Your New Blue Sleep Paralysis Demon
Ao Oni is a 2008 RPG Maker XP horror game developed by noprops. The story centers around a group of middle school students who sneak into a deserted mansion on the edge of town, rumored to be haunted. Little do they know, they’ve sparked the wrath of the mansion’s resident monster, the Ao Oni, a blue demon whose absurdly large head puts Megamind to shame.
The game became wildly popular in Japan, gaining a light novel series, a manga adaptation, and two feature-length films; it’s now got adaptations in languages such as English, Portuguese, and Thai, so players around the world can enjoy the story as well. This guide covers how to install and play the latest version, v6.23, and gives you a complete walkthrough of Ao Oni‘s puzzles and chases.
Installing Ao Oni
You can install Ao Oni by going to ModDB and finding the version for your language here. You will also need the RPG Maker XP Runtime Package in order to run the game. Head to the linked site, click on RPG Maker XP, and hit the download button on the right. Once both of these are installed, extract the Ao Oni files from the zip file, and click on the file with the orange gear icon to boot up the game.
Entering the Mansion
Hiroshi, the main character, and his friends have entered the abandoned mansion on the outskirts of their town to investigate rumors about it being haunted. After the opening scene, go to the room on the right of the hallway, which is the kitchen. Examine the shattered plate on the ground to get a plate shard. Next, go back to the main entrance room. Everyone’s gone, so your next task is to look for them.
Head into the west hallway. The doors won’t open here, but you’ll see something interesting. Go back to the main area and take the stairs to the second floor. Look at the map of the first floor drawn in blue crayon on the wall, then go into the upper right room.
Everything seems normal at first, but then the closet in the upper left corner starts shaking. Open it to find a terrified Takeshi. He is unresponsive to your questions; leave him alone to recover for now. Push the desk chair in this room over to see something sparkling under the desk. Pick up the Library Key. Save here, leave the room, and go back down to the first floor.
Time to Book It!
On the first floor, go to the right, into the hallway that leads towards the kitchen. Unlock the door here and enter the library. Yup, that’s the oni walking around, but luckily, he disappears after a few seconds. Examine the book on the edge of the table to move it over and find the bedroom key. Prepare yourself for your first chase scene.
After you’ve moved the book and grabbed the key, the Ao Oni will appear and chase you. Run back upstairs to the room where you found Takeshi before and hide in the closet where he was. Make sure the Oni isn’t in the room when you hide, or he will open the closet and kill you. If you made it safely into the closet, wait and listen for two door slam sounds. Then and only then will it be safe to leave the closet. By the way, after this chase, the oni can begin appearing randomly in rooms. When this happens, evade him for about 10 seconds and leave the room and he should go away.
Cleaning the Piano
You may have noticed (or gotten killed from getting stuck on) a piece of paper on the ground in front of the closet. Pick it up, it’s actually a handkerchief that you’ll need to use soon. Go back down into the main area on the first floor and enter the west hallway, then enter the door that’s ominously open. It’s a bathroom. Drain the bathtub, then look inside to find a Phillip’s head screwdriver. Leave this room and go to the room on the left to find another bathroom. Open the closet to get some soap.
Walk upstairs and go all the way up to the third floor. Go through the back door, and you’ll be in a big room with another door in the back. Approach it and talk to Takuro. After this, open your item inventory in the menu, and use the Phillip’s head screwdriver while facing the door in the back. This makes you take the doorknob off.
Now leave this room and enter the other room on this floor, using the Bedroom Key you got from the library earlier. Go to the left bed and push it aside to find a hole in the floor. Drop through to enter the piano room.
First, go to the bookshelves in the upper right corner, and examine the left one to reveal a safe. Don’t worry about the combination, we’ll be back here later. Next, it’s time to trigger our next scripted chase scene. Stand by the piano and use your soap to put it on the handkerchief. Then use the handkerchief to clean the bloodstain off of the piano and reveal a number.
This made the oni mad, and it will appear from the left side of the screen. Quickly exit this room and run down to the first floor. Take him into the kitchen and loop him around the couch, then exit this room. By this point he should be gone, but if not, try hiding in the closet upstairs again.
The Piano Puzzle
Once you’ve shaken your pursuer, go back to the piano room on the second floor. The piano gives you the key (keys, rather) to opening the safe. Look at it and you should see three random numbers. Also notice the shape of the key that each number is on. It helps to take a screenshot of your piano so you can refer back to it. When you get to the safe, you’ll notice that the first and the third key on the safe are rotated. So those numbers will need to be flipped upside down as well. Enter the 3rd number upside down, 2nd number, 3rd number, and 1st number upside down to solve this puzzle. For example, I had 176 on my keys, so the solution is 9761. Other options are:
- 239 on piano – enter 6392
- 941 on piano – enter 1416
- 679 on piano – enter 6799
- 915 on piano – enter 5156
The safe opens and you retrieve the hidden Kid’s Bedroom key. Leave the piano room and go to the northwest room on the second floor. Talk to Mika and try to convince her to come with you, but she’s terrified so she’s staying put. Next, push the chair to the cabinets in the back of the room, and park it in front of the cabinet with something on top. Get on the chair and grab the object, which turns out to be Lighter Fluid.
