- [Gaze] Watching You - 30 April 2026
It’s me. Employee A. There are many horror films around the world, and quite a few of them feature clowns. With their unsettling makeup and incomprehensible behavior, they are figures that provoke fear. One scene that left a strong impression on me was from a well-known work, where a clown was “watching from a drain.” It was so impactful that I couldn’t forget it after seeing it once. Even though films are fiction, children are often targeted, and the situations can feel close to home, making you imagine incidents that could happen nearby. It felt disturbingly real—enough to make you think it could actually happen. This time, we came across data of a clown that evokes “clown horror.” At first glance, it appears iconic and not particularly frightening, but perhaps that itself is a disguise meant to lower one’s guard. In one hand, it holds a bloodstained blade, and in the other, a balloon…
- [Hint] How to Erase You - 16 April 2026
It’s me. Employee A. When talking about the period around the year 2000, there is something I always remember. That is the “Y2K problem.” There were fears that every system dependent on computers could fail— that airplanes might fall from the sky, that banks could lose their data, or even that power and infrastructure might come to a halt. Various speculations spread at the time. In the end, it is said that major trouble was avoided. But if we were to assume a similar scale of damage or loss today— it seems that the Nankai Trough megathrust earthquake is now a concern. This character appears to be something that provides “hints.” I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before, though perhaps I’m mistaken. As you keep looking at this familiar figure… for some reason, you begin to feel like you want to erase it. It says: “How to erase you.” Taken at face value, it sounds almost like a curse— b…
- [Restoration in Progress] The True Identity of “Happy Execution Show” - 5 March 2026
It’s me. Employee A. In Europe between the 15th and 17th centuries, many people were executed as examples to others after unjust trials known as “witch trials.” During the French Revolution, public executions were carried out using the guillotine. In Rome’s Colosseum, people were made to fight to the death. There were times overseas when death was presented in various ways—as entertainment or as a spectacle. It’s not that Japan had no such history, but perhaps the view of life and death here was different from the examples above. Even in works of entertainment today, such themes exist, and yet shocking footage can spread in an instant. I can only hope that no one casually posts “images that seem to capture someone’s death.” There is a reason I began with this preface. Within this game’s data, there is a straightforward entry titled “Happy Execution Show.” The accompanying comments are o…
- [Download] The Button You Should Never Have Clicked - 26 February 2026
It’s me. Employee A. These days, terms like “one-click scams” and “malware” have become widely understood, and I think people have developed at least some level of caution when it comes to downloading things carelessly. But in the early 2000s, it was a time when internet literacy was still far from sufficient. I myself fell for it once back when I was a student. The screen froze, and I hurriedly forced the program to close. Even now, I clearly remember that feeling of “I might have just done something irreversible.” Since then, security software has evolved, and countermeasures have been put in place. Still, even in this day and age, is it really true that nothing can slip through those defenses— something that quietly makes its way into your PC without you noticing? At the very least, since beginning this restoration work, I’ve experienced a number of unexplained bugs and strange behav…
- [Memorial Portrait] The Portrait That Began to Move - 19 February 2026
It’s me. Employee A. In recent years, AI technology that animates the deceased in memorial portraits has already begun to enter funeral settings. By making the departed “smile,” altering their expressions, and passing everything through the filter of “memories,” these practices seem to be barely accepted. Overseas, there have also been cases where famous portraits or photographs were used to make the dead appear to “walk” through modern cities, drawing public attention. From a technical standpoint, this is something that can already be done. The deceased can be made to behave as if they still exist. Is this an act of remembrance, or a malicious fabrication? If it is a service born of goodwill, perhaps it can still be justified—but some may see it as inappropriate, or even blasphemous. If the boundaries of what is acceptable remain unclear, and images of the dead begin to flood social me…
