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Shujinkou

You won’t become fluent in Japanese by playing Shujinkou, but it will introduce the basics of both hiragana and katakana to you in a game that features the best bits of the Etrian Odyssey series in a very clever way. The combat system is solid enough that not even the counterintuitive menus could keep me from diving back in for more.
Shujinkou Game Cover
64%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, music
Most mentioned negative aspects:gameplay, optimization
90% User Score Based on 20 reviews
Critic Score 70%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchPCPlaystation 5Mac OSPlaystation 4Steam DeckWindowsPlayStation
Buy Nowfrom €44.24
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Shujinkou Game Cover

About Shujinkou

Shujinkou is a single player tactical role playing game with a romance theme. It was developed by Rice Games Inc and was released on February 13, 2025. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

Learn one of the world's hardest languages while immersed in this JRPG adventure. Shujinkou is a story-driven, turn-based dungeon crawler that provides players with the opportunity to learn Japanese. Play as Shu, Jin, and Kou as you try to save the world from the Akuma!

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Shujinkou screenshot
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Reviews

90%Audience ScoreBased on 20 reviews
story12 positive mentions
optimization3 negative mentions
  • Innovative integration of Japanese language learning with dungeon crawling RPG gameplay provides a unique and engaging experience.
  • The combat system is fun and thoughtful, rewarding knowledge of Japanese kana and elements, with deeper mechanics unlocking over time.
  • The game features rich content including diverse dungeons, memorable characters, lots of side quests, mini-games for language practice, and an excellent soundtrack.
  • Beginning sections can feel slow and tutorials overwhelming due to many mechanics unlocking gradually and numerous tutorials.
  • Inventory and storage limitations are restrictive, leading to frustration when managing items and undertaking side quests.
  • Some technical issues remain such as occasional bugs, crashes, UI lag, and settings not always functioning as intended.

  • story

    45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    27% positive mentions, 66% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions

    The story is generally considered decent with some memorable characters and a focus on both main quests and side missions that add depth to minor townsfolk, though side quests can feel tedious and fetch-heavy. While the narrative is more engaging than similar dungeon crawlers, it lacks strong emotional impact for some players. Additionally, the game integrates Japanese language learning into its storytelling but presents the main story text only in English.

    • “A simple and decent story with some memorable characters.”
    • “The characters develop well and I'm very curious to see where the story goes.”
    • “Amazing music, a story and world that is better than 80% of the JRPGs out there, and challenging gameplay.”
    • “The quests mainly felt fetchy and although they had some story, they never really felt worth it to me.”
    • “The side quests can be quite the chore once they pile up.”
    • “That being said, due to the inventory limitations I quickly became frustrated with quests and made a decision to just ignore them after about 30 hours or so in the game.”

  • gameplay

    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    20% positive mentions, 60% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions

    The gameplay integrates unique language-learning mechanics that deepen and evolve as players progress, blending combat and educational elements in a challenging but polished JRPG experience. While some mechanics can complicate learning, the engaging combat, side missions, and world-building provide both fun and investment. This edutainment approach sets it apart, appealing to those interested in both gaming and language acquisition.

    • “The boss fights have a QTE-esque mechanic that can make quick work of the bosses if the correct verb conjugation is chosen.”
    • “Another thing I learned over time is that the farther you get into the game, the deeper the mechanics get and the more options you have, which makes it hard to talk about the overall product before completing it.”
    • “Additional language-related mechanics unlock over the course of the game, and each of them add some depth to the combat and how you interact with the game world (e.g. mini-games and non-combat activities).”
    • “The boss fights have QTE-esque mechanics that can quickly end fights if the correct verb conjugation is chosen, which can be frustrating.”
    • “The way the mechanics work requires repetition to learn, whether you want to acknowledge that or not.”
    • “The mechanics get deeper and offer more options the farther you get into the game, making it hard to evaluate the gameplay before completion.”

