This gem surfaces soon
We have it ready, but it is not unsealed yet. Come back when it opens.
Opens on 2026-07-17 (JST)
A girl who wants to be the strongest kung-fu fighter alive throws every punch, jump, and dodge exactly on the beat, and the fight simply does not work if you're a half-step off the rhythm.
A rhythm battle-action game made and self-published by the solo developer circle ブルーオニキス (Blue Onyx), who spent about two years building it and showed it in person at Tokyo Game Dungeon 4, a Japan-based indie showcase, before its solo Steam release. Per Steam's own store text, translated here since no official English version exists, a girl sets out to become the strongest kung-fu fighter there is, and the whole fight rides on rhythm: press the right button in time with the notes to move, jump, and attack, reading an enemy's actions and slamming a fist into the opening it leaves. Landing hits fills a tension gauge that, once full, unleashes a heavy-damage 'technique,' and stances acquired along the way raise your max health or make that gauge fill faster. Released February 19, 2025 at a striking ¥470, it is Positive at 100 percent over 17 reviews (17 positive, 0 negative), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, with no AI-generated assets, and per Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual. It supports Japanese only, with no English text anywhere in the game, and zero of its reviews are in English: the language itself is the wall keeping it from the West.
Published 2026-07-17
01First, the one feeling
- Per Steam's own text, every move, jump, and attack has to land in time with the notes, so a fight stops being about reacting fast and becomes about reading an opponent's pattern one beat ahead, then committing a punch to the exact moment the rhythm and the opening line up.
- Landing hits fills a tension gauge that unleashes a heavy 'technique' once it's full, so the rhythm you're keeping isn't just about survival, it is quietly building toward a single decisive strike you get to choose the timing of.
- This exists because a solo developer circle spent about two years building it, then carried it in person to a Tokyo indie showcase before ever putting it on Steam, so the ¥470 price tag sitting under a 100 percent positive score reads less like an accident and more like someone who priced a two-year labor of love to be found rather than to profit from it.
02Who this is for (and who it is not)
For you
- You want a rhythm game where the beat isn't a mini-game layered on top of combat, it is the combat: every move, jump, and attack locked to the notes
- You want a genuinely solo, self-published Japanese production: a two-year labor of love shown in person at a Tokyo indie event before its own creator put it on Steam with no publisher at all
- You want a Positive title (100 percent, though only 17 reviews) that could not be more unreached by the West: no English support anywhere, and literally zero English reviews
Not for you
- You want a long game or a large cast; this is a tight, score-and-technique-focused rhythm brawler built around one core loop
- You want to actually read it without Japanese; it supports no other language at all, so the wall here is the language itself, and it is a paid title, not free and not in Early Access, with no AI-generated assets and, per Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual
03The roots of this taste
100% positiveonly 17 reviewsno English support yet — yet almost no one has found it
Kung Fu Beat Buried gem
Per Steam's own Japanese-language store text (translated here, since the store page carries no official English version at all), a girl sets out to become the strongest kung-fu fighter there is, and the whole fight rides on rhythm: press the right button in time with the notes to move, jump, and attack, reading an enemy's actions and slamming a fist into the opening it leaves. Landing hits fills a tension gauge that, once full, unleashes a heavy-damage 'technique,' and stances you acquire along the way raise your max health or make that gauge fill faster, letting you carry momentum from one fight into the next. Made and self-published by the solo developer circle ブルーオニキス (Blue Onyx), who spent about two years building it and exhibited it in person at Tokyo Game Dungeon 4, a Japan-based indie showcase, before its solo Steam release. Released February 19, 2025 at a striking ¥470, it is Positive at 100 percent over 17 reviews (17 positive, 0 negative per Steam's own review API), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, with no AI-generated assets, and per Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual. It supports Japanese only, with no English-language text anywhere in the game or its store page, and, unsurprisingly, zero of its reviews are in English: the language itself is the wall keeping it from the West.
Give it your first passCrypt of the NecroDancer The critical echo
The origin of this taste: Crypt of the NecroDancer, a 2015 roguelike by Brace Yourself Games whose own store text sums it up as a game where you 'move to the music and deliver beatdowns to the beat,' every step and swing locked to the rhythm of its soundtrack rather than free timing. Kung Fu Beat is not an official NecroDancer work, and this lineage is a comparison drawn by this site in outside critical commentary, not a stated influence from developer ブルーオニキス, but it carries the same core idea into a new frame: that a fight only truly works if you act exactly on the beat, not just eventually.
Give it your first pass04Make this gem shine
If it speaks to you, check it on Steam and give it your first pass. Your push is what makes a buried gem shine.
You gave it your pass. The gem just caught the light.
05The bloodline of this taste
- Crypt of the NecroDancer Root
- Kung Fu Beat You are here
- Read-and-build games another taste