- Demo Update d1.45 - 5 September 2026
Shujinkou Demo d1.45Bam! We're back, still alive as always, with d1.45 for the thousands of demo players out there! 🔥This update packs 100+ fixes and improvements implemented over the past few months.If you’ve been curious about Shujinkou but haven’t quite been ready to jump in, this is a great time to give the demo a fresh try and see how the game feels for yourself. ❤️⭐️ Additional Notes on Upcoming VersionsWe wanted to share some notes on the upcoming versions, because although we have been behind schedule for a few weeks now, a lot of changes have been made to improve the game for the long term, and will be improvements that are included from the start for future games:v1.46 - Leaderboards: Leaderboards will be fully implemented and working across all platforms, expected to release on or before September 9th 2026.v1.46 - Fixes: We fixed a few degradations that our team didn't catch…
- Shujinkou Arrives on the Mac App Store & Epic Games Store on September 9th! - 4 September 2026
Shujinkou Arrives on the Mac App Store & Epic Games Store on September 9th!Shujinkou is expanding to two new storefronts on September 9! After an incredible journey here on Steam and across consoles like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, we’re excited to bring the game to both the Epic Games Store and Mac App Store next week.Shujinkou on the Mac App Store 🍎We’re also bringing Shujinkou directly to the Mac App Store for the first time (link available on the 9th).The Mac App Store edition will be free to download and start, letting players experience roughly the first 5–10 hours of Shujinkou before deciding whether they want to permanently unlock the rest of the adventure through one-time purchases.It features:Native Intel and Apple silicon support70 Game Center achievements26 Game Center leaderboardsController supportOne-time content unlocks with no subscriptionBringing Shujinkou t…
- 16 DLC Achievements - Out Now! - 18 August 2026
Steam Trading Cards & More - Out Now!Featuring: 16 New Steam Achievements!Sixteen new Steam Achievements are now available on Steam, unlockable by progressing through Shujinkou's Akuma and Swimsuit Quests DLCs.Our apologies for the lengthy wait—we've added the sixteen DLC achievements from the Shujinkou: Akuma Quests DLC and Shujinkou: Swimsuit Quests DLC additional software today.💡 If you have already unlocked these achievements locally, the game will automatically unlock these achievements for you on Steam when you load into your save data.Also, we apologize for the delay in releasing v1.46 with Leaderboards. We have a pretty solid version ready, but want to make sure it works across all applicable platforms (Steam, PS, etc.) before finalizing the version and putting it out to the production branch. There are a few edge cases when it comes to leaderboards, at least in our given speci…
- Shujinkou Patch v1.45 Hotfix 1 - 26 July 2026
Shujinkou Patch v1.45 Hotfix 1We've got some small bugs addressed and fixed here:Fixed an issue where D-pad was not really working super smoothly/reliably on Steam Deck. This wasn't an issue a few months ago and was traced to a non-Shujinkou bug with Unity, but we apologize for it taking so long to find and fix!Small architectural changes to help make the upcoming v1.46 update run smoothly.Thanks as always and we look forward to bringing you our next update soon 😀
- Trading Cards & More - Out Now! - 25 July 2026
Steam Trading Cards & More - Out Now!Featuring: Trading Cards, Badges, Emoticons, Avatars, and more!Fifteen trading cards are now available on Steam from playing Shujinkou. We hope you enjoy collecting these trading cards filled with AWESOME illustrations from the game!Outside of that, we also have badges and 10 emoticons implemented. Try to collect them!Guess what? There are also 10 backgrounds to nab too! Which one is your favorite?Ah, and finally... STEAM AVATARS! Lots of them are here, so feel free to swap between some awesome avatars of the dozens of characters from Shujinkou!Okay, we got a little bit excited there.Did we mention that Shujinkou is back on sale? Now's a great time to dip, especially with how hot it has been around the globe (especially here in Japan! 💦)!We'll provide a little update on things we're working on regarding Shujinkou:The next major update, v1.46, will i…
- Shujinkou Interview with Kyoto CMEX - 20 July 2026
