Yesterday is a frequently dark game in every sense of the word. Featuring sex, violence and some very strange cult activity, Yesterday is much darker than the point and click adventures that are usually predominately available for iOS. It backs this up with dark and dingy locations and a tale of the murder of homeless people in New York City.
Underneath that dark exterior, Yesterday is actually pretty conventional. Players explore scenes in order to get past puzzles and eventually solve the mystery. The puzzles themselves are occassionally rather obtuse such as one early conundrum involving using a tin can to pick a lock. For adventure game veterans, this won't come as too much of a surprise, however.
For the more inexperienced puzzle solver, a hints system will help along the way. It's restrictive, only offering hints after an interlude dictated by how many times the player has tried to solve a problem for themselves, but it's a handy last resort when a situation has become too head scratchingly confusing. A hotspot locator performs a similar role for breaking up the darkness and displaying what items and places the player can interact with. This comes in great handy given Yesterday's focus on being very dark and gloomy at times.
The characters that the player interacts with don't always ring true, sometimes seeming a little too cliched or cardboard cut out-esque, but it's worthwhile talking to them. Conversing often unveils some great plot twists and Yesterday benefits greatly from its uniqueness.
Yesterday offers a mature experience in a genre full of softer, more family friendly affair. It's a little too physically dark at times and its obtuse puzzles may put some people off, despite the hints system counteracting some issues, but it's an interesting tale, nonetheless.