Shujinkou News

[h2]Shujinkou Patch v1.44 Hotfix 1[/h2][p]We've got some small bugs addressed and fixed here:[/p]

• [p]Confirmed and fixed an edge case that some completionists encountered involving being unable to unlock the last achievement. Apologies for the inconvenience![/p]
• [p]New QOL Feature: There was a question about turning off the bobbing camera while in battle by a fellow player [c]salty[/c] here, and while we didn't have this feature in the game at the time, it was implemented and tested over the last 48 hours for an urgent release. We hope this makes your player experience more pleasant![/p]

[p]The new setting can be found below the Camera Bobbing (Labyrinth) option.[/p][p][/p][p]And here's a look at a disabled Camera Bobbing (Battle) option in action:[/p][p][/p][p]Please note that if the rotating room is dizzying, this can also be disabled / toggled off in the options. We included the rotating room to give that extra dynamism in battle, a decision that our artists, director, and early playtesters agreed on during development.[/p][p][/p][p]One more note - the Mac version has been updated to "support" M1-M5 chips. Unfortunately, we do not have any Apple Silicon models and have not been able to test performance on those devices. It likely has to do with what this player mentioned in their review about performance, as we were able to nail down that it was a macOS version that they played (rather than Steam Deck and PC, which have not had those bugs reported by anyone just yet). [/p][p]We will look into prioritizing Mac fixes and polish over the course of the next few months![/p][p][/p][p]Best,[/p][p]Team @ Rice Games[/p]

[h2]Steam Spring Sale: Shujinkou is 35% OFF![/h2][p]The official 🌸 2026 Steam Spring Sale 🌸 is live, and Shujinkou is 35% off for a limited time. If you’ve been waiting for a good moment to jump in, continue your journey, or gift it to someone who loves ambitious JRPGs, now is a great time! 🔥[/p][p][/p][p]We’re also incredibly grateful for the momentum Shujinkou has continued to build in recent months. Themes from the game were featured in the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming Concert Medley, we had the chance to appear on the Gamers With Jobs podcast, and our v1.44 update recently went live with a large batch of quality-of-life improvements, bug fixes, and overall polish ❤️[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]On top of that, we’ve very recently seen two Steam players earn every achievement in Shujinkou, with playtimes of roughly 330 hours and 450 hours respectively. For a small team that has poured several years into this very large and unusual project, that kind of dedication is amazing to see![/p][p][/p][p]We’re also still feeling thankful for the recognition Shujinkou has received over the past several months, including a Best Hidden Gem nomination at the New York Game Awards, a #11 ranking on Inverse’s Best RPGs of 2025 list, a Best Indie Game of 2025 shortlist placement at VGChartz, and Smart Game of the Year award from Digitally Downloaded. We know Shujinkou is in some ways a very different kind of game, so all of this support, coverage, and growing word of mouth means a lot.[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]From everyone at Rice Games: thank you so much for continuing to support Shujinkou and our studio. We have more exciting things ahead—please look forward to news in the next few months! ✨[/p][p][/p][p]If you do pick up Shujinkou during the sale, or if you’ve been continuing your lengthy adventure:[/p]

• [p]⭐️ A quick Steam review helps us a lot! And if you have questions or want to get in touch with the team and fans of the game, you can always join our community: https://shujinkou.community/[/p]

[p][/p][p]Thanks again, and we hope you have a great time exploring all the amazing games in this year’s 🌸 Steam Spring Sale ☄️🌸[/p][p]Team @ Rice Games[/p]

[p]Rice Games is honored to share that themes from Shujinkou were featured in the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming Concert Medley, which celebrated some of the most standout video game music from 2025.[/p][p]Presented during GDC in San Francisco, the performance was seen by several thousand game developers in attendance, with many more watching online. As part of the world’s largest game developer conference, it was a surreal and meaningful moment for our studio to hear music from Shujinkou performed on SUCH a major stage.[/p][p]The medley featured motifs and melodies alongside music from celebrated titles such as Hollow Knight: Silksong, Peak, Indiana Jones, Ghost of Yōtei, DOOM, and more. To have Shujinkou included among such acclaimed works is a tremendous honor for our team.[/p][p][/p][p]We would like to give our special thanks to Brian LaGuardia, lead composer of Shujinkou, for his brilliant arrangement work and for the enormous creative contribution he made to the game’s 158-track original soundtrack. You can find posts about our soundtrack here:[/p][p][/p][p]We are also deeply grateful to Austin Wintory for including Shujinkou in the medley and giving the game such an incredible spotlight at GDC.[/p][p][/p][p]You can watch the Shujinkou excerpt from the medley here:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p]You can watch the full concert stream here:[/p][p]https://m.twitch.tv/videos/2719239078[/p][p][/p][p]Team @ Rice Games[/p][p][/p]

[h2]Polish / Quality of Life[/h2]

