released on T-Store, a Korean Android marketplace, where it was met with high praise and strong sales, quickly becoming one of the best selling games on the site.

A port of the remake for the PC was initially announced through a Steam Greenlight posting and was later revealed to also be coming to the PlayStation 4, which were both released in 2017 around the world. The console and PC versions feature further enhancements to the visuals, more advanced enemy AI and additional content, such as a new female character named Yoo Jimin whom has her own unique scenarios.

Screenshot Comparison

Trivia

• In the Japanese version of White Day on the PlayStation 4, all of the characters' names were localized to be Japanese instead of Korean, such as Lee Hui-min being changed to "Mishima Yuuto". Along with name changes, all of the female characters' school uniforms were also redesigned to be Japanese sailor suits.
• The international release of White Day featured an English dub that contained several actors/actresses that had previously done work for 4Kids Entertainment on the Pokemon TV series among other titles. These talents include Erica Schroeder, the former voice of Nurse Joy as well as Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, Jason Griffith, the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog from Sonic X, and Tom Wayland, an ARD director/actor who directed the Pokemon series for many years as well as created several anime dubs for the late Central Park Media. White Day also contains a few post-4Kids Pokemon voices including the current voice of Ash Ketchum, Sarah Natochenny, and Kate Bristol, who has voiced multiple characters on Pokemon XY including Nurse Joy once again.