- 【AA】A World Shaped by Characters - 12 February 2026
It’s me. Employee A. In recent years, pixel art has been drawing attention once again. Graphics continue to evolve, and today, high-definition visuals and 3D expressions have become the norm. Even so, more and more creators are deliberately choosing pixel art. One reason, it seems, is that by not showing too much detail, the viewer’s imagination fills in the gaps on its own. And when that completion works in a frightening direction, people may begin to see things that were never actually there. Do you remember that retro-style game themed around nightmares that came out not long ago? They say it depicts the kind of vision seen by someone who has truly suffered a mental breakdown. That reminds me— ASCII art used to be popular, didn’t it? Among the restored data, something like this was left behind. I remember that in the early 2000s, there were ASCII artists on message boards. Back then,…
- [Discarded Waste] What Lies Inside - 5 February 2026
It’s me. Employee A. Earlier this year, I saw a TV news report about a strange discovery of discarded waste in the Kansai region. The details were withheld, but it was said to contain what appeared to be blood and skin— and even fragments resembling organs—leading to speculation that it may have been medical waste. Under normal circumstances, such materials should be properly disposed of by medical institutions. Why, then, were they thrown away at an ordinary garbage collection site? I can only hope there was no criminal intent involved… Now then— I’ve managed to restore another unsettling game, so please take a look. What appears on the screen is a game where a head that looks like a baby’s face is moved left and right. Falling from above are not toys or items, but things that can only be described as “internal organs.” Within the data, this game was tagged as “Organ Catch.” If this ga…
- [Language Update] New In-Game Screens Revealed - 29 January 2026
It’s me. Employee A. There is a myth known as the Tower of Babel. When humans attempted to reach the heavens, God did not merely destroy the tower— by making their languages no longer understood by one another, completion itself was rendered impossible. Lately, I find myself wondering. Is this restoration work we are undertaking an act of reconnecting something that was once “never meant to be created”? And if the warnings we have received so far were sent by those who once tried—and failed—to restore it in the past… What kind of “retribution” awaits us at the end of continuing what should not be done? Now, we have a report to share. DO NOT PLAY has now added Traditional Chinese as a supported language, and we are also unveiling brand-new in-game visuals for the first time. This announcement was made at the event currently being held in Taiwan, the Asia Pacific Game Summit 2026. As a re…
- [Traces] A Page You Shouldn’t Scroll Through - 28 January 2026
It’s me. Employee A. Recently, I heard about AI-powered medical diagnostics—systems that analyze medical images and test data and can detect “abnormalities” even before doctors do. However, the results are presented only as numbers and probabilities, and the final decision is still left to physicians. In other words, for now, AI does not decide—it merely presents the materials. But someday, if AI begins diagnosing us based on the countless outcomes accumulated in records… What will that bring to us? Now, we have an announcement. At the Asia Pacific Game Summit 2026, to be held in Taipei, Mr. Shiokawa, CEO of Fahrenheit 213 Inc., with whom we are developing together, will be taking the stage. During this stage event, DO NOT PLAY will be introduced alongside various other titles. As the event will take place in Taipei, those who are able to attend in person, please look forward to it. For…
- [Multilingual] Two Words That Shouldn’t Have Been Read - 22 January 2026
It’s me. Employee A. Lately, I’ve been feeling that it’s become much harder than before to tell whether a piece of writing or an image was created by generative AI. Back in the 2000s, when “Geemu” was originally released, technology like today’s generative AI simply didn’t exist. That’s precisely why everything contained in this work must have been created with someone’s intent behind it. Modern AI can produce astonishingly natural results, whether in text or images. And yet, from time to time, it outputs something completely unexpected—something no one asked for. What exactly is that, I wonder… I don’t believe AI is altering things of its own will, of course—but still. Today, out of the many image files we have, I want to talk about one that uses a large number of different languages. The first thing that catches your eye when you open it is an overwhelming mass of text. Multiple langu…
