Yakuza Kiwami 3, Annapurna Interactive, and more in this round of Tokyo Game Show 2025.
Tokyo Game Show runs from 25–28 September, 2025 this week, and we’ve just wrapped up our third day at the event. Days three and four of Tokyo Game Show see the event open its doors to the public, leading to even bigger crowds and much more excitement than the first two days alone. Here’s what we played on day three:
People of Note (2026)
People of Note is a turn-based RPG from Iridium Studios, recently announced at the Annapurna Direct! This turn-based game features music-based gameplay, with characters timing and executing their attacks to fit the beat. In practice, combat resembles Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a favourite of ours from this year, with splashy character designs, visual novel-like cutscenes, and puzzles to break up the pace of its musical gameplay.
People of Note is shaping up to be a pretty interesting indie with addictive turn-based combat. The demo ended on a fairly challenging fight that had us pushing these combat mechanics to their limits. It'll be interesting to see how the protagonist's feather factors into exploring the more open areas seen in the above trailer.
Demi and the Fractured Dream (TBA)
This game was introduced to us as such: “If you’re a fan of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, you’ll love it.” And love it, we did! This action-adventure game has players step into the shoes of a voidsent, born into the world of Somnus looking for some way to escape his cursed fate. The game’s cell-shaded visuals and cartoonish art style certainly reminded us of Zelda, as did the demo’s exploreable dungeon.
The demo had us collect resources to upgrade our hero, but the star of the show was the little feather our voidsent carried with him! This feather can be used to solve puzzles, create makeshift boats, and blow out candles. Combat is fast, slick, and rather tricky, as exemplified by the demo’s great final boss.
D-Topia (2026)
This was the most memorable game we played at the Annapurna Interactive booth, if only because of how dang strange it was. Players enter the seemingly-simulated reality of D-Topia, a utopian haven filled with happiness and satisfaction, where everyone works in factories on a daily basis. That’s right, peak human efficiency looks like a bunch of people working in factories all the time, every time. Who knew?
D-Topia hints at the absurdity and morbidity of its capitalistic premise by emphasising the protagonist’s rigid schedule of sleep, wake, eat, work, and sleep again. However, the actual–and best part of–the game revolves around solving quick and easy puzzles during key quests and work days at the factory.
Alas, we didn’t meet the cat featured in all of D-Topia’s marketing material in this demo. Maybe next time.
Monster Hunter Wilds x Final Fantasy XIV: Omega Planetes fight (out now)
The Monster Hunter Wilds x Final Fantasy XIV collab is here, letting hunters take on the Omega Planetes. We tried out the hunt during a demo on the showfloor, though it should be noted that players have to reach Hunter Rank 41 and have completed the "What Lies Ahead" mission to unlock it during regular play.
In the demo, we took on Omega Planetes in the Iceshard Cliffs, in the special Arena for Jin Dahaad. Omega Planetes can unleash devastating laser and fire attacks with a large area-of-effect, so make sure you bring a weapon with a shield or have the Evade Extender slotted into your build. While most of its attacks are fairly telegraphed, they can still be deceptively fast, so remain vigilant while hunting it.
You can also make use of MMO mechanics to more efficiently hunt Omega Planetes. If a player deals enough damage to its head, it will trigger 'Enmity' and make it focus its attacks on that player. Have one hunter act as your party's tank and trigger Omega's Enmity to give the rest of your team free rein to attack.
Once the hunt reaches its decisive moment, Omega Planetes will unleash its devastating 'Delta Attack'. It will create miniature versions of itself as well as a clone of Nerscylla while it charges up its Delta Attack. You must quickly defeat the Nerscylla in order to stop the Delta Attack, otherwise it's pretty much a guaranteed quest failure.
Omega Planetes was an incredibly challenging demo. Defeating the collab monster will let you craft the badass Dark Knight armor set and use Pictomancy spells in hunts. During the show floor, our real reward was getting a practice session in at Capcom’s booth.
Fate Trigger (Q1 2026)
Tencent subsidiary Saroasis Studios’ upcoming game Fate Trigger had a booth at Tokyo Game Show this year, allowing visitors to demo the upcoming Unreal Engine 5-made shooter. Fate Trigger is a battle royale game with anime aesthetics, so each demo allowed players to participate in a match together. In our demo, we got matched up with a few real-life players and a number of in-game bots.
Fate Trigger doubles down on a more tactical style of gameplay a la games like Apex Legends, with an emphasis on continuously upgrading gear with new attachments and higher rarities. Points of interest are scattered far apart in a series of floating islands that make up the main map, with portals, ziplines, and flying cars available for players to get around quickly.
The game’s crafting mechanic stood out the most in this demo. Throughout a match, players can pick up materials to craft specific ability and weapon perks to drastically impact their hero’s gameplay. Each hero has a different set of abilities, giving them further personality beyond their colourful anime-inspired designs.
Fate Trigger launches in Q1 2026.
Yakuza Kiwami 3/Dark Ties (12 February, 2026)
We got hands on with Yakuza Kiwami 3 at Sega and ATLUS’ shared booth, which proved to be both companies’ biggest game next to Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, given that the former title was unveiled moments before Tokyo Game Show kicked off. There’s a smidge of controversy over its new character designs, like those of Rikiya Shimabukuro, Shigeru Nakahara, and Goh Hamazaki, but it hasn’t been nearly enough to derail Yakuza Kiwami 3’s hype train.
The demo presents a fresh remake of the original Yakuza 3 opening, starting out at the Morning Glory orphanage in Okinawa. Kiryu’s adoptive daughter then informs him that he’s become the target of a local Okinawan gang, leading him to confront them directly. When Kiryu shows up and starts throwing hands, players are launched into classic beat ‘em up combat. It looks like the demo may have unlocked all available moves for the player immediately, as we noticed that we could immediately execute late-gae moves like the Komaki Tiger Drop.
Combat is fluid and reactive, allowing players to feel the power behind Kiryu’s signature fighting style–a clear upgrade over the original’s clunkier combat. After beating up his enemies, players are free to explore the local area, complete two sub-stories, do some light karaoke, and generally get into some Yakuza shenanigans.
One of the sub-stories hilariously involves Kiryu trying to balance two tall ice cream cones while walking down the street, while also trying to avoid random wrestlers, cars, and pedestrians on the street. If he drops the ice cream cones before giving them to some children, he has to start over.
Interestingly, a feature from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is included here–wherein players can hit a button to have Kiryu ride a Segway to get around. The demo was a lot of fun, and extremely promising, considering that this is a highly-anticipated title for Yakuza fans everywhere.
Check out all our impressions of the games we played on day one of Tokyo Game Show here, including Monster Hunter Outlanders, Ananta, and Reanimal. You can find our day two demo impressions here, comprising games like Battlefield 6, Resident Evil Requiem, and Pragmata.
