A 15+ hour demo for the ambitious JRPG is releasing on Friday, November 15th, in Sony America, Europe, and Asia!
November 14, 2024
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
Rice Games :
TOKYO (NOVEMBER 15TH, 2024) – Today, Rice Games Inc is releasing the Demo for their ambitious language learning JRPG, Shujinkou, on the PS5 Playstation Store. The demo includes roughly 15 hours of gameplay and a thorough introduction to the many mechanics and systems that facilitate comprehensive Japanese language learning for gamers. Shujinkou was designed from the ground up to appeal to both gamers who are interested in learning Japanese, and gamers who simply want to enjoy a mechanically and narratively complex story and JRPG world.
Shujinkou Franchise on PS5: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10003429
Shujinkou Demo on PS5 (will become public entering Friday at midnight):
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP6882-PPSA23063_00-0697627550076324
The full game is slated to release digitally in December 2024. Please look forward to a press release in the near future regarding special editions, the full original soundtrack, and other goodies.
WHAT IS SHUJINKOU™?
Shujinkou is a dungeon-crawling JRPG that offers a unique opportunity to learn Japanese as you play. It features thousands of Japanese words, phrases, kana, kanji, and grammar elements that players can master through focus, diligence, and consistency. The language content spans from JLPT N5 to N1 standards, accommodating learners at any stage.
However, learning Japanese is entirely optional. For those more interested in the adventure, Shujinkou delivers a rich JRPG experience. Players can immerse themselves in hundreds of skills, items, deep forging, cooking, fishing, quests, achievements, records to break, and minigames.
Explore a vast world, engage with a riveting story, meet multifaceted characters, enjoy stunning artwork, and lose yourself in hours of dynamic music. All these elements are woven together with a complex set of RPG mechanics to create a truly comprehensive experience.
KEY FEATURES (Full Game)
Experience an 80-hour story—the campaign is primarily split into two major arcs.
Explore 16 handcrafted labyrinths, each filled with dozens of challenges.
Learn all hiragana, katakana, and hundreds of kanji through the Kanakae system.
Learn over 100 types of grammar corresponding from JLPT's N5 to N3 standards and listen to over 700 vocal lines each from native Japanese male and female speakers.
Fight over 300 enemies with unique names using hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
Learn over 180 Arawasu skills for usage in battle, the field, and as bonuses.
Bond with six passionate partners and experience 42 story quests & 120 short events.
View over 80 special 4K illustrations throughout the main story and partner content.
Play six minigames that review various aspects of Japanese—there's fishing too!
Enjoy a seven-hour, 158 track soundtrack featuring over a dozen musical genres.
No Generative AI was used in the process of creating Shujinkou.
ABOUT RICE GAMES INC
Rice Games Inc., founded by Julian Rice in 2018, is a fully remote game development studio dedicated to crafting immersive, culturally rich gaming experiences. Headquartered in Tokyo with a remote team spanning the U.S., UK, Germany, Australia, and Japan, Rice Games has assembled a diverse team of 20 skilled professionals specializing in art, music, narrative writing, and quality assurance.
The company’s flagship title, Shujinkou™, is an ambitious JRPG aiming to provide a brand new kind of gaming experience to gamers around the world. Under Julian’s leadership, Rice Games handles all aspects of game development in-house, including scenario and lore writing, gameplay design, programming, user experience, and marketing. Privately funded and independent, Rice Games aims to elevate Shujinkou™ as a major IP with plans for expansion beyond video game software. As the studio awaits USPTO trademark approval for Shujinkou™, Rice Games Inc. is poised to make a significant impact in the global gaming industry.
Studio Website: https://www.ricegames.net/
STORY
A retired samurai (主) is entrusted with saving his home from intelligent, language-devouring "Akuma" alongside an eccentric fox (人) freed from a cursed abode and an astute princess (公) with her own ambitions.
This title explores two of the six nations in the world of Shujinkou™, each with their own 30-40 hour story campaign. The first arc revolves around the Japanese language being stolen by a mysterious demonic force, inspired by Edo-period ukiyo-e art, and how a retired samurai, Shu, needs to leave his hometown and investigate the cause.
QUOTES FROM CLOSED BETA TESTERS
"I really love how much Japanese integration there is while still retaining a full game scenario—an ultimate success in gamified learning!" - Player who knew hiragana and basic vocabulary before playing.
"My favorite part was that I'm learning a skill I can use with time, so it's not even that guilty of a pastime like most other games." - Player who had no knowledge of Japanese before playing.
"I basically played it every day I was able to, and found myself genuinely learning things to the point that I, without any help, read what someone wrote (in Japanese) on a Discord server the other day." - Player who has wanted to, but struggled to learn Japanese for over a decade.
QUOTES FROM STEAM REVIEWS (100% Positive as of 11/14/2024)
Link to Steam Demo Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3139400/Shujinkou_Demo/
"The idea of combining both language learning and a turn-based JRPG is very odd at first but somehow this game does it effortlessly"
"I had been waiting a long time for a game that would allow me to learn Japanese without just being a series of disguised exercises. Shujinkou finally makes it possible, thanks to a well-crafted story, engaging characters, and an intelligently integrated learning system."
"Fun game so far!!! Don't know that much Japanese so it is fun too pick up a few words here in there while getting to play a great game! Amazing music and writing makes the already great gameplay even better!!"
"If a player does get overwhelmed they can just press 1 English Only On which turns everything into English and if you press 1 again it will say English Only Off. I really like this feature as then the player doesn't have to go back to settings just to temporary see things in English only."
"The game plays as your typical RPG—some systems are gonna remind you of other series like FF, Persona, Tensei, etc. and the more you go on the more you realize how deep the gameplay actually is, how challenging it can be, how dangerous those Yajuu are, how fun it is, how colorful is the world, how you can't help but adore this game! Sometimes I even forget that my (original) goal for playing this game was for learning purposes :)"
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