- [Decay] A Story Coming Apart - 15 January 2026
It’s me. Employee A. Recently, a university research team in Japan announced that periodontal bacteria may be able to enter the brain and play a role in the progression of dementia. Some experts have commented that inflammation in the mouth can sometimes travel through the bloodstream and reach the brain. The idea that something as ordinary as gum inflammation could quietly make its way into your brain is… unsettling. In fact, there have even been cases where people were examined for unexplained memory loss, only to discover that periodontal bacteria had left “traces” inside the brain. Thinking about that, I’ve started to feel that the growing number of things I sometimes can’t remember no longer feels like someone else’s problem—it feels uncomfortably close to home. This time, we came across data from an old-fashioned visual novel game. At first glance, it looks like a simple romance A…
- [Traces] A Page You Shouldn’t Scroll Through - 8 January 2026
It’s me. Employee A. About twenty years ago, there was a time when almost anyone could easily create their own website. Personal computers were becoming common in ordinary households, and with simple software, people could publish pages to the vast sea of the internet. Compared to today, many of those sites were clearly amateurish. Some looked unfinished, as if their creators had given up halfway through, and countless pages like that were left behind. They remind me of the tourist spots hastily built during the bubble era—then abandoned and left to decay after it burst. The site I saw was probably one of those that had simply been left online. The description was gone. The creator’s name was gone. Only a strange background illustration remained. When I scrolled all the way down, I remember thinking, “I should pretend I never saw this.” That page was probably… something pretending to be…
- [Distortion] The Changing Group Photo - 25 December 2025
It’s me. Employee A. While cleaning my room, I found an old photo from my school days. Feeling nostalgic, I turned it over—and noticed a small line of text written on the back: “—There’s one person here whose face I don’t recognize.” The handwriting looked like my own, yet I had absolutely no memory of writing it. Sure, there are classmates whose names or faces I’ve forgotten over the years… but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall this particular boy’s face at all. Speaking of photos, I recently rechecked the group photo data we had restored earlier, and something felt off. I’m certain the woman in the center used to have her face obscured—blurred out, almost like it was being “smudged.” But when I checked the file again, after that strange “distortion” disappeared, her face looked perfectly normal, as if nothing had been wrong in the first place. Does this group photo… change…
- 【Viewer Discretion Advised】Restored Disturbing Content - 11 December 2025
It’s me. Employee A. The other day, I went to an eye doctor just to be safe. In the middle of the vision test, the doctor suddenly stopped. “…Your visual response isn’t normal,” he murmured. He didn’t explain anything further, nor did he turn the monitor toward me. He only handed me a slip of paper and said, “Let’s schedule some additional tests, just in case.” When I tried asking what was wrong, he simply shook his head and said, “We can talk about it later.” As I left the room, I could have sworn I heard him whisper to someone behind me: “Another shadow appeared.” Speaking of which, I found a piece of data I wanted to look away from. A truly disturbing game. Throwing darts directly at an eyeball— it’s hard to imagine a human being coming up with something like that. The hit detection is bizarrely precise, too. I don’t want to think about what level of “accuracy” the developer was tryi…
- [Warning] Noise in the Mailbox - 27 November 2025
It’s me. Employee A. You often hear people say, “This world is just a simulation.” After staring at a debug screen for hours, I sometimes look back at reality and… it feels the same. There are numbers, coordinates, and a button marked “×” to close the view. Does this screen, too, have its own termination process? Anyway, onto the main topic. When I came to the office, the mailbox was full of letters. All of them addressed to “SCRAP Inc.” I opened just one — it said only: “Stop the restoration.” The rest were all written in the same handwriting, no return address. Even if they were sent to the company, I know what they’re referring to. They’re about DO NOT PLAY. Which means they’re warnings directed at me. But I can’t stop. The restoration project is a necessary process — to confront this fear, face to face. Employee A Add DO NOT PLAY to your wishlist if you haven't already. https://stor…
