CherryMochi’s Tokyo Dark has been a long time in the making, first debuting back in 2015 on Kickstarter, and after spending the last two years in development, the title is now available on Steam for PC.

The game sees you in the shoes of noir detective Ayami Ito. She sets out to search for her missing partner in the seedy underbelly of Tokyo’s night life; scouring the streets for clues and talking with the social refuse for answers. Ito must penetrate the dark corners of Tokyo’s destitute and criminalized sectors, leading Ito toward solving the case one way or the other.

The game is played like a side-scrolling adventure title, with players being able to walk around and talk to people, or investigate scenarios to uncover evidence. Your choices and play-style will also determine what sort of ending you unlock.

According to Maho Williams, the producer at Cherrymochi, it was all about putting players in a tough place while controlling the hard-nosed detective, mentioning in the press release…

“We wanted players to experience conflict when taking on Itō’s story,” […] “As play progresses, Itō finds herself calling into question whether she’s minutes away from solving the puzzles, or minutes away from madness. The key question is, have they unearthed the dark shadows hidden beneath Tokyo’s streets, or is it all in their head?”

You can snag a look at the art-style and gameplay in action with the official launch trailer below.

As you can see, the game utilizes similar stylized art found in visual novels, but the gameplay itself is actually inspired by the dark and psychologically disturbing horror game, The Cat Lady. They also took some inspiration from the other horror title, Neverending Nightmares.

The object is to get to the end, discovery the truth and unravel the mystery without Ito losing her mind.

I don’t know if this is the sort of game that could win CherryMochi any awards, but it looks like an interesting enough game. The mixture of psychosis with something more sinister happening could make for a good twist… potentially.

You can check the game out right now by visiting the Steam store page.