Shujinkou is a story-driven, turn-based dungeon crawler that provides players with the option to learn Japanese as they play. Play through an enthralling 80-hour story campaign as Shu, Jin, and Kou in a fight to save the world from the Akuma.
We are not affiliated with IsThereAnyDeal.
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!"
✅ "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."
✅ "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."
✅ "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."
✅ "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."
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)
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.
Shujinkou has plenty of side-content for players who want to take their time and experience the story over a longer period of time.
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 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).
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.
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!
Steam data © 2025 Valve Corporation. Steam and the Steam logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Independent of Valve. Pricing and availability subject to change.
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!"
✅ "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."
✅ "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."
✅ "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."
✅ "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."
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)
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.
Shujinkou has plenty of side-content for players who want to take their time and experience the story over a longer period of time.
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 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).
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.
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!
Shujinkou is a story-driven, turn-based dungeon crawler that provides players with the option to learn Japanese as they play. Play through an enthralling 80-hour story campaign as Shu, Jin, and Kou in a fight to save the world from the Akuma.
We are not affiliated with IsThereAnyDeal.
Steam data © 2025 Valve Corporation. Steam and the Steam logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Independent of Valve. Pricing and availability subject to change.