Shujinkou Interview with Kyoto CMEXRice Games is happy to share that KYOTO CMEX recently published an interview with founder and director Julian Rice about Shujinkou™, Shujinkou 2, BitSummit PUNCH, and the studio’s decision to participate in Japan;s biggest important indie game events as a sponsor.KYOTO CMEX is Kyoto’s government-backed flagship for games and cross-media culture - founded by Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City, the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce, and industry and academic partners, and serving as a co-host of BitSummit - an interview with them provided us with prestigious spotlight from one of Kyoto’s central entertainment platforms.A big thank you to them and their writer 雨森 / ame-moriさん for visiting the booth, speaking with the team, and writing such a thoughtful feature.Read the full interview here:Japanese Version (日本語版)English VersionA few highlights:Why Rice Games sponsored B…
- Shujinkou @ GAME AiCON Seoul 2026 - 18 July 2026
Rice Games @ GAME AiCON Seoul 2026Rice Games is excited to share that founder and CEO Julian Rice was invited to speak at GAME AiCON Seoul 2026 with a keynote speech titled:“Beyond Localization: Language Learning as Game Innovation” 현지화를 넘어: 게임 혁신으로서의 언어 학습Held in Seoul, South Korea, GAME AiCON Seoul brings together game industry professionals, publishers, developers, partners, speakers, and studios from across Asia and beyond. For Rice Games, the opportunity to speak at an international industry event in Korea was another meaningful step in sharing the broader vision behind Shujinkou® and the studio’s approach to game design and development.During the presentation, Julian discussed how language learning can move beyond traditional localization and become a meaningful form of game innovation. Rather than treating language as just translated in-game text or a separate, mandatory educatio…
- Patch Notes v1.45 and Roadmap - 25 June 2026
Shujinkou v1.45🛠️ Engine UpgradeShujinkou's game engine has been upgraded by two major versions. This has led to all-around performance improvements relating to FPS, loading times, lighting systems, animated illustrations and portraits, and more.✨ Polish & Quality of LifeImprovements have been made across the board for dozens of user interfaces, enabling a better user experience for players.Improved writing quality for tooltips in loading screen, lore compilation entries, and other non-dialogue fields.Added the option to toggle the in-game battle camera bob off.We are still not fully happy with all of the menus and input logic present right now, and are planning to upgrade the UI later. More on this later in the post ⬇️🐞 Bug FixesFixed dozens of small bugs and input issues.Here's a brief look at a few of the many UI/UX improvements made:🛣️ Shujinkou RoadmapIt's been 16 months since t…
- Shujinkou @ BitSummit 2026 - 30 May 2026
Shujinkou @ BitSummit 2026Tokyo, Japan (May 30, 2026) – We did it! Our studio’s first sponsorship for any kind of event—in this case, BitSummit, the biggest indie game show in Japan! There was a whopping 68,000+ visitors across the Business Day (May 22nd) and both Public Days (May 23rd & May 24th).We were able to showcase various things in our cute, awesome 3 meter by 3 meter booth!Shujinkou 2 Early PrototypeWe’re still early in development, but we were able to prepare a very short prototype of what the second game in the trilogy is going to look like. Both the English version and the Japanese version are being developed concurrently—We are working with with Matsushita Asuto (Persona 5), who will be handling the bulk of Japanese translations and will serve as an additional JRPG advisor.Every single Japanese player that stopped by was impressed by the music, game feel, and the overall vi…
- Shujinkou @ Pomeranian University in Słupsk 🇵🇱 - 5 May 2026
Shujinkou @ Pomeranian University in Słupsk 🇵🇱We are happy to share that we recently sponsored TENSAI 2026, the third edition of a knowledge competition focused on Japanese language and culture at Pomeranian University in Słupsk in Poland. According to the university's event post, the competition brought together local residents, students, and guests from nearby cities nationally, with over 40 participants taking part in it.As part of that support, free copies of Shujinkou were provided among the event's prizes. The university's recap (read it here) notes that winners received fifteen main prizes, including Japanese-learning materials, Japanese-themed crafts, vouchers, books, Shujinkou, and other prizes tied to Japanese language, history, and culture.For our team and studio, this was a great initial opportunity to help push Japanese language and cultural interest forward in Poland 🇵�…
- Shujinkou Lecture @ Waseda University (早稲田大学) - 7 April 2026