Time to get ready for another chase. Go back down to the first floor, and enter the room to the north, left of the staircase. Then go east and you will be in the Tatami room. I highly recommend you save your game now. When you’re ready, approach the doors to the north, and Ao Oni will come bursting through like a berry scary Kool-aid man. The quickest way to get him off your back is to go hide in the closet on the second floor and wait until he’s gone.
Straight to Oni Jail
After escaping from the oni, make your way back to the Tatami room. Grab a lighter from the door to the left of where the oni came from. Now go to the east side of the room and look for a wall piece that’s a shade darker than the others around it. Look at the picture below to find it if you’re not sure. Once you’re in front of the right wall piece, use the plate shard in your inventory to reveal a hidden door. Next, use your doorknob on it, and then you can open the door.
It’s dark in here, so use your lighter fluid on the lighter, and use the lighter to turn it on. Walk straight ahead and you will find a candle on the table to light, illuminating the room. Now that you can see, look at the bookshelf in the back of the room, and it will move aside, revealing another door. Enter the jail cell, and make sure you close the door behind you. This is very important.
Examine the sparkle on the ground and get the key to the basement. Now here comes the Ao Oni, who watches you for a bit, then leaves. After he’s gone, leave the jail and exit the Tatami room to the left. Open the door on the left in this hallway to use your basement key, and then… Uh oh. Sounds like Mika is in trouble.
Save your game now, then go up to the Kid’s bedroom on the second floor. The oni is there… Run! This time, the second-floor closet is too close, and he will see you go in, so run back down to the first floor and loop him around the couch in the kitchen, then head back to the closet if he’s still chasing you. Once you’ve escaped, take a second to breathe before continuing (I definitely needed one!).
Into the Basement
Go back to the basement door, and enter, then walk down the left hallway. You’ll see a chair at a desk, and a bookshelf with a gray stick on top of it. Push the chair around the room until it’s right under the stick, then climb up and claim the flat head.
Once you have the screwdriver piece, push the chair over into the main basement room. Did you see the sparkle on top of the shelf at the bottom of the screen? Put the chair under it and reach up and grab it. It’s the basement jail cell key, which you’ll need immediately. Save your game as soon as you get off of the chair, then walk north for another chase scene. Run from the oni and lock yourself in the jail cell from before, past the tatami room.
After a while, the oni will leave. Go back to the basement and enter the right hallway. Go right again from this room, and you’ll be in the dark. Light your lighter and find the entrance to another jail cell. Unlock it and light the candle inside to see some blue writing on the wall. Instead of looking at it directly, go outside the jail cell and look at the blue writing through the bars to reveal a code: 5376. Memorize it for later.
Now go back to the basement entrance room, and move the back shelves over, first the left one and then the right one. There is a safe on the wall. Use the flat head in your item inventory to change the head on your screwdriver, then use the flat head screwdriver to open the safe’s outer panel. Next, enter 5376 into the keypad. You now have the annex key!
It’s time for yet another chase, so get ready. Go to the room on the right and try to open the north door twice. The first time, nothing happens, but the second time, an oni bursts through the closet to the right of the door. You can lock yourself in the tatami room jail cell and wait for the oni to leave again.
Colorful Stones and Creepy Dolls
Now that that’s done, it’s time to enter the annex. Walk back to the door you were trying to open before and open the door past it to enter the annex. This area of the mansion is pretty big. Go north up the big hallway, then walk down into the room to the left. There are three dolls on a shelf here, grab the one on the bottom to take it.
Next, go back to the main area and go upstairs to the second floor of the annex. Enter the room to the left of the stairs and take the lightbulb from the lamp. Now continue up to the third floor, and head into the room on the right. You should see a crate, and a hole in the floor blocking your access to a shiny thing on top of a cabinet. Push the crate into the hole, and now you can reach it. It’s a refill for your lighter fluid! Use it, and then leave the room and go downstairs to the second floor. Save your game, then enter the room on the right for your next chase.
This time, just run, back out of the annex, through the basement, and into the main foyer of the mansion where this all started. Do not use the basement jail cell because he can get in (the blue writing being inside the cell hints at this), and don’t use the closet where the oni came from previously.
It should stop chasing you when you’re in the main mansion, but if not, hide in the second-floor closet or loop around the couch in the kitchen. Once he’s gone, go back to the annex and enter the room where he came out of the chimney.
