Lots of RPGs put players in the shoes of a plucky young person out to embrace their special destiny and save the world. Not this one. In YIIK, you're just trying to chase down a cat who stole your grocery list. Ok, fine: you need to navigate a room that contains all of time and space, too.
Link may be the high-falutin' Hero of Time in Nintendo's Legend of Zelda games but he sure as hell can't grow a beard. So, Alex Eggleston has that going for him. However the protagonist of YIIK majored in liberal arts so, yeah, he's unemployed. That at least gives him free time to get into a surreal adventure where he slips into weird parallel worlds.
Have you ever wondered what it'd be like if Haruki Murakami wrote a RPG? The folks at Ackk Studios did, too. But they didn't stop at just imagining. They're actually making one, as seen in the live demo from this year's PAX East show. YIIK looks like it's full of funny, self-aware touches which should make it stand out from the pack when it comes out later this year.
Contact the author at evan@kotaku.com.