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Opens on 2026-06-28 (JST)
Don't just clear the room. Open the gate that was sealed until you found the skill to pass it.
A Japanese 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania set on a vast space colony overrun by aliens. You play as Rory, a reclusive, mech-arm-loving girl who sets out to retake the colony, exploring its sprawling, interconnected map and using skills and equipment to open gates that were once out of reach. Material dropped by defeated enemies feeds crafting, giant bosses block the way, and a vehicle lets you fight in zero gravity and out in open space, inside and outside the colony alike. It is a story-driven game heavy on conversation and comedy. Made by NUL2 STUDIO, the Japanese solo developer Shiruko, in the lineage of Metroid. It already supports English, yet the wider West has barely found it.
Published 2026-06-28
01First, the one feeling
- The colony is built as one continuous, interconnected world, and at the start much of it is sealed: a gap too wide, a barrier you cannot break, a height you cannot reach. The design plants those locked doors in plain sight, so the map itself becomes a list of questions you cannot yet answer.
- Every skill and piece of equipment you gain is shaped as a key, not just a stat. The moment you earn a new ability, paths you walked past hours ago quietly become passable, so progress is less about pushing forward than about turning back through a place you thought you knew and watching it open up.
- Around that exploration the design stacks reasons not to stop: enemies drop materials you craft into gear, giant bosses wall off the next region, and a vehicle pulls the fight out into zero gravity and open space beyond the colony, while conversation-and-comedy story beats keep tugging you toward what happens next.
02Who this is for (and who it is not)
For you
- You love the Metroid loop of exploring one interconnected world and opening ability-gated gates: find a new skill or piece of equipment, then double back to reach what was sealed before, across a sprawling space colony
- You want that core thickened with enemy-drop crafting, giant boss fights, and vehicle combat that moves out into zero gravity and open space, inside and outside the colony, all wrapped in conversation-and-comedy storytelling about a reclusive, mech-armed girl retaking the colony from aliens
- You want a Japanese solo-dev gem the wider West has barely noticed, Very Positive at 98 percent over 205 reviews, that already supports English
Not for you
- You want a short, self-contained experience or a pure linear action game; this is an exploration-first Metroidvania built on backtracking and ability gates, so the pull is the slow opening-up of one big map, not a straight line to the end
- You expect a big, already-popular Western title; this is a Japanese solo-dev indie, paid at 1,400 yen, fully released and not in Early Access, and still largely undiscovered abroad (about 14.6 percent of reviews are English)
03The roots of this taste
98% positiveonly 205 reviews — yet almost no one has found it
ROLLING STAR Buried gem
A Japanese 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania set on a vast space colony overrun by aliens. You play as Rory, a reclusive, mech-arm-loving girl who sets out to retake the colony, exploring its sprawling, interconnected map and using skills and equipment to open gates that were once out of reach. Material dropped by defeated enemies feeds crafting, giant bosses block the way, and a vehicle lets you fight in zero gravity and out in open space, inside and outside the colony alike. It is a story-driven game heavy on conversation and comedy events, built on the bounty-hunter-style exploration of a lonely, mech-equipped heroine reclaiming a station from aliens. Made by NUL2 STUDIO, the Japanese solo developer Shiruko, whose earlier indie work TOMOMI shipped in 2022, and released March 2025. Very Positive at 205 reviews and 98 percent. It already supports Japanese, English, Korean, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese, yet with only about 30 English reviews (14.6 percent) the wider West has barely found it; the rest are mostly Japanese. At 1,400 yen it is a paid, fully released game, not free and not in Early Access.
Give it your first passMetroid The origin
The origin of this taste: Metroid, developed by Nintendo R&D1 with Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo, first released for the Family Computer Disk System in 1986. As the bounty hunter Samus Aran exploring the sprawling, interconnected underground of the planet Zebes, you find power-ups and equipment that open paths once out of reach, doubling back through one connected map as your growing kit unlocks it. By fusing open exploration with ability-gated progression, it founded the genre later named Metroidvania. Rolling Star is a clear heir to that idea: a lonely, mech-equipped heroine explores a single interconnected world, using newly gained skills and equipment to open gates that were sealed before, against giant bosses guarding the way. But it lifts that core onto a vast space colony to retake from aliens, adds enemy-drop crafting and zero-gravity vehicle combat out in open space, and wraps it in conversation-and-comedy storytelling, making it its own creature rather than a clone. There is no official Steam release of the original Metroid, so its origin is anchored to its Wikidata entry.
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
- Metroid Root
- ROLLING STAR You are here
- Read-and-build games another taste