SONOKUNI News

We're excited to announce that the Japanese hip hop biopunk action of SONOKUNI is available right now via Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2054380/SONOKUNI/

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


In SONOKUNI, you'll take on the role of Takeru, a lone assassin tasked with raiding a surreal superpower empowered by biotechnology. Join in her struggle to balance the morality of extreme violence against the defence of her own people, in a story inspired by real-life Japanese mythology (with every moment punctuated with a visceral soundtrack from Japanese developer and hip hop group, Don Yasa Crew).

Can’t get enough of SONOKUNI's ear-bleeding aural soundscape? Then we have some more good news:

The SONOKUNI Deluxe Edition is also available via Steam, and it includes the game alongside its 50-track strong soundtrack. Every single one of the bangers within is composed by the hip hop crew-turned-developer, Don Yasa Crew, themselves.

Are you ready to deliver vengeance? Grab your headphones and pick up the game now!

Many thanks,

The Kakehashi Games Team

As seen during Future Games Show's Live From GDC Showcase, Sonokuni, the Japanese hip hop biopunk action game with the killer soundtrack, is set for launch on 24th March, in just a few days time!

To celebrate the announcement there’s a new launch trailer, which you can check out right here (complete with new track from Japanese hip hop crew-turned-developer, Don Yasa Crew):

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

See you on Monday!

The Kakehashi Games team

For anyone that caught it, you might have spotted (and you definitely heard) Sonokuni during the PC Gaming Most Wanted Showcase 2024! During the show we revealed a new trailer showing some more gameplay and side-on sections, as well as a brand new track from the game.

Check out that new trailer right here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

And you can check out the sick new track from Don Yasa Crew in full via YouTube here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Alongside this trailer we’ve also pushed an updated playable demo live to Steam which you can jump into right now, here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2054380/SONOKUNI/

Alongside the above announcements, we’re also revealing a brand new ‘Speedrun’ mode which will be included with the game at launch. For those of you looking for an extra challenge, this mode will have you operating at the bleeding edge of your abilities. Check out the demo for an early look at this new mode in a challenging ‘mirrored’ version of the available stages!

Whenever we have brought the game to physical events like Bitsummit, Tokyo Games Show and EGX this is one feature we’re asked about all the time, so we’re especially excited to be able to bring this to the game in time for launch.

It’s not too long to wait now, with just polish and some finishing touches to work on on our side. We can’t wait for you to get the game in your hands (and in your ears) in early 2025.

Until then, be sure to wishlist Sonokuni if you haven’t already (every wishlist helps!).

Thanks all,

The Kakehashi Games team

It’s been a busy few months but while we have a little bit of breathing room we wanted to jump into your Steam news feeds with a few updates on Sonokuni, both on development progress and some other news too.



Over the Summer we took Sonokuni to Bitsummit, where it won two (!) awards: Excellence in Sound Design and VGC’s Media Highlight Award. Sonokuni was also playable on the show floor at Tokyo Games Show.

We wanted, first and foremost, to send out a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who came along to the Kakehashi Games booths at these events and played the game. It was awesome to get some direct feedback (and of course great to see heads bopping along to the beat!).



Back at Don Yasa Crew HQ, the development team x J-hip hop crew has been busy implementing a lot of new things in the game. Not least a bunch of new tracks for the later levels.

Check out 'DO', one of these new tracks in full below - headphones/full volume recommended:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Don Yasa Crew are keen to show a little more of the surrounding world of the game outside of the titular village of ‘Sonokuni’ and the neighbouring country of ‘Wanokuni’ (where the stages take place). With this in mind they have now added a characteristically psychedelic array of transition sequences. The aim here is to gently hint at the state of the world outside of these two main locations. We hope you find these sequences intriguing and a little surprising!







One of the questions we are most asked is whether Sonokuni will be fully localised into XYZ language. We’re happy to give you a little peek behind the curtain at the localisation progress being made. The current ‘in development’ build is now playable in English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Russian.





A key thing we wanted to tell you about as well is that, while development is coming along really well so far, we’ve made the decision to shift the expected launch window back into early 2025.

We were previously aiming to have Sonokuni in your hands by the end of this year, but after having so many people playing the game during the various events and the Steam Next Fest demo earlier in the year, we’ve received so much awesome feedback it would be a shame not to include in the final game due to time constraints.

We’re sorry to have to push the release back like this, though we’re confident that this is the right thing to do to ensure we have all the time needed to create the best, most well-balanced, and polished version of Sonokuni possible.

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Thanks for taking the time to read through this update, and for your interest in Sonokuni! Please do consider wishlisting if you haven’t already (this stuff really does help!). And of course keep an eye out - and an ear open - for more updates.

The Kakehashi Games Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2054380/SONOKUNI/

We're excited to announce that the Japanese hip hop biopunk action of Sonokuni is hitting the showfloor of Bitsummit Drift!

BitSummit is the biggest event of the Japanese indie game calendar, and is being hosted at Miyako Messe in Kyoto from Friday July 19th until Sunday July 21st.



If you happen to be attending the show (or are lucky enough to be in Kyoto!) then pop over to our booth and play! Check out the latest trailer below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the meantime, wishlist Sonokuni below to keep up to date on development and to be notified when it launches later this year:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2054380/SONOKUNI/

Thanks all,

The Kakehashi Games team