Use your lighter to light the fireplace. Throw your doll in the fire and take out the red stone. After this, return to the first floor of the annex and walk into the hallway on the left. It’s dark so use your lighter and light the candle in the middle of the room. Takeshi is hiding here. After talking to him, he runs off. Take the statue next to where he was and push it into the main room. Then push it through the south door and down the stairs leading into the basement. It will break and you will find a blue stone inside.
Go back into the annex and head into the north hallway but go to the room on the right this time. There are two dolls on the shelf in this room. The one on the bottom has no eyes, so use your red stone and blue stone on it to give it some. Its head falls off and you take it. Next, put the lightbulb on the doll as a replacement. Then use the light switch to turn the lights off in this room. See that creepy shadow? It’s pointing towards a spot on the wall. Use your plate shard on the wall there, and you’ll find another door. Unfortunately, it’s locked. So go to the left room on this floor and see something terrible.
It’s Not Safe
Before doing anything else, save your game. Go over to the picture on the wall. It looks like a slide puzzle, but you don’t actually have to do anything too complicated. Place the doll head from the other room onto this picture, and a safe will be revealed. Now you’ll need to find the code.
Go up to the third floor room on the right, where you moved the box around before, and you should now see writing on the poster on the wall. Remember the three digit code and go back to the safe. Open it to get a basement key, this time for the Annex Basement. Save your game before leaving the room and get ready for another chase.
Escape from the oni again by running back towards the entrance area of the mansion. After you’ve made it out alive, go back to the first floor of the annex and enter the hallway on your right. Save your game again… because you’re about to get chased again.
Walk down the hallway and you’ll fall down a hole, where you’re pursued by another oni. Run up the stairs on your right, then go to the door on the left in the next room. Give him the slip by falling into the hole again. When you’ve gotten away, go back to the east hallway on the first floor of the annex, and open the door at the bottom of the hole. It’s time to enter the annex’s basement.
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Prepare for Trouble, Make it Double
Before you do anything else, turn on your lighter because it’s pitch black in here. Hug the left wall and you should see a room to the south. In this room, there is a tree to your left. Push it aside to reveal a lever that turns the lights on. There is a chance that an oni will spawn in the southwest corner of the room when this happens, but it’s a random event and not going to happen every time.
Now that the lights are on, look at the bookshelf in this room to pick up a picture book. Open it in your inventory and read it until you find the bookmark. Now leave this room and go into the room across the way. Open the curtain to find a bathtub, which you can drain to get a red key. Now leave this room and go to the room on the right. You should see two shelves at the bottom of the screen. Move the one on the right to find another locked door.
There is another door in this room with a keypad. Use your flathead screwdriver on the keypad to make the bottom part of it fall off. Next, put your bookmark into the bottom part of the keypad, showing a bunch of colored dots. Count the number of blue, green, red, and white dots, then look at the door. You will need to enter the amount of each color of dots in the order that the door shows. So, say you have 7 blue dots, 3 white dots, 2 green dots, and 1 red dot, and the color pattern on the door is red, green, white, blue. You would enter 1237 as your code.
Once you’ve unlocked the door, save your game. It’s time for your first double chase, where you must evade two onis at the same time. Enter the unlocked door and walk straight ahead. One oni spawns behind you and another one spawns at the top of this hallway. Go into the room on the left and quickly hide in the closet straight up from where you enter the room. This time, listen for four door slams to make sure both onis are gone. After they leave, exit the closet and save your game again.
A Tiny Bit of Hope
When you leave the closet, notice that the bottom left corner of the rug is messed up. Lift the corner to find a disc underneath. Now leave this room and go to the north room and look in the closet. Takuro is in there, he’s hurt his ankle but he’s ok. He’ll give you some vinegar that you can use later.
Go back to the main annex basement and go to the northwest room where you found the bathtub. Go above the bathtub and push it down to find a staircase underneath. Walk downstairs, then soak the red key in vinegar to reveal that it’s actually an iron gate key. Open the cell, and you’ll see three paintings on the wall in this room with buttons below them. To figure out the order to push the buttons, look at the disc in your inventory. Start from the top and go clockwise.
When you’ve completed the correct sequence, one of the paintings will fall off the wall to reveal a metal stick. Pick it up, then use it with the disc to get a key for a hidden door. Remember that room with the bookmark puzzle? Head back there and use the key on that hidden door between the shelves. Walk down the tunnel, and you will find a ladder that appears to lead outside the mansion! Could it be a way to escape? Time to go back and get Takuro. Go talk to him and he’ll join the party. Now save your game and return to the ladder, but there’s a problem…
The Old Building
Run left from the tunnel and go around until you reach the hallway with the hole in it, then jump in to escape the oni and go back to the annex basement entrance. Now return to where the ladder was, and pick up the backdoor key. Use it in the first-floor room in the annex with the dolls and the shadow that pointed to the hidden door, in the north hallway on the right. Walk through to find yourself outside.
