Back in his office, Ichin began reviewing everyone's work for the day.
After finishing the checks and just about to start on his own tasks, he suddenly froze.
"Hmm~~~ why do I feel like… I've forgotten something?"
Hearing this, Utaha glanced over curiously. "Ichin, you usually have a good memory. Did you really forget something?"
Arms folded, Ichin nodded. "I can't recall what it is, but I have this nagging feeling I really did forget something important. Ugh… what the hell is it? I just can't remember."
The more he tried and failed to remember, the more irritated he became. The feeling was truly unpleasant.
So, he began mentally ticking things off one by one.
"Studies? All coursework is done, and I've been reading the assigned textbooks—no problem there. Work? Tokyo's recruitment is finished, both projects have started, the plans are set. Over in Shanghai, recruitment is nearly wrapped up, the new members are skilled, and development will soon begin. At home? The cats are fine, food's being dispensed by the timed feeder, nothing to worry about. So what on earth am I forgetting?"
Even Utaha found this odd. Ichin rarely misjudged things, so if he felt he forgot something, then surely he had. She joined him in thinking.
Just then, Ichin's phone buzzed.
He picked it up—it was an email from Steam.
"Hm? The game Phantom Epoch from my wishlist? Ah, right—Akane Kosaka! That's it!"
Utaha finally remembered too. Of course—Akane Kosaka, the one who had seen them as rivals and was also developing a game.
Moving to Ichin's side, she looked at the email on his screen and chuckled. "So her game got delayed, only releasing today? Looks like the hype from Persona's launch spooked her, huh? So she rushed to delay it?"
Ichin nodded, opened Steam, and clicked on the game from his wishlist.
Sure enough, in the news section he found a post about the delayed launch.
Although the announcement claimed the one-month delay was to "polish the game's quality," to Ichin it was obvious—Kosaka deliberately avoided clashing with Persona's release.
As he thought this, he added Phantom Epoch to his cart, purchased it, and began the download.
The game did look somewhat interesting. And although Kosaka treated him as a rival, he would still buy and try it.
Compared to Persona, today's launch had far fewer Steam reviews, but the rating was solid—85% positive. The real question was whether that score could hold once more players joined in.
While waiting for the download, Ichin snapped a photo of the progress bar and sent it to Kosaka.
Ichin: Miss Kosaka, congratulations on your game's release. I'll be playing it shortly.
A few minutes later, a reply came.
Kosaka Akane: Thank you, Ichin-kun. The game still has many flaws. I hope after playing, you can share suggestions so I can improve it.
Her tone was unexpectedly humble.
So… she must've felt the gap after playing Persona?
Her old doujin circle might've been a professional business group, but their development skill still lacked polish.
It seemed that after this experience, she had recognized her shortcomings and wanted to improve.
Ichin didn't mind at all. The more good games in the world, the happier he'd be. He wasn't about to sabotage anyone.
Ichin: No problem. I'll write up a full review for you.
Putting down his phone, he saw the download was nearly done. He grabbed his controller and plugged it in.
"Guess I'll skip work for the rest of today and play instead."
Once the game installed, he launched it.
Utaha, also curious about Kosaka's work, pulled up a chair and sat beside him to watch.
In terms of comprehensive development skill, Kosaka's team couldn't compare to Ichin's. But she clearly understood the principle of "playing to strengths, avoiding weaknesses."
As a hybrid of a former doujin group and a copyright company, she had advantages: a stable of excellent illustrators and fairly strong writers.
The moment the game started, Ichin noticed the graphics had improved noticeably compared to the PV.
The 3D visuals, with anime-styled characters, gave it a clear audience—it wasn't aiming to appeal to everyone.
After playing through the prologue, Ichin quickly understood the story: a classic, straightforward adventure. The protagonist takes on a main quest, levels up while fighting monsters, gathers companions, and eventually saves the world.
Nothing groundbreaking yet, but stable and free of glaring problems. As long as it didn't suddenly throw in bizarre values or pull a "Golf Club 2" situation, no one would have reason to complain.
"The visuals are fine, I actually like them. But the open-world design feels lacking," Ichin said.
Once out of the starter zone, he saw the issue: the world was vast… but empty.
He picked up two side quests along the way, both generic monster-hunting missions, with no engaging dialogue.
When it came to side quests, Ichin still admired CD Projekt Red. Sure, Cyberpunk 2077 had been a mess, but The Witcher 3's side quests were a gold standard to him—well-written, immersive, and with memorable characters.
By contrast, after over an hour of Phantom Epoch, he still hadn't found any noteworthy side quests.
After Ichin defeated an elite boss, Utaha commented, "The combat feels… floaty."
"Yeah, the feedback is weak—the impact just isn't there. But it's tolerable."
Combat systems, especially action combat, were never easy for a new studio.
Even Ichin's own Dark Souls was still in the process of refining its battle system—far from perfect.
*
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