- September Update: Updated manual and desktop icons (v3.1.5) - 19 September 2026
A small autumn update to clear up a few minor issues while I continue work on the brand-new modules system and DLC.The manual has been tweaked, but the most visible change are the all-new hand-drawn (well, mouse-drawn) pixel art desktop icons replacing the old default buttons!I can't believe I didn't have this idea earlier, but I think it looks a lot more visually cohesive now.Stay tuned for the Autumn Sale and DLC updates soon...v3.1.5Improvements“Desktop” apps now have new 32x32 icons instead of just text.Manual: Updated hints page, added new pages, rearranged sections.Manual viewer now has page counter and start/end skip buttons.Bug FixesClicking during the Similarity Finder portion of Tutorial 1 no longer causes the dialogue box to jump to the centre.Fixed some typos in the encyclopedia, interludes, Tankawa’s story and in the manual.
- Patch v3.1.4 - 6 July 2026
Hello! Hope you're enjoying the summer. A small patch with a few bug fixes. Bugs fixed When you loaded a mid-week save with a solved puzzle, the text would still read "Record Not Saved" even though it was saved. It now shows "All answers are correct!" correctly. PDA "Tasks" panel now displays correctly in Free Roam. In some circumstances a treasure might not unlock at the end of the chapter. Treasures are now double-checked when you load the game to ensure any missing treasures are unlocked correctly.
- In-Game Manual: - 21 June 2026
Hey Tokyoites, and happy Midsummer! (Or Midwinter, depending on latitude.)It's been a fantastic first month for Mysteries of Old Tokyo and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. As we enter the summer, things will start to slow down a little, but I do want to add at least some post-release content as I plan out the possibilities for the future.So this release contains an old-school game manual, the kind that used to come on glossy paper inside a cardboard box. For the convenience of the modern age, you can view the manual in-game, or export* the PDF to view on another screen or even another device.I was inspired by the manuals that used to come with games like Strike Commander and Starship Titanic: a little bit instruction book, a little bit in-universe fluff and lore.Mysteries of Old Tokyo: RIA Employee Handbook includes:The RIA employee handbook, including an introduction by G…
- v3.1.2: Verified on Steam Deck! - 28 May 2026
Hello Tokyoites! A happy end to the Steam Deck saga, as Valve have passed Mysteries of Old Tokyo as Verified on Steam Deck. The game should now launch the Linux build automatically when you run on Steam Deck, ensuring the best experience all round.With this news comes a small update to v3.1.2.v3.1.2 notesThe game now detects if it's running on Steam Deck and disables the fullscreen toggle. Although this toggle didn't actually do anything on Steam Deck (since there's no "windowed" mode on the Steam Deck), turning it on caused a few interface issues on Steam Deck OLED, so disabling it fixes these issues.Increased the size of the "Now Playing" text to be easier to read on Steam Deck.