  • music

    13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    69% positive mentions, 31% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game's music is widely praised for its fantastic and immersive quality, featuring a diverse and extensive soundtrack that enhances the atmosphere, especially during boss battles. Many players enjoy the sound design so much that they listen to the soundtrack outside the game. Overall, the music significantly contributes to the engaging and captivating experience.

    • “The music in this game is absolutely fantastic; I highly recommend keeping it turned up, especially during boss battles.”
    • “There's a huge number of very interesting tracks, so much so that I bought the soundtrack to listen to outside of the game.”
    • “The music is incredible, especially during boss fights.”

  • optimization

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    20% positive mentions, 20% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    The optimization of the game is generally poor, leading to slow performance and lag, especially during UI navigation and actions, despite its simple 2D design. This detracts from the overall experience, highlighting noticeable inefficiencies and a lack of polish.

    • “It's more educational, fun, optimized, and feature complete.”
    • “There are broken things in the game, omission of important features, poor optimization, and janky design.”
    • “Bad optimization.”
    • “For a game that is purely 2D images, you would think it would be optimized enough to progress smoothly through UI selections in either battle or general dialogue.”

  • grinding

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding is generally enjoyed for leveling up, acquiring items, and mastering monster mechanics, especially through side missions. However, inventory limitations can diminish motivation to grind extensively, while normal encounters remain challenging even without grinding. Some find town navigation and side quests tedious, impacting the overall grinding experience.

    • “If I had a larger item storage limit, I would probably be okay grinding a bit to have enough money/items to try powering up my equipment and cooking meals to resist elemental attacks, but I lost the will to do any grinding due to the inventory limitations.”
    • “On normal mode without any grinding, normal encounters are also never pushovers, many of them being able to throw out strong attacks and nasty status effects to keep you on your toes.”
    • “Town navigation and doing side quests feels rather tedious.”

  • graphics

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game features numerous high-quality CG artworks that enhance important scenes, with graphics that look notably better in motion than in still images. The blend of 2D characters on 3D backgrounds is reminiscent of the visual style seen in Paper Mario, offering a polished and appealing presentation compared to typical low-budget platformers.

    • “Tons of CGs; practically every important scene features one or more great-looking full-screen artworks.”
    • “The graphics look much better in motion than they do on some of the stills. The 2D characters and their movement on 3D backgrounds feel more reminiscent of Paper Mario than boomer shooters or cheap Unity platformers.”
    • “At my graphics settings, the combination of 2D characters and motion on 3D backgrounds creates a unique and appealing style that enhances the overall visual experience.”

  • replayability

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The replayability aspect is partially evaluated through features like replayable audio and scenes, as noted in some reviews. However, there is uncertainty about the availability of replayable scenes, and it appears that cutscenes may not consistently include Japanese dialogue to enhance replay value. Overall, the replayability depends on specific in-game features that vary in implementation.

  • emotional

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game offers a more story-focused experience compared to its predecessors, but so far it lacks the emotional depth and impact found in titles like Gallaria. Emotional engagement may develop further with extended playtime.

  • stability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game experiences frequent freezes, causing stability issues that disrupt gameplay.

    • “After this, the game freezes.”
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Critic Reviews

70%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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Play Times

100h Median play time
100h Average play time
100-100h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Videos

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Game News

Shujinkou's Enormous Soundtrack Is Now Available To Download

November 24 on nintendolife.com
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Frequently Asked Questions

Shujinkou is a tactical role playing game with romance theme. Common tags for Shujinkou include turn-based, educational, exploration, fishing, dungeon crawler and others.

Shujinkou is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, Mac OS and others.

On average players spend around 100 hours playing Shujinkou.

Shujinkou was released on February 13, 2025.

Shujinkou was developed by Rice Games Inc.

Shujinkou has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Shujinkou for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Shujinkou is a single player game.

Similar games include Regalia: Of Men and Monarchs, Astria Ascending, Beloved Rapture, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech and others.