For a long time, FURYU's games have given the impression of looking good at first glance but feeling somewhat "rough" in actual play. While the world-building and gameplay mechanics are generally interesting, the negative impact of their "poor presentation" has been hard to ignore.
"Otherworld Trace" is FURYU's response to this realization. As FURYU's first TPS-centric game, I was curious about what changes this significant transformation would bring to the company. During "Tokyo Game Show 2026," we were invited to the FURYU booth and played a portion of "Otherworld Trace."
There are three playable options available in this demo: the game's opening sequence, a complete exploration process, and a high-difficulty combat experience. Due to time constraints, I chose the exploration segment, which covers exploration and combat within a relatively complete hospital scenario.
The worldview of "Otherworld Trace" revolves around the concept of the "Otherworld." The game's protagonist, Reona Minazuki, joins the "Special Hazard Zone Countermeasures Office" to investigate the "Otherworld" in search of a friend who went missing there.
The setting for this demo is the Kirishima Central General Hospital, which has become unfamiliar and eerie due to the effects of "Otherworldization."
As "Otherworld Trace" is classified as a "Survival Horror TPS," its combat style differs from previous FURYU games, shifting to ranged combat centered around firearms. At the start of the demo, players are equipped with a handgun and a submachine gun. The basic shooting controls are straightforward: simply aim at enemies and fire.
However, due to the "Survival" aspect, ammunition reserves in "Otherworld Trace" are limited. Enemies, known as "Anomalies," have relatively high durability; even consecutive headshots won't instantly take them down. This requires players to fight enemies while scavenging for supplies in the narrow hospital spaces to ensure continued exploration.
It's worth noting that the protagonist of "Otherworld Trace," Minazuki, does not possess abilities like "dodge" or "quick dash," making distance management crucial during combat. Within the confined hospital setting, the continuous depletion of resources and the ever-approaching enemies indeed create a certain atmosphere of horror.
In addition to firearms, the protagonist Minazuki possesses unique "Anomaly Transformation Skills." Specifically, she can transform parts of her body into an anomalous state to unleash powerful abilities. The two "Anomaly Transformation Skills" available in this demo are a protective shield and a powerful close-range claw attack, both of which are quite potent and rival the main firearm attacks. The full release will offer more abilities to assist in combat alongside firearms.
While exploring the hospital, players can not only acquire ammunition but also collect various materials and even obtain powerful new weapons. By using the radar, players can intuitively detect the direction of materials, which occupy character inventory space. At specific locations, players can choose to transmit collected materials outside via a device. Although the specific uses of these materials are not yet clear, the gameplay loop of "Investigate → Recover → Return" in "Otherworld Trace" is quite distinct.
As exploration progresses, the level of "Otherworldization" throughout the hospital increases, leading to encounters with more powerful "Anomalies" and increasingly complex internal structures. The "Otherworldized" Kirishima Central General Hospital can be described as a facility that defies normal logic, more akin to an intricate maze.
At the end of the hospital, which marks the conclusion of the demo, players can challenge the final boss. This is a powerful "Anomaly" with structures resembling showerheads or searchlights on its back. Players can knock it down by destroying all the devices on its back, allowing them to perform a powerful execution attack. The overall boss fight design incorporates a degree of strategy and mechanics.
Through this demo, I could directly sense FURYU's progress in game action design. While it may still lag slightly behind mainstream standards, the improvement compared to FURYU's previous works is quite significant.
"Otherworld Trace" is scheduled for official release on October 29, 2026. Whether FURYU can change the stereotypical impression it has left on players over the years will be revealed then.