• [p]Improved readability of the Kanban Menu's Labyrinth View with text being colored for the currently selected labyrinth.[/p]
• [p]Added Change Time spots to Town 4 and Town 5.[/p]
• [p]Sushi that heal both TR and MR now heal via percentage rather than raw values.[/p]
• [p]When selecting an item to use that has a Self scope in combat, automatically select the current hero and proceed to the next hero.[/p]
• [p]Add a new option to disable the Money Maker bonus (after battle concludes) from Tatiana's Kizuna. This is only present if the player has unlocked the Money Maker bonus.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• [p]Fixed three Kanban facing the wrong direction in Labyrinth 9.[/p]
• [p]Add missing Kanakae Orb spot to a spot in the middle of Labyrinth 7's Area 1 containing new information about six kanji. It includes 18 new Blue Text terms. Our apologies![/p]
• [p]Fix bug where players could not access certain hidden treasure chests in towns that were located adjacent to Exit to Nation spots.[/p]
• [p]Fix potential soft-lock for story progression in Labyrinth 10 if a player leaves the labyrinth after fulfilling specific conditions.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with incorrect description for the "tongue" kanji.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with Level Luck Tutorial not appearing for some players. See it by leveling any of the heroes up by one after clearing Labyrinth 1.[/p]
• [p]Fix low FPS when Reduced Effects is toggled off while in combat in Labyrinth 1.[/p]
• [p]Fix rare display bug with discovery percentages in the Item Compendium.[/p]
• [p]Fix rare display bug with discovery percentages in the Kanban Menu.[/p]
• [p]Fix sizing issue for English display of Cherry Pit item (Sabaku Arc).[/p]
• [p]Fix various reported issues with Okkake no Osakenori, including clipping bottles, unstable handling of the surfboard, and instances where the camera would not rotate upon reaching a turn.[/p]
• [p]Fixed several typos found in youkyuu, level loading tips, and more.[/p]
• [p]Fixed duplication of rows holding the same item in the Koukanya shop.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Balancing[/h2]

• [p]Improve the balancing of certain purchasable armor (stats have been improved) when entering Labyrinth 8.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Our Biggest Priorities[/h2]

• [p]We want to add a "Fast-Forward" (by holding a certain key) to some minigames so that they can be played and progressed through more quickly.[/p]
• [p]We've noticed some physics inconsistencies in Tatiana's minigame, Kotoba Kyuugi, and are looking to fix this soon.[/p]
• [p]We've noticed that when holding a button to move, then sliding your hand (while still holding the button) to another button occasionally does not allow the player to rotate properly in the dungeon. We are looking to fix in the near future.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Thank you![/h2][p]Thank you Shujinkou players for your continued support and QOL requests! Feel free to join our Discord community if you need assistance with gameplay, want to suggest features or provide constructive feedback, or want to meet and chat with other fans of Shujinkou![/p][p][/p][p]Join our awesome community below![/p][p]https://shujinkou.community/[/p][p][/p][p]Read more about this update on the official Rice Games website:[/p][p]https://ricegames.net/2026/02/18/shujinkou-v1-44-patch-notes[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[h2]Shujinkou at The New York Game Awards![/h2][p]What a night at The 15th New York Game Awards.[/p][p][/p][p]Our team had an amazing time attending this year’s event, and we are incredibly honored that Shujinkou was nominated for Best Hidden Gem. While we did not take home the win this time, a video game award nomination for our debut commercial title is a major milestone for us. It shows that our work is resonating with players and critics in the industry, and adds even more fuel ⛽️ to what we are building next. We left New York City feeling grateful, energized, and extra motivated to keep raising the bar for our next game.[/p][p]For a fully remote studio, we do not get many chances to be in the same place at the same time. The New York Game Awards helped bring almost half of our team together for a couple of days, with most of everyone based in the USA. We got to bond, hang out, and spend real time talking about Shujinkou and what is next. It was the kind of reset that reminds you why you work SO hard to do this work, and it left us even more motivated to get back to building. [/p][p][/p][p]One of the highlights was getting to meet so many talented people across the industry. It was a pleasure connecting with Reggie from Nintendo, along with developers and project leads and team members from Bethesda, Sony, The Pokémon Company, and more. Events like this really showed and reminded all of us how much passion and love goes into video games across the industry, and how lucky we are to be part of it now![/p][p]A special thank you to Harold Goldberg (Founder of NY Game Critics Circle), Ryan O'Callaghan (Executive Director), Makeda Byfield (Co-host), and everyone at the New York Game Critics Circle for hosting such a well-run, welcoming, and memorable event. [/p][p][/p][p]Thank you for celebrating games and creators in such a moving way 🔥 [/p][p][/p][p]Check out our website for more details![/p][p]https://ricegames.net/2026/01/25/rice-games-at-the-new-york-game-awards/[/p][p][/p][p]Onward 🗽 [/p][p]Team @ Rice Games[/p]