Too Kyo Games has had a busy few years since its founding in 2017 as an independent offshoot of Spike Chunsoft. While the global pandemic may have slowed down production at least a little, the studio has still managed to release three games since 2020: FMV mystery “Death Come True” and kid-friendly action-adventure “The World’s End Club” and the critically acclaimed visual novel Detective File Master: Rain Code.
Its next game, tactical role-playing game Hundred Lines: Last Defense Academy, is expected to launch in April 2025; and on That The studio plans to expand into the mobile-dominated gacha market, which is currently popular with free-to-play action role-playing games nine tribescurrently available for public testing at: Steam next feast.
One thing all of these games have in common, with the exception of Death Come True, is that they are all somewhat spiritual successors to the Danganronpa series, the rights to which still belong to Spike Chunsoft ;but that’s not surprising when you consider that series creator Kazutaka Kodaka is one of the founders of Too Kyo, and he definitely knows what kind of games he likes to make. The Ninth Tribe isn’t actually a new IP from the studio, either: the upcoming game is based on an anime created by Kodaka and will be co-produced by Too Kyo and publisher Akatsuki in 2022.
Granted, the extent of Kodaka’s direct involvement in the “The Ninth” video game spin-off is currently unclear. The game’s marketing relies heavily on the fact that the unique Danganronpa-y character designs are indeed provided by the same art team, which to me is probably The Hundred Line (touted to be the creator of Kodaka and Zero Escape The long-awaited narrative collaboration between Uchikoshi Kotaro and Kotaro Uchigoe is where the studio’s lead writers are currently focusing their efforts. Regardless, fans of the Danganronpa series don’t have to squint hard to see the entire creative team’s work on this game.
In addition to the familiar character art – the game itself looks less unique than in CG, thanks to everyone being fully animated in 3D when not running around the world like pixel art chibi – there’s also the tropes and The jokes are enough to keep long-time fans of the developer’s work entertained and amused.
In light of The Ninth’s inclusion of baseball as the blood sport of choice in its dystopian future, I’ve been counting down the days until a character shows up whose visuals are distinctly reminiscent of Danganronpa’s own ultimate baseball star, Leon Kuwata, and I And was not disappointed. Ironically, it’s difficult to discuss the more subtle thematic nods to Danganronpa in detail without spoiling anything, and the series really needs to be enjoyed with minimal spoilers, but I can assure you that those in the know are You know it when you see it.
As for how Nine Tribes’ monetization will work, I’m not entirely sure about the details right now – as of this writing, I haven’t gotten to the point of unlocking the gacha in the demo, although as a veteran player I can see it in the upper right corner of the screen There’s a suspicious-looking coin counter in the corner, which is currently empty. I know The Ninth Tribe’s monetization model alone is enough to turn off some potential players, which is fair enough; but as someone who loves HoYoverse games as much as she loves Danganronpa, I can afford to watch these two Worlds collide.
The most immediately obvious difference between The Ninth Tribe and HoYoverse’s output is that The Ninth Tribe doesn’t try very hard to please you. HoYoverse games tend to ease you into it for a few dozen hours before things get tricky enough for you to realize you will Must now give up or start grinding character leveling materials. The Ninth seems to do the exact opposite: drop you into a dangerous world with level 1 characters and force you to figure out how the game actually works before letting you continue to be invested in the story, characters, or gameplay. It’s indeed a gacha.
There’s a reason why one of The Ninth’s highest tags on Steam after its closed beta in July was “difficult.” It plays very similarly to Zenless Zone Zero, so I wasn’t completely out of my depth, but regardless, it’s one of the relatively few games where I died while trying to get a foothold in the tutorial – mostly because , unlike ZZZ, you real You have to manage your stamina from the start and carefully observe enemy attack patterns, and you can’t just mash the dodge button with little consequence as you figure out the best angle of approach.
Still, The Ninth’s proximity to multiple studios, franchises, and genres that are all very specific to my personal interests keeps me going when I might otherwise give up and choose a different game entirely. Sure enough, I ended up thoroughly enjoying the satisfaction of defeating enemies that could have knocked out my fragile anime boy protagonist in two or three hits if I wasn’t careful.
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As someone who avowedly dislikes Soulslike, the thought of a HoYoverse-style gashapon RPG from the creators of Danganronpa would finally get me invested enough to put on my tough girl boots and get started Really enjoy it, it’s so gross. A “difficult” action game. But I have to admit it’s very on-brand.
The Ninth has yet to announce a release date, but you can check out the open beta before Steam Next Fest ends on Monday, October 21st. It’s currently only released on PC, but the full version will also be released on Android and iOS devices.
