ZobaxGames
Aiming to appeal to both speakers and non-speakers of Japanese, play as Shu, Jin, and Kou as you try to save the world from the Akuma in this single player JRPG!
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.
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. Shujinkou is NOT purely a learning tool—it is a video game with optional, but comprehensive language learning functionalities embedded into various gameplay mechanics.
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, equipment forging, cooking, fishing, quests, minigames, shops, and countless achievements and records to break. Explore a vast world, engage with a riveting story, meet multifaceted characters, enjoy stunning artwork, and lose yourself in hours of dynamic music.
All of these elements are woven together through an 80+ hour story campaign with over 200 hours of gameplay content, gradually introducing a complex set of RPG mechanics throughout the journey to create a truly comprehensive experience.
We hosted a Closed Beta testing period from June to July 2024, where we received feedback from many players who played the Windows version of Shujinkou. They had access to around 30% of the story campaign. Here are some of the comments we received:
✅ "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.
✅ "Shujinkou has been great for getting me to reengage with learning Japanese and I basically enjoyed all of the characters that I met from minor NPCs to the playable cast, which isn't a small feat."
Player who actively studied Japanese in the past.
✅ "The Art team did a very good job in the character designs and the monsters, both in the open world and while fighting—the huge art of the Yajuu was badass. Oh, and good lord did the Music team nail it. I just cannot express to you how well they came off to me as music is a very big part of my overall enjoyment and experience in a game."
Player who has looked for a legitimate game to properly teach them Japanese.
We're almost done with Shujinkou. Join our community on Discord to meet other fellow JRPG-fans and those who want to take a stab at learning Japanese through a legitimately fun, engaging way.
Explore over a dozen labyrinths and over 40 handcrafted maps spanning tens of thousands of tiles, looking for Kanakae Orbs, orbs imbued with elements of nature and Japanese kana and kanji, and avoiding large, dangerous foes called "Yajuu" (野獣, やじゅう)
Each labyrinth is filled with unique gameplay mechanics, puzzles, dozens of akuma, treasure chests, resource harvesting points, and more.
Shujinkou also has a 4-way Time System (Day, Dusk, Night, Dawn) that is present in various towns and labyrinths.
Shujinkou's Battle System is filled with dozens of mechanics, including Battle Skills (Arawasu, 現す, あらわす), Akuma Negotiation (Koushou, 交渉, こうしょう), the Escape Minigame, and more. However, the most effective way to defeat the akuma of Shujinkou is by striking their Elemental Weaknesses and Ontological Weaknesses.
Use the seven elements of Shujinkou to strike enemy weaknesses and deal extra damage.
Use the Kanakae Orbs (カナ変え, かなかえ) to reveal the names of akuma—the more of an akuma's name you reveal, the more damage everyone is able to deal! Grinding your Japanese skills only helps make battles easier and quicker to trounce through!
Shujinkou has plenty of side-content for players who want to take their time and experience the story over a longer period of time.
Play through over 200 quests (Youkyuu, 要求, ようきゅう), earning thousands of EXP, special items, and lots of money—by fulfilling these requests, learn more about the backstories and personalities behind hundreds of civilians that live in Shu's home nation, Genya, and other foreign nations!
Develop a special bond called the Kizuna (絆, きずな) with up to SIX PARTNERS by helping them with their private, personal requests! The stronger your bond is with them, the more bonuses you will obtain—unlock over 40 Kizuna Bonuses that can augment your skills in battle, make it easier to win minigames, provide useful discounts for goods at shops, and much, much more.
Through the Moji Kiroku (文字記録, もじきろく), practice writing hundreds of Japanese kana and kanji as you progress through Shujinkou's story and discover new Kanakae Orbs! Stroke order, writing accuracy, example words, most commonly used kunyomi (訓読み, くんよみ) and onyomi (音読み, おんよみ) readings for kanji, and more can be reviewed as you collect more and more Kanakae Orbs.
Thousands of words, phrases, sentences, explanations for grammar, and more are present in various dialogue and signboards throughout Shujinkou.
Shujinkou's overall story and side-quest content exceeds over one million words, edited and revised for both language accuracy and the narrative style that was often seen in JRPGs in the 90s and 00s.
All words and phrases covered can be viewed at any point in time in the Blue Text Menu.
Grammar concepts and Japanese concepts that require deeper explanations are found in the hundreds of Kanban (看板, かんばん, Signboard) scattered through the labyrinths.
Shujinkou is able to swap the majority of its user interface text into one of four displays—English, Japanese, Furigana (helper kana for kanji), and Romaji (romanized Japanese).
If you are not using any English displays but feel a bit worn out from all of the Japanese, you can immediately swap the game into "English Mode" at the click of a button, and continue to play through Shujinkou just like you would any other JRPG.
Shujinkou is filled with dozens of other gameplay and learning mechanics, woven into the overall experience in such a way that each and every player will feel like their playthrough is unique. Whether you want to treat Shujinkou like a full-scale learning tool for Japanese, or play it like a story-driven, mechanically complex JRPG inspired by some of the most timeless, classic role-playing games, Shujinkou is at your fingertips, ready to provide you with an unforgettable time.
Our soundtrack is filled with over 150 tracks of music, including a wide array of genres from classical to metal, jazz to electronic, gypsy to Eastern, and plenty more!
Experience a full-fledged Jukebox that allows players to listen to all of the music in the game. The Jukebox music continues to play while actively checking any and every menu.
Reminisce on the dozens of fullscreen illustrations drawn by our talented Art Team through the Gallery Menu, which gives players access to all of the illustrations that they have seen throughout Shujinkou's story and side-content.
We hope so! Shujinkou is Rice Games's first commercial release—if you have been craving a content-packed single-player role-playing game with tremendous love & care poured into ALL aspects of its development, while offering the ability to help you learn a useful, real life skill as you play, Shujinkou may just be what you are looking for. We promise you will not be disappointed!
If you have any questions, please join our community on Discord and feel free to ask away! We'll promise to answer or enter the discussion as soon as we can!