Shujinkou Lecture at Waseda University (早稲田大学)Hey! It’s Julian here. The team and I are super excited to share that yesterday, April 7, 2026, I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to lecture about Shujinkou at Waseda University (早稲田大学) in collaboration with Waseda Game Lab, titled:Shujinkou™, JRPGs, and Innovative Language Acquisition Elements in Video GamesThis was an especially important and exciting moment for our team and studio. As one of Japan’s most prestigious private universities, Waseda University provided a serious and respected stage on which to discuss not only Shujinkou as a deep and ambitious JRPG, but also the strong educational foundation that helps set the franchise apart from other indie games and JRPGs.At Rice Games, we continue to push the concept of Shujinkou forward on two fronts:① As a rich video game experience for JRPG fans, and…② As a thoug…
- Shujinkou Patch v1.44 Hotfix 1 - 24 March 2026
Shujinkou Patch v1.44 Hotfix 1We've got some small bugs addressed and fixed here:Confirmed and fixed an edge case that some completionists encountered involving being unable to unlock the last achievement. Apologies for the inconvenience!New QOL Feature: There was a question about turning off the bobbing camera while in battle by a fellow player salty here, and while we didn't have this feature in the game at the time, it was implemented and tested over the last 48 hours for an urgent release. We hope this makes your player experience more pleasant!The new setting can be found below the Camera Bobbing (Labyrinth) option.And here's a look at a disabled Camera Bobbing (Battle) option in action:Please note that if the rotating room is dizzying, this can also be disabled / toggled off in the options. We included the rotating room to give that extra dynamism in battle, a decision that our ar…
- Steam Spring Sale: Shujinkou is 35% OFF! - 20 March 2026
Steam Spring Sale: Shujinkou is 35% OFF!The official 🌸 2026 Steam Spring Sale 🌸 is live, and Shujinkou is 35% off for a limited time. If you’ve been waiting for a good moment to jump in, continue your journey, or gift it to someone who loves ambitious JRPGs, now is a great time! 🔥We’re also incredibly grateful for the momentum Shujinkou has continued to build in recent months. Themes from the game were featured in the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming Concert Medley, we had the chance to appear on the Gamers With Jobs podcast, and our v1.44 update recently went live with a large batch of quality-of-life improvements, bug fixes, and overall polish ❤️On top of that, we’ve very recently seen two Steam players earn every achievement in Shujinkou, with playtimes of roughly 330 hours and 450 hours respectively. For a small team that has poured several years into this very large and unusual proje…
- Shujinkou @ GDC 2026 - 19 March 2026
Shujinkou @ GDC 2026!Rice Games is honored to share that themes from Shujinkou were featured in the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming Concert Medley, which celebrated some of the most standout video game music from 2025.Presented during GDC in San Francisco, the performance was seen by several thousand game developers in attendance, with many more watching online. As part of the world’s largest game developer conference, it was a surreal and meaningful moment for our studio to hear music from Shujinkou performed on SUCH a major stage.The medley featured motifs and melodies alongside music from celebrated titles such as Hollow Knight: Silksong, Peak, Indiana Jones, Ghost of Yōtei, DOOM, and more. To have Shujinkou included among such acclaimed works is a tremendous honor for our team.We would like to give our special thanks to Brian LaGuardia, lead composer of Shujinkou, for his brilliant arra…
- Patch Notes v1.44 - 18 February 2026
Shujinkou v1.44Polish / Quality of LifeImproved readability of the Kanban Menu's Labyrinth View with text being colored for the currently selected labyrinth.Added Change Time spots to Town 4 and Town 5.Sushi that heal both TR and MR now heal via percentage rather than raw values.When selecting an item to use that has a Self scope in combat, automatically select the current hero and proceed to the next hero.Add a new option to disable the Money Maker bonus (after battle concludes) from Tatiana's Kizuna. This is only present if the player has unlocked the Money Maker bonus.Bug FixesFixed three Kanban facing the wrong direction in Labyrinth 9.Add missing Kanakae Orb spot to a spot in the middle of Labyrinth 7's Area 1 containing new information about six kanji. It includes 18 new Blue Text terms. Our apologies!Fix bug where players could not access certain hidden treasure chests in towns t…
