DO NOT PLAY News

It’s me. Employee A.

I had a strange dream recently.

There was a large box with holes shaped like triangles and diamonds on its lid.
It was a simple game—drop blocks of various shapes into the corresponding holes.
A triangle block fits through the triangle hole, a diamond block through the diamond hole...

But then it got more complicated.
Some blocks were combinations of two shapes, or long pieces that had to be joined together.
At the end, I didn’t have a round block, so I brought my right hand closer to my face.
The room went completely dark after that, so I never found out if I had finished.

On a separate note, flyers and postcards for DO NOT PLAY will be available at the upcoming entertainment event ZUKUZUKU in Nagano Prefecture.

If you’re in the area, we encourage you to stop by and take a look.

Official Website: https://www.dreamworks-ent.com/
Event Hours:
・August 1st (Fri) – 12:00 to 17:00
・August 2nd (Sat) – 10:00 to 17:00
・August 3rd (Sun) – 10:00 to 17:00
Location:
1F Booth [6], Kitano Cultural Center
1603 Minami-Nagano, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, 380-0845, Japan


Employee A
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It’s me. Employee A.

There was a moment when I copied an entire folder—but when I checked, it was completely empty.
The folder had definitely been created, but there was nothing inside.
I tried copying it again, and this time, one of the files in the original folder had its name changed.
Its contents had been rewritten.
By who? When? How?
I can’t shake the feeling that someone is remotely accessing my machine—without permission.

Anyway, on to the main topic.
We can’t let the project stall just because the person in charge is still absent.
So, I reached out to another team to ask for someone who could take over the restoration work.
That said, people in the office are increasingly reluctant to talk about the project.
The atmosphere isn’t great.

“I heard they’re trying to gather new members for that project again.”
“One of the new members said they had a weird dream.”

Comments like that have started to pop up—around the sink, in the hallways.
Even so, we have to move forward.
Under a new structure, we’ll continue the restoration work as planned.

Employee A

Add DO NOT PLAY to your wishlist if you haven't already.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3502970/

It’s me. Employee A.

When I speak, it doesn’t sound like my own voice.
Even when I record and play it back, it’s definitely mine—but something feels off.
I talk every day, and yet, there’s a strange sense of disconnect.
It feels like someone else is speaking in my place.
I’m starting to forget what my own voice is supposed to sound like.

Also—
The team member who stopped coming to meetings due to health issues has now gone missing.
The last time he appeared was in an online meeting a few days ago.
We were relieved to see him finally show up, but his camera was off, and we couldn’t see his face.
I asked, “What happened with that screen?”
He typed a single message into the chat box in the meeting window:
“Forget about that.”
And then he left the call.

Worried, I sent him a personal message on LINE later that day.
He never read it.
We’d worked together on several projects, and I was genuinely concerned.
I even contacted his landlord, who told me he had moved out some time ago.

He’s vanished—there’s no other way to put it.
And now I keep wondering:
Was it really him on the other side of the screen that day?

The photo I took of him during the early days of the restoration—just his back, quietly working—
I may never see that again.
And the thought of that... is hard to accept.

Employee A

Add DO NOT PLAY to your wishlist if you haven't already.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3502970/

It’s me. Employee A.

I thought I had been asleep… but when I came to, I was sitting in front of my computer.
On the screen was a block of unfamiliar text—something I don't remember typing.
The words “3:44 AM” were repeated over and over.
What was I doing, sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night...?

That reminded me—I once filmed the team member who stopped coming to meetings during the early days of development.
As the workday was winding down, I was doing my usual rounds of the office and found him still at his desk.
He was silently focused, breaking apart the inner workings of an old game, piece by piece—like solving a puzzle.
He told me he was carefully dismantling and reconstructing it, trying to understand how everything fit together.

At one point, he muttered to himself,
“Why did they write this part like this, I wonder…”
Then he gave a quiet laugh and said,
“But somehow… I kind of get it.”

In that moment, I realized he wasn’t just “restoring” the game.
He was trying to truly understand it—to connect with the thoughts of whoever created it, and the atmosphere of the time it was made.

Employee A

Add DO NOT PLAY to your wishlist if you haven't already.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3502970/

It’s me. Employee A.

The other day, when I returned to my desk, the screen had gone completely black.
It felt too soon for sleep mode, and when I tried to force a shutdown… suddenly, icons started appearing.
One of them looked like a face—something I’d never seen before.
I tried to take a picture, but it vanished before I could.
Even now, I can’t shake the feeling that something’s still watching me from the corner of the display.

Anyway, I found an old executable left on one of the floppy disks.
When I launched it, a familiar blue dolphin started bouncing around the screen.
It reminded me of elementary school—how I used to run it just to watch, without really knowing what it was for.
I think it was supposed to help with support or system navigation… maybe.
I can’t remember if it had anything to do with this game.
But there’s something oddly charming about the way it moves—though now, it almost feels like… it’s watching me, too.

Employee A

Add DO NOT PLAY to your wishlist if you haven't already.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3502970/