Youkai Yashiki (or "Youkai Mansion") is a cartoonish horror action platformer game with an exploration element where the protagonist is a boy with a flashlight. This flashlight is the only means of fighting the supernatural horrors that inhabit the eponymous domicile, so the player must continually keep it stocked with fresh batteries, which act as the player character's health.

In Youkai Yashiki, you control a boy armed with a flashlight who must explore five stages and locate five talisman before locating and gaining access to a stage boss. The flashlight serves as a weapon against the monsters which inhabit each stage. Your life meter takes the form of a set of batteries. As your life diminishes, the batteries drain and the power of your flashlight, that is the distance that the beams can travel, decreases.

Though the game was never released outside of Japan and never officially localized, the only Japanese language in the game is on the title screen. It is therefore entirely possible to play the game without knowing Japanese.