It is not a game you solve alone. You record your own motion, replay it as a ghost, and stand on your past self to climb.
A recording-based puzzle-action platformer by the Japanese studio HANDSUM, published by PLAYISM (Active Gaming Media). You play Rec, a robot that records civilization across a devastated world, and its one ability is the whole game: Rec records the trajectory of its own motion, walking, jumping, riding stage gimmicks, and replays it somewhere else as a ghost, a double of a few seconds of its own past, that becomes a solid, moving platform. You cooperate with your own past motion to reach a ledge you could never touch alone or cross a gap with no floor at all, layering ghost upon ghost until your past selves are the staircase forward. In the lineage of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. It supports English and, honestly, the West is already arriving, so this is a Japan-born gem the West is only now reaching.
Published 2026-07-02
01First, the one feeling
- The whole game is one ability turned into a partner. Rec records the exact trajectory of its own motion, every step, jump, and gimmick it rides, and then replays that recording somewhere else as a ghost, so the pull is watching a few seconds of your own past come to life beside you and do precisely what you did, on cue, as a second body you now get to build on.
- That replayed self is not decoration, it is solid ground. The ghost becomes a moving platform that walks the path you recorded and lifts and carries you, so reaching a ledge with no way up, or crossing a gap with no floor at all, becomes a problem of authorship: you plan and perform the recording so that its playback arrives exactly where and when you will need to stand on it.
- Then it compounds. You layer ghost upon ghost, a past self standing on an earlier past self, until you have choreographed a whole staircase out of your own recorded motion, and the click of the puzzle is the moment you realize the only thing that could carry you across was a better-planned version of what you already did.
02Who this is for (and who it is not)
For you
- You love a single mechanic taken all the way, record your own motion and replay it as a ghost, and want that ghost to become a moving platform you cooperate with, in the lineage of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom
- You want puzzles that are about authorship and timing rather than reflexes, planning and performing a recording so its playback lands you where you need to be, then layering self on self into a staircase forward
- You want a Japan-born gem in beautiful shape, a HANDSUM game published by PLAYISM, Very Positive with 99 percent of 407 reviews positive, that the West is only now reaching rather than one already worn out
Not for you
- You want a long, sprawling action game or twitch-heavy combat; this is a focused, record-and-playback puzzle-action platformer built around one idea, a paid title, not free and not in Early Access, with no AI-generated assets and no sexual content by Steam's descriptors
- You specifically want something the West has never heard of; be honest here, this one is already arriving, it ships in sixteen languages, PLAYISM carries it to Western stores and press, and about 39 percent of its 407 reviews are in English, so it is a Japan-born gem the West is reaching, not one still hidden from it
03The roots of this taste
MotionRec Buried gem
A recording-based puzzle-action platformer by the Japanese studio HANDSUM, published by PLAYISM (Active Gaming Media). You play Rec, a robot that records civilization across a devastated world, and its one ability is the whole game: Rec records the trajectory of its own motion, walking, jumping, riding stage gimmicks, and then replays that recording somewhere else as a ghost, a double of a few seconds of its own past. That replayed self becomes a solid, moving platform: it walks the path you recorded, lifts you, and carries you, so you cooperate with your own past motion to reach a ledge you could never touch alone or cross a gap with no floor at all. Solving a room means authoring the recording, planning and performing the movement so that its playback lands you where you need to be, and layering ghost upon ghost until your own past selves are the staircase forward. Released in October 2025, it is Very Positive with 99 percent of its reviews positive (406 of 407, a single negative), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, with no AI-generated assets and, by Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual. And it is only honest to say the West is already arriving: it ships in sixteen languages including English, PLAYISM carries it to Western storefronts and press, and 158 of its 407 reviews (about 39 percent) are in English. This is not a gem no one has found; it is a Japan-born gem the West is only now reaching.
Give it your first passThe Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom The record-and-replay origin
The origin of this taste: The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, developed by The Odd Gentlemen and published by 2K, released in April 2010. In a macabre, silent, hand-drawn world in pursuit of a mysterious pie, Winterbottom records himself and then plays those recordings back so that his past selves act alongside him, and you cooperate with, compete against, and get in the way of your own recorded clones to solve over eighty puzzles. That core, record your own motion and replay it so a copy of your past self becomes the partner you build the solution from, is the root MotionRec grows from, carrying the same record-and-playback cooperation into a platformer where the replayed self is a moving platform across a devastated world. Its origin is anchored to its Steam release.
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
- The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom Root
- MotionRec You are here
- Read-and-build games another taste