This gem surfaces soon
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Opens on 2026-07-18 (JST)
A guardian robot stands between a shut-in named Susumu and every stranger who wants to reach him, and fending them off comes down to your own fists and fifteen kinds of deliberately absurd traps.
A beat-em-up tower defense made and self-published solo by developer Nito Souji, whose demo dates to June 2020 and whose full release came March 31, 2025. Per Steam's own listing, you play a guardian robot defending Susumu, a young man who has shut himself inside his room for years, a hikikomori, as enemies come to reach out to him out of worry, mockery, or simple curiosity; if any of them reaches him, the game ends. Defense comes two ways: beat-em-up brawling where every enemy type you smack teaches you a new move, and fifteen kinds of deliberately absurd traps, a baked-fish missile, a toothpaste turret, a watermelon bazooka among them, built by breaking your neighbors' houses for resources. Susumu himself can craft power-up items when signaled, or be given 'some loving punishment' in a minigame if he starts slacking off, and quirky bosses eventually force you out of the house to counter them directly. The game's own English store text carries a first-person admission from its creator: 'I can relate to Susumu so badly because I'm also a Hikikomori. I'm making this game solo just trying to reflect my own situation with this game.' Priced at ¥1,900, it is Very Positive at about 99 percent over 146 reviews (144 positive, 2 negative), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, with Steam Achievements, no AI-generated assets, and per Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual. Its reach into the West is real but modest: about 125 of its 146 reviews, some 86 percent, are already in English, and it has drawn coverage from TechRaptor and esports.net plus a single glowing YouTube review and an appearance on the Scene World Podcast, but no outlet among Kotaku, IGN, PC Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, Polygon, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, TheGamer, or Destructoid has reviewed it, and Metacritic lists its critic score as 'tbd.'
Published 2026-07-18
01First, the one feeling
- Per Steam's own text, the whole game turns on one fact stated plainly up front: if any enemy reaches Susumu, it's over, so every trap you place and every punch you throw is measured against a single, unmovable stake rather than an abstract health bar.
- The fifteen traps are deliberately, gleefully absurd, a baked-fish missile, a toothpaste turret, a watermelon bazooka, so the tone keeps swinging between slapstick comedy and the real dread of watching something get closer to the person you're supposed to be protecting.
- Steam's own store text carries the developer's own words, 'I can relate to Susumu so badly because I'm also a Hikikomori,' so underneath the wacky trap names sits a solo creator's own account of shutting himself away, which recolors every encounter where strangers claim to be reaching out to Susumu out of concern.
02Who this is for (and who it is not)
For you
- You want a beat-em-up crossed with tower defense: brawler combat that teaches new moves alongside fifteen deliberately absurd traps built from scavenged resources
- You want a genuinely solo Japanese production carried by a personal stake: developer Nito Souji's own admission, in Steam's own store text, of being a hikikomori himself and building the game to reflect that
- You want a Very Positive title (about 99 percent over 146 reviews) that has found a real if modest following abroad (TechRaptor, esports.net, one enthusiastic YouTube review) without yet landing a review from any major Western outlet
Not for you
- You want a title still completely unknown to English-speaking players; about 86 percent of its reviews are already in English, so this isn't a purely undiscovered find
- You want something validated by major outlets; Metacritic still lists its critic score as 'tbd,' 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
Pull Stay Buried gem
Per Steam's own listing, you play a guardian robot defending Susumu, a young man who has shut himself inside his room for years, a hikikomori, as enemies come to reach out to him, whether out of worry, mockery, or simple curiosity; if any of them reaches him, the game ends. Defense comes two ways: beat-em-up brawling where every enemy type you smack teaches you a new move, and fifteen kinds of deliberately absurd traps, a baked-fish missile, a toothpaste turret, a watermelon bazooka among them, built by breaking your neighbors' houses for resources and using them to arm rooms or expand the house. Susumu himself can craft power-up items when signaled, or be given 'some loving punishment' in a minigame if he starts slacking off, and quirky, oddly designed bosses eventually force you out of the house to counter them directly. Made and self-published solo by developer Nito Souji, the game's own English store text carries a first-person admission: 'I can relate to Susumu so badly because I'm also a Hikikomori. I'm making this game solo just trying to reflect my own situation with this game.' Its demo dates to June 2020, and the full game released March 31, 2025 at ¥1,900; it is Very Positive at about 99 percent over 146 reviews (144 positive, 2 negative per Steam's own review API), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access, with Steam Achievements, no AI-generated assets, and per Steam's own content descriptors, nothing sexual. It supports eight languages including English, and its reach is real but modest: about 125 of its 146 reviews, some 86 percent, are already in English, and it has drawn coverage from TechRaptor and esports.net plus a single glowing YouTube review and an appearance on the Scene World Podcast (billed there as 'a Japanese solo dev'), but no outlet among Kotaku, IGN, PC Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, Polygon, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, TheGamer, or Destructoid has reviewed it, and Metacritic lists its critic score as 'tbd.'
Give it your first passOrcs Must Die! The critical echo
The origin of this taste: Orcs Must Die!, a 2011 action-strategy game by Robot Entertainment whose own store text sums it up simply as 'slice them, burn them, skewer them, and launch them,' defining the modern template of arming a chokepoint with absurd, deadly traps and wading in with melee weapons of your own when the traps alone aren't enough. Pull Stay is not an official Orcs Must Die! work, and this lineage is a comparison drawn by this site in outside critical commentary, not a stated influence from developer Nito Souji, but it carries the same core idea into a new frame: a home under siege, defended by a mix of hands-on brawling and gleefully ridiculous traps, with someone genuinely vulnerable standing behind the choke point instead of a treasure room.
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
- Orcs Must Die! Root
- Pull Stay You are here
- Read-and-build games another taste