- Steam Deck Compatibility Update - 24 May 2026
Update to the updateHello all - just wanted to update this post to say that Mysteries of Old Tokyo is now verified on Steam Deck! Read more here:The original post is preserved below in case it's useful, but you can ignore it.Original postHello Tokyoites!I wanted to provide an update on the Steam Deck version of the game. As you may have read earlier, my intention is to provide as smooth as possible an experience on Steam Deck, despite the challenges of the device for a point and click adventure game:At present the game is officially Playable on Steam Deck but there is something important to be aware of.TL;DR: The game uses the Proton build by default on Steam Deck, which causes a cosmetic bug: as a result it's best to manually choose the Linux build.Switching to the Linux buildBy default, Valve have selected the Proton runtime for Mysteries of Old Tokyo on Steam Deck. (More information…
- Patch v3.1.1 - 17 May 2026
Well, I'd planned a larger first week patch, but unfortunately there weren't enough bugs to fix. It seems the game is quite bug-free as it is. Apologies for that. I will ensure there are more bugs in future patches, that can then be fixed in patches for the patches. v3.1.1 Improvements When starting a new chapter, game logic will prefer to pick an unseen spirit NPC instead of reusing an existing one. Once all NPCs are used at least once, it will pick at random instead. This ensures you get a good variety of NPCs in the early game. Slightly different main menu after finishing the main game. Ending cinematic can be viewed from Fun Stuff after finishing the main game. Bug fixes Tweaked some text to make it clearer that Spirit Report can be done after Data Entry, and that player can return to skipped reports later in the game. Fixed a typo (Seimi → Seimei) Image files are no longer shown as…
- Post-launch and future plans - 16 May 2026
A few notes after Thursday's release...Thank you!After over a year of work, I released Mysteries of Old Tokyo two days ago. It has been a strange feeling - or rather, feelings - anxiety and excitement and dread and joy all wrapped into one.But I needn't have worried. It has been an amazing release - hundreds of people have already played the game. I shot through my first month target in about five hours. And by all accounts, you're really enjoying it! Which is awesome. For such a strange niche genre, I'm so happy to find it has resonated with so many people.What really blows my mind is that (touch wood) there have been no major bugs reported yet. I'm sure there are still bugs out there ... but I'll let them sleep for now.Please do review the game!Even if you haven't finished it yet - even if it's not a very long review - reviews are so important on Steam for the algorithm, especially th…
- Out Now On Steam! - 14 May 2026
Hello, Tokyoites!I'm excited to announce that Mysteries of Old Tokyo is now available for purchase on Steam. You can get it now with a 10% launch discount!This game has very much been a labour of love for over a year now, and I'm really excited for you to get to play it. I hope very much that you enjoy it. As I've said, it might not be the best game ever, but I think it's the best Mysteries of Old Tokyo ever. I don't think there's ever quite been a game in this genre like this: whether you have visited Tokyo once, twice, zero or a hundred times, I'm certain you'll discover something new about this amazing city, and have a lot of fun while learning.The demo will remain on Steam indefinitely, so please give it a whirl if you want to try the game first. It should give you a good idea of the full game, which features over five times as much content across 32 puzzles and 11 chapters of gamep…
- The Final Stretch! v3.1.0 Release Candidate 1 - 12 May 2026
Hey Tokyoites!Hard to imagine that when I threw together a little idea in Godot just over a year ago that I would end up here. Mysteries of Old Tokyo, my first game, is releasing in just two days.I can't promise it will be the best game ever, or even the best detective puzzle game ever. But I think it's the best Mysteries of Old Tokyo that ever was.Some fixes and small improvements for the demo and beta testers ahead of release. As always, please report any issues either in the Steam discussion forums or via Discord.Not long now!v3.1.0-RC1ImprovementsThe postcard on your office desk now changes from week to week.Content updated for 2026:Refreshed a lot of postcards to give them improved/clearer/new photos.Tweaks to text content based on research.Updated FMVs, particularly for ending.Spirit’s year-related statement is now fixed between sessions instead of being picked randomly.Bug fixesD…
- Enabling Steam Cloud: Demo and beta update v3.0.5 - 29 April 2026
A small update has been pushed for the demo version and beta.ImprovementsEnabled Steam Cloud for saved game sync on demo and beta version.Hints that you receive are now saved between sessions.Encyclopedia can now be launched from the main menu.Encyclopedia file selector now remembers the last file you selected in each folder.PDA Directory list now searches by “contains”, not “begins with”.“Now Playing” widget shows current music track.Improved save system to protect against potential data loss if a critical error occurs when saving.Full version: Added some new achievements.Full version: Added option to disable a certain encounter for an easier experience.Bug fixesFixed a typo.Deleting a note now updates the note save immediately, so the note won't come back when you reload.
