KEMURI, the 2023-announced yokai possession action game from Ikumi Nakamura-led studio UNSEEN, will launch for PlayStation 5 and PC in 2027, the developer announced.
“KEMURI began with the excitement of wanting to see something unknown,” UNSEEN CEO and creative director Ikumi Nakamura said in a press release. “What would happen if we could see things ordinary people cannot? And if we were possessed by a YOKAI, what would we look like? How would we move? I wanted to turn that feeling—a little scary, but exciting just to imagine—into a game. Kemuri City is a chaotic place where life and death, fear and humor, reality and the paranormal are all mixed together.”
Nakamura continued, “At UNSEEN, we have truly unique and incredible artists and developers from all over the world. Different cultures, values, and creative instincts have collided as we built this game together. Today, we can finally show everyone the gameplay of KEMURI. We still have a long road ahead, but we hope you look forward to this chaotic city we are building with everything we have. Because now, you are already on the side that has seen it.”
Here is an overview of the game, via UNSEEN:
About
“Wear the Paranormal. Hunt the Unseen.”
KEMURI is the story of YOKAI Hunters who form contracts with YOKAI and wear their powers.
The game is set in Kemuri City, known as the city closest to the afterlife, where people say you may be able to see what you have lost once more.
Players will use Possession Apparel, infused with the powers of YOKAI, to run through a city where reality and the paranormal overlap, facing strange anomalies hidden within.
KEMURI supports online cooperative play for up to three players. With a unique manga-stylized visual direction inspired by the energy of hand-drawn art, anime, and manga, the game brings to life a chaotic world filled with the paranormal.
Key Features
- Welcome to Kemuri City, the City Closest to Other Life – Kemuri City is a tourist city that exists on the border between life and death, known as a place where “you may be able to see what you have lost once more.” Dangerous, strange, and visited by people from around the world, the city is also a sprawling vertical city built above a sealed Great YOKAI. Across rooftops, back alleys, and underground ruins, reality and the paranormal intersect throughout the many layers of the city, giving rise to all kinds of anomalies. As YOKAI Hunters, players will run through this chaotic city and confront the anomalies lurking within.
- See what ordinary people cannot with the “FOXWINDOW” – At the core of gameplay is the FOXWINDOW, a special technique that only YOKAI Hunters can use. By forming a hand sign and peering through the space between their fingers, players can reveal traces of YOKAI and hidden anomalies that ordinary people cannot see. The FOXWINDOW allows players to glimpse the truths hidden within the city, and also serves as a key to entering YOKAI domains formed from the emotions and thoughts of YOKAI.
- Form contracts with YOKAI and wear their powers as “Possession Apparel” – The YOKAI that appear in Kemuri City are beings born from Kemuri—the stagnation of human emotions and thoughts. YOKAI Hunters do not simply defeat YOKAI. By forming contracts with them, hunters can wear their powers as Possession Apparel. The moment players become possessed, their appearance, combat style, and traversal abilities transform. By mastering the unique powers of each YOKAI, players can discover their own way to fight. As players fight alongside YOKAI and deepen their bonds, the YOKAI Hunter grows as well.
- A Cooperative Experience to Enjoy Alone or With Up to Three Players – KEMURI supports both single-player and online co-op for up to three players. In single-player, distinctive hunters and contracted YOKAI exist alongside the player, supporting them in combat and exploration. In online co-op, players can run through Kemuri City together, taking on the anomalies and YOKAI that appear throughout the city. Whether alone or with friends, KEMURI offers a lively, strange, and uniquely chaotic cooperative experience.
Watch a new trailer and explainer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.