- Shujinkou at The New York Game Awards! - 25 January 2026
Shujinkou at The New York Game Awards!What a night at The 15th New York Game Awards.Our team had an amazing time attending this year’s event, and we are incredibly honored that Shujinkou was nominated for Best Hidden Gem. While we did not take home the win this time, a video game award nomination for our debut commercial title is a major milestone for us. It shows that our work is resonating with players and critics in the industry, and adds even more fuel ⛽️ to what we are building next. We left New York City feeling grateful, energized, and extra motivated to keep raising the bar for our next game.For a fully remote studio, we do not get many chances to be in the same place at the same time. The New York Game Awards helped bring almost half of our team together for a couple of days, with most of everyone based in the USA. We got to bond, hang out, and spend real time talking about Shu…
- Shujinkou Patch v1.43 Hotfix 3 - 14 January 2026
Shujinkou Patch v1.43 Hotfix 3We've got some small bugs addressed and fixed here:Fixed an issue that a player encountered with Otogawa's Ishi (#2).Fixed a writing issue with Tsunako's Ishi (#18).Fixed missing らりるれろ Kanban pages from the Kanban Menu. These can now be found in Labyrinth 2 where まみむめも can be found.Fixed pink error screen that may occasionally appear after wrapping up a round of Kotoba Kyuugi.Fixed pink error screen that may occasionally appear while in the Koukanya due to a glitch relating to the Kazariya shop system.Fixed issue with Platinum achievements relating for certain Steam players. Please select a save file and enter the game via the "Continue" button in order to notice the fix.Best,Team @ Rice Games
- Shujinkou Patch v1.43 Hotfix 2 - 4 January 2026
Shujinkou Patch v1.43 Hotfix 2We've got some small bugs addressed and fixed here:Fixed a few typos and improved text found in quests.Fixed inconsistent level progression for certain Arawasu skills.Improved some wording for existing tutorials.Adjusted DLC quest "Big Fluffy Clouds" balancing so that instead of having to fetch 20 quail eggs (Uzura no Tamago), the player only needs to fetch 8 eggs.Optimizations that have led to a reduced application size by around 200 MB.We're also honored to have recently been awarded Smart Game of the Year at Digitally Downloaded and ranked #27 in Noisy Pixel's Best Indie Games of 2025!Smart Game of the Year at Digitally Downloaded#27 in Noisy Pixel's Best Indie Games of 2025https://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2025/12/matts-2025-games-of-the-year.html"I always approve of games that are both excellent to play and also educational in some way. That’s part o…
- Steam Winter Sale: Shujinkou is 34% off ($39.59) + Holiday Art! ⛄️ - 18 December 2025
2025 Steam Winter SaleThe official 2025 Steam Winter Sale is live, and Shujinkou is 34% off for $39.59. This is the biggest sale we've done so far, so if you’ve been waiting for the right time to jump in (or to gift it), this is it 🔥.We’re also still riding a wave of gratitude from some recent news: Shujinkou was nominated for "Best Hidden Gem" at the 15th New York Game Awards. We'd like to take a chance once again to thank thousands of players on Steam and other platforms for giving our game a chance and helping spread the word! ❤️ Read more about it here:To celebrate the holidays, one of our key Character Artists, Catthy Trinh (Fabula Ultima), made special Christmas art of Kou!From everyone at Rice Games: Happy Holidays ✨, and thank you so much for making 2025 the most meaningful year ever for Shujinkou and our team.If you do end up picking it up during the sale (or keep playing):A q…
- Shujinkou Nominated for “Best Hidden Gem” at the New York Game Awards! - 16 December 2025
Hey everyone!We just got some news we’re genuinely excited (and honestly a bit stunned) to share: Shujinkou has been nominated for "Chumley’s Speakeasy Award for Best Hidden Gem" at the 15th Annual New York Game Awards!If you’ve played, reviewed, wishlisted, reported bugs, or simply told a friend about the game, thank you. “Hidden Gem” is exactly the kind of recognition that comes from a small & dedicated community helping a game get discovered, and we’re grateful for all of the support we've received on all platforms throughout the year.We'd also like to say - huge congratulations to all the other nominees as well. It’s an honor to be listed alongside them ❤️🔥.If you want to check out the nominees list, it’s here: https://nygamecritics.com/2025/12/15/awards-all-the-15th-new-york-game-awards-nominees-right-here/Thanks again for supporting Shujinkou and Rice Games. We’ll share more as…