- Release date confirmed and new demo v3.0.4! - 26 April 2026
Hello Tokyoites!Today is April 26. If I remember correctly, it has been almost exactly a year since I dusted off my pack of antique Tokyo postcards and thought: Maybe I should do something with these?Now here we are 12 months later with an end result I never dreamed of. I'm so excited for the full release and to be finally able to share the whole thing with the world. (Excited, and, naturally, extremely nervous, but...)Release Date ConfirmedBeta testing is proceeding smoothly and unless there are any last minute bugs, we should be in a good state for release in May. As a result, I'm excited to announce the release date: Thursday 14 May!Thank you to everyone so far who has wishlisted, played the demo, or helped out with testing. As always, please feel free to join us on Discord if you have any thoughts or encounter any issues.Build approved by ValveIn more good news, today the beta build…
- Play Mysteries of Old Tokyo on Steam Deck - verified! - 25 April 2026
Verified on Steam Deck!28 May update: Very pleased to announce that Mysteries of Old Tokyo is now Verified on Steam Deck. This ensures you'll have a great experience playing the game when you're out and about (or just lounging on the sofa).Features for Steam DeckI'm a big fan of my Steam Deck. In fact, I probably play more on my Steam Deck than on my desktop PC. So it was important to me that Mysteries of Old Tokyo was playable on handheld platforms.The nature of the game presents some difficulties for the platform (and other handheld gaming PCs) - it's a point-and-click game with lots of small text. However, in my experience, it's fully playable end-to-end without much disadvantage.When playing on Steam Deck, you'll find:Mouse input using the touchscreen, joystick/trackpad and triggers. You can easily navigate the game interface using your preferred method.Automatic integration with th…
- Welcome To Your Office: Demo v3.0 - 9 April 2026
Hello, Old Tokyoites! After a hectic six weeks of work, it's great to be finally able to release the totally-revamped Demo v3.0, and your shiny new desk!There are so many new features and changes that I'm not sure where to begin. The selection of postcards remains the same, but there's a ton of new stuff too:Say hello to your office! You can now enter the RIA office in the Marunouchi Building, where you'll find cutting-edge computer equipment, a fully-stocked library, and a great view over the Imperial Palace. From here you can complete Data Entry and submit your Spirit Report, or just unwind and watch jets passing by overhead.The brand-new autosave system lets you pick up your progress mid-week. Feel free to quit any time and come back to where you left off without restarting the whole week!Tons of UI improvements, including a new streamlined PDA and easier route-finding. When you plan…
- End of current demo and post-Next Fest plans - 6 March 2026
Hello everyone!I'm making a Next Fest note here: huge success. Thank you to everyone who played the demo! Just to put it in context, the game went from 5 players on a good day, to 183 players at the peak of Next Fest. By most metrics, my game has blown up at least 10x if not more. Clearly Mysteries of Old Tokyo has more appeal than I ever anticipated.Which is good, but also a lot to process! As a solo developer, I'm balancing coding, art, sound, design, UI/UX, writing, marketing and advertising all by myself, so it takes a toll. This week hadn't been both very gratifying, but also stressful. And it's no good for the game, or anyone, if I'm trying to rush under stress.I don't want to release an under-baked game with features I'm not happy with, and at the moment, there's things I'm not happy with - the intuitiveness of the UI and the way the spirit reports work. To get the game ready, I…
- Next Fest v2.1.3 - Small crash fix - 26 February 2026
Hey! Thanks again for all the support and feedback so far and I hope you have been enjoying my game.There was a crash bug related to the encyclopedia. Hopefully not too many players were affected, but it's still annoying to lose your progress just like that, so I sympathise. Apologies for the fault.The root cause was a simple null reference error which is annoying, but easy to fix. Hopefully there won't be any further issues here but please do let me know if you find anything.Bug fixesFixed an encyclopedia bug where clicking on "NO DATA" would crash the game.Fixed text record filtering so that keywords are still highlighted if there's no search text (keywords are not highlighted if you enter search text).Fix annoying but harmless U_STRING_NOT_TERMINATED_WARNING error with text search.
