This will be my last piece and goodbye to Tokyo Game Show 2026. A great show that was abruptly cut short thanks to an unfortunately powerful storm that ravaged the area. The lively floor was inviting in every direction for you to try out the demos they had to offer. To the point that they would offer small freebies like tote bags, stickers, keychains, and more. Truth be told, the actual restriction here is the amount of time you have, as Tokyo Game Show only operates between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM on each day. So we do research and set up appointments ahead of time. Though, it’s possible to try many of these demos if they’re on PC, particularly the Steam platform, where developers can choose to publish those very same game demos there (this is a hint for you guys to seek and try them out yourselves). And well, here are a few recommendations of what I’ve been able to play through:
Playism is what I see as one of the more humble publishers around; normally they pick up simple or pixel-style games that may be carrying an appeal that would work on certain, more mature audiences. The games they pick up normally have some sort of retro feel to them but certainly carry a level of refinement that makes them capable of standing next to more graphically enhanced games we see these days. Despite these limitations, they bring a rewarding experience and hardly require any investment before you start enjoying them.
Iron Bramble (Check it out on Steam) – Demo Available
This title presents itself as a Metroidvania-esque game with a lady who’s ready to swing around the stage like Spider-Man and can shoot up enemies like they’re The Punisher. The game experience chooses to focus on a kinetic type of gameplay where you use some sort of whip arm that attaches to special surfaces. But instead of flying through the area with a fixed flight path, you swing around and take advantage of your momentum. It’s almost like getting snapped from point to point with a rubber band. You consider your acceleration and velocity based on how you enter or exit a turn. Think something like Mirror’s Edge or Portal, where if you plan and execute a swing properly, it’s entirely possible for you to overcome terrain that should be impossible if using your normal platformer functions.
Combat isn’t quite as complicated, at least to the point I reached. Your weapon (where I had access to a shotgun at that time) doesn’t need to reload, and you just fire freely. But it can get interesting when you have to use your swinging ability to properly reposition around enemies as they try to surround and attack you. In this case, it makes perfect sense for the game not to make fighting too complicated, as dodging around on a technically demanding movement system is constantly present throughout the game. I couldn’t quite catch what the story and theme are about during my short journey with this demo, but given that you seem to consume poets, and how you seem to be trying to escape from a massive dungeon, I think this may have something to do with Dante’s Inferno.
Skateboard Knight (Check it out on Steam) – Demo Available
This game is as straightforward and silly as the title suggests. You are a knight going on an adventure to save a kingdom while riding a skateboard. Truly, wearing a full suit of armor is probably the only way anyone is going to convince me to get on a skateboard, so I immediately sense the appeal.
The knight immediately attacks anything as soon as it’s in range, where all you really do is maneuver between three lanes to attack threats and avoid damage. The roguelike component of his game lets you choose between various upgrades that can either swing his sword better, cast magic spells to lay waste to many enemies bunched up together, or have things assist him, like faeries helping him level up easier. It quickly becomes a game of assessing threats and deciding if you want to tank the damage to let yourself farm more, or just let certain enemies pass so you can see how far you can go. There’s also some meta progression where you can buy small, incremental, but permanent upgrades for your knight, making it possible to get a little farther every run.
This is the perfect kind of game to have on your phone, if you’re just waiting to let the hours pass while waiting in line, or trying to make the most of what you got in a situation like a cramped, budget airliner (totally not me). I honestly would like to have this on mine as soon as they make it available. It’s really not that complicated; it’s just fun.
Navinosuke (2027 release)
This is a title that puts together quite the popular formula. Retro aesthetics, a cute robot for a mascot, and a whole lot of monsters to fight and collect in turn-based battle. You are summoned to a world of onmyouji (basically specialists in spirits during the Ancient Japan era), where a tiny robot asks for your help to protect the people of his land from a growing threat of yokai that have been terrorizing people more and more as of late. Navinosuke himself isn’t strong enough to take them on, but you also have the capability to capture and command your own yokai to help even those odds.
