Sometimes a game comes along that catches your eye purely because of who is attached to it. Not because of a flashy trailer or massive marketing campaign, but because a particular creator’s name carries a certain weight. Kazuma Kaneko’s Tsukuyomi is very much one of those games.
For anyone unfamiliar, Kazuma Kaneko is best known for his work across the Shin Megami Tensei series, where his distinctive art style and creature designs helped shape some of gaming’s most memorable worlds. So naturally, seeing his name attached to a new title immediately raises my expectations.
Tsukuyomi is a strategy-focused card battler wrapped in a dark, supernatural setting that feels distinctly Kaneko. The game throws you into a mysterious tower filled with dangerous battles, strange beings, and plenty of difficult decisions.
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Tsukuyomi‘s blend of deck-building mechanics and tactical movement creates an experience that constantly asks you to think several turns ahead rather than simply overpowering each battle.
What immediately stands out is the presentation. Kaneko’s unmistakable artwork gives the game a unique identity from the moment it starts. The character and creature designs are suitably eerie and often unsettling, creating an atmosphere that feels trapped between folklore, horror, and science fiction. It’s a visual style that few developers can replicate.
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But all is far from well, as Generative AI is at play here. And this will be a red flag for a LOT of people. As a qualified graphic designer, it does leave a bad taste in my mouth, especially given that it was the artist that got me interested in the title to start with.
Gameplay is engaging in Kazuma Kaneko’s Tsukuyomi, though it does demand a bit of patience. Building an effective deck takes time, and early mistakes can quickly snowball into crushing defeats. Matches often feel like puzzles that need solving rather than battles that need winning. And this can be incredibly rewarding when everything clicks into place. Though, I did find it to have a bit of a steep learning curve.
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The narrative takes more of a back seat compared to the core gameplay, but the world-building does enough to keep you invested as you climb further into the tower, uncover its secrets, and find branching paths that help flesh out backstories.
Kazuma Kaneko’s Tsukuyomi won’t be for everyone. Its deliberate pacing and challenging mechanics can occasionally feel intimidating. But its biggest issue is that having an artist’s name on the box and using Gen AI as well feel a bit underhand and overall does nothing but tarnish the game in the worst way.
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