- Next Fest Demo Update (v2.1.2) - 24 February 2026
Hello! It's the first day of Next Fest, which has brought many more new players for the demo! There are a few improvements and bug fixes due.FeaturesI wasn't really happy with how Gazetteer.txt worked, so I replaced it with the Directory. It comes pre-loaded as an app on your PDA, making it a bit easier to find your way around Tokyo.ImprovementsKeywords in text files are now highlighted in yellow.CRT filter is on by default.Money and stamina labels added to dashboard.Added the Marunouchi subway line, and some new stations on the Chiyoda, Chuo-Sobu, and Oedo lines.Disabled some unachievable achievements.Bug fixesMade sure player starts with some money if continuing direct from tutorial.Fixed bug where station evidence wouldn’t trigger if player arrived by train.Fixed duplicate postcards in Browse after finishing demo.Tweaked possibly confusing action for Koyo-kan.Slightly more generous c…
- Demo Update v2.1.1 - 18 February 2026
Next Fest starts on Monday! This is incredibly exciting and scary at the same time. I've been spending a bit of time to make sure the demo is in tip-top condition before release, so please enjoy a overhauled tutorial and a whole new treasure, as well as improved quality-of-life features.FeaturesImproved and streamlined tutorial with all-new intro. Learn the story of how you got to Tokyo! (Spoiler: by train)Treasures are now unlocked by week (instead of randomly), to fit with the theme of each week. Each week, one of the postcards will trigger a “treasure found” notification.Added 1 new treasure for the demo.ImprovementsEfforts at reducing information overload and making gameplay smoother:Your PDA now only shows what you need to do next.Much improved train routing algorithm. No more having to change 3-4 times to hop a short distance! The algorithm will try to reduce the number of changes…
- Demo Update v2.1.0 and Next Fest Prep - 12 February 2026
As the release date gets steadily closer, and with Next Fest on the horizon, it's time for what might be the final major update before release... the definitive demo version.This update transforms the regular gameplay with two big new additions. First, you'll no longer get the postcard locations just given to you at the start of each chapter. You'll need to visit a nearby station and work it out from there - just like in the real Tokyo!Second, not all evidence will be conveniently at the location you visit. You'll get a pager message directing you to a nearby station where you can find more information.There's a whole host of bug fixes and improvements, including new graphics, music and sound effects. Enjoy the demo, and see you at Next Fest!FeaturesNew postcards are no longer shown by default on the map. Use the “Gazetteer.txt” file to locate the nearest station first, then visit the s…
- Demo v2.0.3 - 6 February 2026
As the release of the full game gets closer and closer, it's time to start wrapping up the core features and fixing some long-standing bugs. We're almost there!This release adds the long-awaited and much-requested hint system for the Spirit Report, but be warned - it'll cost ya. There's also improvements to graphics and sound, and on-screen keyboard support on Steam Deck.New FeaturesHint system! Ria, the helpful chatbot, will be happy to help you if you get stuck on a spirit report - for a fee.Postcards now have a splash screen when you visit them for the first time. For context on a location, you can view a general image using the "Live View" button on a postcard.The postcard order is now more-or-less final for the finished game. As a result, two new postcards debut in Chapter 2 in this version, replacing two from the previous version (Kameido Tenjin replaced by Ueno Station and Takara…
- Demo v2.0.2 - 24 January 2026
The Steam Detective Fest was a big success! Thank you to everyone for your continued interest in the game, and in particular to everyone who play-tested version 2 of the demo and gave some great feedback.This version implements a lot of your feedback and fixes at least one really annoying bug with the “Send Feedback” button (ironically).And apologies for blasting your eardrums with some rather loud sound effects. Those affected will be pleased to see the new volume controls in the Settings menu.New features:General UI: New 4-digit year input component, including conversion to Japanese era calendar.In puzzles, the year (e.g. “1923”) is no longer listed in the word list, but is now entered using the year input component. In some cases this means you will have to determine the Western-style year using the Japanese era calendar.In other places the standard spinbox has been augmented by the…