- [Someone’s Drawing] The Blacked-Out “Boku” - 13 November 2025
It’s me. Employee A. Lately, I’ve started seeing something like noise moving in my field of vision. It’s similar to what’s called “floaters.” When I move my eyes, the noise drifts to another spot. I thought it was just fatigue. But today, that “noise” didn’t disappear even when I blinked. Now, onto the main topic. You might remember the drawing shown in the PV — the one that looks like it was made by a child. It says “Mom,” “Me,” and “Dad.” The mother’s legs are cut off… something isn’t right. And the figure labeled “Me” is completely blacked out — no shape, no details. I tried pressing on the mistake for now, but… I couldn’t bring myself to press it any further. Employee A Add DO NOT PLAY to your wishlist if you haven't already. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3502970/
- [Notice] Flyer Distribution at Tokyo Game Dungeon 10 - 7 November 2025
It’s me. Employee A. The elevator in my apartment building was under inspection today, so I took the stairs instead. By the time I reached what should have been the third floor, the doorplate in front of me read “205.” Thinking I’d stopped too early, I climbed another flight of stairs—only to find myself once again facing Room 205. Just as I began to wonder what was going on, a maintenance worker called out, “Inspection’s done, you can use it now!” I took the elevator up to the third floor, and this time, I actually arrived where I was supposed to. This time, DO NOT PLAY will be featured at the indie game exhibition Tokyo Game Dungeon 10, held in Tokyo. We’ll be distributing both flyers and postcards for the game. We previously participated in Tokyo Game Dungeon 8 back in May, and we’re grateful to have another opportunity this November. If you’re attending, please feel free to drop by!…
- [Notice] Flyer Distribution at Nazotoki Market - 6 November 2025
It’s me. Employee A. On the way home, I was standing near the door on the train when I felt someone stop right behind me. Thinking I might be in the way, I turned slightly—and through the window, I met someone’s eyes. Their lips moved slowly. The moment I wondered what they were saying, I could’ve sworn I heard the words, “I found you.” When I turned around, no one was there. This weekend, at Nazotoki Market, an event hosted by SCRAP, we’ll be distributing flyers for DO NOT PLAY. It’s a gathering of puzzle creators from all over, so if you’re interested, please come visit Nazotoki Market. Event Name: Nazotoki Market URL: https://www.scrapmagazine.com/s/nazomarket/ Date & Time: November 8 (Sat), 2025 — 10:00–18:00 November 9 (Sun), 2025 — 10:00–18:00 Last admission at 17:30 each day Location: Tokyo Dome City Prism Hall 1-3-61 Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0004 Employee A Add DO NOT PLAY t…
- [Echoes] Corrupted Audio - 30 October 2025
It’s me. Employee A. Lately, when I get home, I sometimes hear footsteps that are slightly out of sync with mine. The moment I insert the key into the door, it feels like someone is standing right behind me. When I turn around, no one is there. Only the sound of footsteps echoes through the apartment hallway. It’s probably just someone from another floor returning home around the same time... or so I hope. Now, onto the main topic. We reviewed several audio files and found that some were corrupted beyond complete restoration. However, we managed to recover about ten seconds of analyzable data and decided to play it back. It sounds like someone breathing... unsettling, to say the least. I’m not sure which scene this audio was used in. The damage is severe, so it may not be usable in the main game—but I wanted to share this as part of our progress report. Employee A Add DO NOT PLAY to you…
- 【Missing】What happened to them - 16 October 2025
It’s me. Employee A. Lately, I’ve found myself closing the browser I’m working in without realizing it. I reopen the tabs from my history, but every time I do, I feel disgusted with myself for interrupting something that isn’t finished yet. When I work late at night, I sometimes hear a voice saying, “It’s not done yet.” Of course, there’s no one else in the room. But occasionally, my reflection on the monitor seems to waver—just slightly. Now, to the main issue. Recently, I suddenly lost contact with the developer who used to join and leave our online meetings, laughing as they did. He was working on multiple projects, yet always found time to help when we were in trouble. We’ve been dividing up tasks like restoring data and piecing together scattered fragments, and he mainly handled debugging when errors started appearing. According to his colleagues, he hasn’t shown up to work for abo…