Keep walking down the path, and enter the Old Building, the final area in this game. Go up to the second floor and enter the room furthest to the right. The wall has blue drawings all over most of it but look closely at the point where the scribbles end. Use your plate shard there, and you’ll find a door. Enter to see another sparkle on the desk. Walk towards it, but if you’re playing with your sound on you’ll start to hear boss music. Run into the closet before the oni gets here. Once it leaves, grab the die on the desk and exit this room. Save your game, then enter the room by the stairs for another chase scene.
Onis Coming Out of the Woodwork
This oni bursts through the floor and begins running at you. You can stop this chase by going downstairs and entering the first room on the right… however another oni will explode out of the closet. Leave the old building and you should be safe now. Because we’ve well established Hiroshi’s lack of self-preservation at this point, go back to the room where the oni burst through the floor, and drop into the hole.
In this room, look at the framed picture on the wall. There is an empty spot where you can put your die in. Insert it to see one of the dots on each dice change color.
Remember the combination you get. Now leave this room to find yourself on the first floor. Enter the room furthest to the right, the church. Grab the stick on the bottom right bench. At the end of each pew, there is a button under each pew. Each dice shows the layout of the pews, and the white one is the one you need to push. Follow the sequence, and the altar will move aside, revealing a staircase. Save your game, then go down the stairs, and enter the hallway to the south.
Enter the top room on the left side of the hallway. Open the closed curtain to find a rope ladder. Nice, something to replace the broken one from before! Now close every curtain to see shapes on each one. The sides of the shapes make a code. For example, circles = 0, triangle =3, square = 4, and pentagon = 5. Memorize the code you see. Mine was 3045, as you can see below.
How Many of These Things Are There?!
Leave this room and go to the room directly beneath it on the map. It’s dark in here, so use your lighter and go left at the bottom of this path to find the candle. There’s something sparkling in the jail cell, but it won’t open. Use your stick in front of it to get the sparkle, which turns out to be a key to the study.
After getting the study key, go to the southeast room in the hallway and light the candle in here. Then go back to the main area of the Old Building and ascend to the second floor. Use the study key in the first room on the right in the bottom row.
In the study room, you should see four holes on the wall in a square pattern in the northeast corner. Use your screwdriver on these. Now walk back towards the shelves on the left and a cat will appear, fleeing the room in a hurry. Push the chair at the desk to the left twice, and the Blockman Oni will appear and chase you. This one is much harder to evade because he will pursue you for 20 seconds instead of 10. He can also lunge from time to time, so be careful not to run straight for too long. It took me running all the way back to the main room of the annex to get away, and another oni came out of the annex building to chase me, so I had to dodge that one too!
After that horrifying chase, head back to the Old Building, and return to the study room. Push the chair under the safe and type in the combination from earlier with the shapes. Grab another basement key. Next, head to the room by the stairs with the hole and pick up a blue piece. When you have it, go back to the hallway beneath the church, walk into the southwest room, and unlock the door south of the jail cell to enter the Oni Room.
The Grand Finale
Well, this looks bad. Make it worse by approaching the cage door. The oni standing by the door will open it. Run by the exit and wait for the door to unlock. You’ll be able to leave at the last possible second. Now go back into the Oni Room, which is eerily empty. Where did they all go? Grab the blue piece from the frame inside the cell. One more left to go.
Now go out of the church, and into the hallway of the first floor of the Old Building. There is a hole in the floor on the right. Use the rope ladder on it and descend. You’ll find yourself in the room where you lit the candle earlier. Obtain the final blue piece from the frame at the bottom of the room. The door here won’t open now, so use the rope ladder again and walk downstairs from the church to enter the hallway. Go into your inventory to place the blue puzzle pieces, and you’ll see something horrible.
Sprint away from the oni, going back towards the annex building. When he’s gone, go back to the room with the frame, and place your puzzle pieces down.
The door at the end of this room will unlock when all pieces are placed. Now head through it, up the stairs, and keep running until you make it to safety. Congratulations! You’ve beaten Ao Oni!
Easter Eggs
- Start a new game and name your character GODMODE to make yourself invincible to oni attacks.
- Name your character SOUTHPARK to experience a South Park-style parody of the game.
- Naming your character BLOCKMAN replaces all random encounters with the blockman oni.
- Naming the main character HIROSI will replace his picture with the old beta design.
- Name your character TIMER to get a timer that shows how long chases are going to last.
- If you name your character JMU, you’ll see the game’s translator JMU sitting on the couch in the kitchen. Chase an oni into that room, though, and next time you come back to the kitchen JMU will spawn as an oni and chase you.
