This gem surfaces soon
We have it ready, but it is not unsealed yet. Come back when it opens.
Opens on 2026-07-23 (JST)
The star is dying, and this is the last week before it ends. Where you go, who you talk to, how you spend the final night, all of it is yours to choose.
An exploration-style adventure novel made and self-published by a two-person circle, Shachikumazu, longtime friends who, per a Game*Spark interview, work respectively as a systems engineer in Tokyo and hail from the Kansai region. Per Steam's own listing, the star is dying, and this is the last week before it ends; where the girl at its center goes, who she talks to, and how she spends her final night are left entirely up to the player, navigated by clicking objects and movement points on screen while an immersive combination of cinematic visuals and music carries the story forward. The soundtrack runs 22 tracks, excluding sound effects and jingles, plus 3 more heard only in-game, and reaching all 4 endings takes roughly 6 to 7 hours. The two previously released a separate, differently styled omnibus adventure, Reiche wa Gaitou no Shita de, which shares one recurring character but was, per the developer's own account, deliberately redesigned toward a more broadly approachable style rather than built as a direct sequel. Steam's own AI Generated Content Disclosure section states plainly that some still-image backgrounds include AI-generated material added and corrected by hand, that AI-generated material was used for reference alongside free illustrations and photos in composing some stills, and that 3 of the 22 soundtrack songs, after being composed by the creator, had part of their arrangement based on AI-generated material; this pick states that disclosure as written rather than claiming the usual absence of AI-generated assets. Released February 20, 2026 at ¥600, it is Very Positive at about 97.8 percent over 90 reviews (88 positive, 2 negative), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, and per Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual. It supports Japanese only, no English option exists at all, and of its 90 reviews, 79 (87.8 percent) are in Japanese while not one is in English, a language wall in the most literal sense this site tracks.
Published 2026-07-23
01First, the one feeling
- Per Steam's own text, the deadline here isn't a countdown timer or a game-over clock, it's simply true: the star is dying, this is the last week, and every place you choose to visit is time you are choosing not to spend somewhere else.
- Movement is just clicking what's in front of you, objects and paths on screen, so nothing about the interface competes with the cinematic visuals and 22-track original soundtrack for your attention; the exploring itself stays quiet enough that the ending, when it comes, is what lands.
- This is a two-person circle's second game, made right after a first project the developers say they built purely to please themselves, and knowing that the creator behind it works a day job as a systems engineer in Tokyo recolors a story about spending someone's very last free days exactly as they want to.
02Who this is for (and who it is not)
For you
- You want a quiet, cinematic exploration novel about spending finite time freely: where to go, who to talk to, all left up to you, with 4 endings across roughly 6 to 7 hours
- You want a genuinely small, self-published Japanese circle: two friends, a Tokyo systems engineer and a Kansai-based partner, crediting themselves by name
- You want a Very Positive title (about 97.8 percent over 90 reviews) that is genuinely, literally walled off from English: 0 of its reviews are in English, and it has no English language option at all
Not for you
- You want a game with zero AI involvement in its assets; Steam's own disclosure states some still backgrounds and 3 of 22 soundtrack tracks involved AI-generated material in a supporting role after human composition, and this pick reports that plainly rather than skipping it
- You want to actually read it without Japanese; it has no English support at all, a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, with nothing sexual per Steam's own content descriptors
03The roots of this taste
98% positiveonly 90 reviewsno English support yet — yet almost no one has found it
Penguin Wars Buried gem
Per Steam's own listing, this is an exploration-style adventure novel: the star is dying, and this is the last week before it ends. Where the girl at its center goes, who she talks to, and how she spends her final night are left entirely up to the player, navigated by clicking objects and movement points on screen while an immersive combination of cinematic visuals and music carries the story forward. The soundtrack runs 22 tracks (excluding sound effects and jingles), plus 3 more heard only in-game, and reaching all 4 endings takes roughly 6 to 7 hours. Made and self-published by a two-person circle, Shachikumazu, longtime friends who, per a Game*Spark interview, work respectively as a systems engineer in Tokyo and hail from the Kansai region; the two previously released a separate, differently styled omnibus adventure, Reiche wa Gaitou no Shita de, which shares one recurring character but was, per the developer's own account, deliberately redesigned toward a more broadly approachable style rather than built as a direct sequel. Steam's own AI Generated Content Disclosure section states plainly that some still-image backgrounds include AI-generated material that was added and corrected by hand, that AI-generated material was used for reference alongside free illustrations and photos in composing some stills, and that 3 of the 22 soundtrack songs, after being composed by the creator, had part of their arrangement based on AI-generated material; this pick states that disclosure as written rather than claiming the usual absence of AI-generated assets. Released February 20, 2026 at ¥600, it is Very Positive at about 97.8 percent over 90 reviews (88 positive, 2 negative per Steam's own review API), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, and per Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual. It supports Japanese only, no English option exists at all, and of its 90 reviews, 79 (87.8 percent) are in Japanese while not one is in English, a language wall in the most literal sense this site tracks.
Give it your first passplanetarian HD The critical echo
The origin of this taste: planetarian HD, Key's 2004 visual novel, remastered and published on Steam by VisualArts in 2017, in which a lone traveler wandering a war-ravaged, dying world meets a small robot still faithfully running a planetarium long after the people it was built for are gone, and the two spend a brief, quiet stretch of time together before the story ends. Penguin Wars is not an official planetarian work, and this lineage is a comparison drawn by this site in outside critical commentary, not a stated influence from developer Shachikumazu, but it carries the same core idea into a new frame: a world with a visible end date, told through cinematic visuals and music rather than branching dialogue trees, asking what you do with whatever time is left.
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
- planetarian HD Root
- Penguin Wars You are here
- Read-and-build games another taste