You’re even given one starter unit where you choose from a set. I picked the foxgirl shrine maiden because, of course, I did. And off you go into the world to explore it and unravel its mysteries. I suppose in this case the developers chose not to reinvent the wheel and just take advantage of the already highly successful Pokémon formula. Journey between towns, fight monsters that reside there, have a chance to add them to your roster; no big surprises here. You’ll feel right at home when you start playing this if you’ve ever played one of these. What’s slightly different is how other monsters help out in the game’s essentially 1v1 battles. They have support skills that can be used once off cool-down, without having to swap monsters into the field. It’s not exactly groundbreaking, but it’s also a nice way of being able to build craft without rocking the proverbial boat in terms of this sort of game design.
Another thing that stood out was the quality of the assets (as well as the graciously added rough English translation that made this game playable to non-Japanese people like me). Since there was no need to really challenge the working model of the game’s format. They went ahead to make the game look as original and interesting as it can be. It gave me a new look into ancient Japanese culture and the weird monsters their imaginations have created over the years. I honestly think that, with some decent writing, this game may be making a world that’s worth exploring.
Crymelight (Check it out on Steam) – Demo Available
This game is clearly building on the lore of Alice in Wonderland, as you start out fighting a ridiculously powerful Queen of Hearts, and appear to be aided by white rabbit. Though it might not be as obvious to the untrained eye, the more characters are introduced to you, the heavier the hint gets.
The game itself is a rougelite. Like Hades, you proceed from room to room and eliminate all resistance, whereupon, upon completion, you decide which path to take next, which also determines what sort of power-up you get. The demo was completely in Japanese, so I couldn’t fully understand what each power-up did. But I believe each one empowers one of the three weapons that Alice gets to wield. Each has a different function: one for direct attacks, one that’s designed to literally toss enemies across the room and into each other, and a long-range weapon that takes time to charge. I unfortunately didn’t have a lot of time to try this title out, despite it needing more than ten minutes to let you stew within its gameplay.
What really caught my attention about this game is how it reminds me of earlier Vanillaware games with its highly detailed sprites that animate like they’re puppets. I’m not entirely sure, but I feel like they’re using something similar to Live2D technology. The characters are also voiced, helping me stay interested in the scenes where they talk a lot. Unfortunately for me, I can’t read Japanese much, so I ran with context clues from what I could understand. Honestly speaking, I wasn’t too interested in the title as it looked like another vampire-survivors roguelike alternative. But upon playing it, I realized that it’s trying to have a bit more of a unique spin on the formula; combat was more involved and there’s some form of strategy between using each of them for different purposes. The fact that the combat took more attention and accurate movement was pretty much enough for me to want to try more of it later.
Anomalith (Check it out on Steam) – Demo Available
The trailer for Anomalith got me really curious about what it was like. Even with the trailer, I couldn’t quite get a grasp of how it would play out. Luckily, a demo is available, which I have recently been able to play. And I think this is closer to an RPG, borrowing elements from things like extraction shooters and, to some level, Dark Souls, though I would rather say Code Vein. You’re mainly a lone person going through some twisted dimension, taking on whatever ungodly beings have decided to crawl around your vicinity, which you have to take out. The format at first feels like I’m playing something inspired by Resident Evil 4, but it gives me a setting where I’m exploring some sort of pocket dimension like in the Backrooms.
Combat was rather rudimentary for the most part until it finally got to its first boss encounter. From there, it was suddenly a mix of managing your gun and having to go in melee against a monster. The creators wanted to show you something new as soon as you were comfortable with what was introduced last time, and I think it’s pretty promising. I actually got to speak with some of the people behind Anomalith, and I’ve got to say their vision has my interest piqued! You can check it out over here.
After the games above, I’d like to make a quick shout-out to the two other games that I ended up liking more than I thought I would.
Ninjala – This is an action-platformer game on the Switch 2 which doesn’t really hold a lot of surprises for an older gamer like myself; however, I can see this being a fun coop game for kids along with parents who might be into the hobby themselves. It also has a level of polish that I think earns a place on someone’s shelf.
Pearl in Blue – this is a gacha game by Netmarble. It does its usual song and dance of giving you cute characters that you’d like to collect and appreciate. What was entertaining about this one is how it’s focused on being as close to a rom-com comedy anime as possible. Instead of trying to create vast worlds with tons of lore, this appears to focus on just making fun characters. Gameplay is also designed to be more casual, with some QTEs to manage while playing through cutscenes. Though it may take a while for it to cross over to English audiences, considering the amount of text involved.