Jishogi (v2.0)

A hostile school environment and a dangerous act of magical cruelty drive this surreal indie adventure. Mayu Otonashi is an isolated shogi prodigy whose silence, unsettling reputation, and rumored secrets make her an easy target for Fifield, a bullying witch who wants answers. When Fifield casts a spell to enter Mayu’s mind, the conflict shifts from everyday torment into an increasingly unnerving psychological confrontation. The mood is dark, intimate, and morally unstable, treating revenge and vulnerability as forces that can change who holds power.

Play moves between visual-novel storytelling, first-person-style wandering, and puzzle-focused sequences inside a fractured mental space. Fifield searches through Mayu’s memories and inner world, examining clues and pressing onward to uncover what Mayu is hiding, while the consequences of that intrusion steadily escalate. Shogi is more than background flavor: Mayu’s exceptional talent informs the game’s identity and its cerebral atmosphere, even when the focus lies on narrative puzzles rather than competitive board-game simulation. Progress depends on observation and puzzle-solving as much as reading dialogue, and the full experience runs roughly three to ten hours depending on puzzle speed and how many conclusions you pursue.

Its strongest feature is the willingness to make nearly everyone uncomfortable to defend. Rather than offering a neat victim-versus-villain story, Jishogi examines cruelty, curiosity, personal boundaries, sexuality, forgiveness, and the ethics of using power over another person’s mind. The premise gives its walking-sim structure a more threatening edge than usual, since every new revelation can feel like an invasion rather than a reward. Multiple endings add reason to revisit key decisions and investigate the narrative from different angles. Players who enjoy compact, text-heavy psychological horror with puzzles—closer in spirit to unsettling RPG Maker and visual-novel mysteries than action adventures—will find plenty to unpack, while those wanting constant combat or a traditional shogi program should look elsewhere.