Shujinkou Provides Combat Overview Trailer

Developer Rice Games released a new trailer for its language-learning dungeon-crawling RPG Shujinkou. The two-minute combat overview trailer provides a quick introduction to the game’s turn-based combat system ahead of the game’s release for PC, Mac, and PlayStation 5 on February 13, 2025. A Nintendo Switch version is also planned to release later this year.

Shujinkou’s combat makes use of Kanakae Orbs, which can be found throughout its labyrinths. Each orb is imbued with one of seven elements and one Japanese character (hiragana, katakana, or kanji). Each party member can equip five orbs at one, with loadouts saveable as sets. Players use these orbs to reveal the names of their foes. As players learn about their foes, they can strike parts of their name or their elemental weaknesses to deal more damage. As players strike enemy weakness, they also earn points to allow them to use each character’s special Kakusei moves.

After a certain point, players will be able to negotiate with the Akuma they face off against. The Akuma’s preferred answers will depend on their individual alignments, with the result ranging from the akuma escaping; attacking; granting players items, money, healing, or knowledge. Meanwhile, the game’s Arawasu skill system will let players gain new skills — each named after a Japanese verb or phrase — from a skill tree. These skills may use up health, mana, or language points to activiate and can be upgraded.

Shujinkou will feature an eighty-plus-hour story campaign split across two major arcs. The game follows Shu, Jin, and Kou as they try to save the world from the Akuma. It sees players tackling sixteen labyrinths using various skills, items, and equipment. Other content allows them to take on quests, cook, fish, participate in minigames, shop, and more. Players can learn hiragana, katakana, and numerous kanji, as well as over a hundred types of grammar corresponding to the JLPT’s (Japanese-Language Proficiency Test) N5 to N3 standards, with the game also including some content up to N1. It also includes an English-only mode.