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Dear Players,
Thank you so much for checking out our game!
We’re delighted to invite you into the world of Gurei today.
Gurei is a hand-drawn 2D action game inspired by Japanese mythology, built around precise, demanding combat and player choice. Experience fluid animation and a nonlinear journey through a surreal Japanese-style castle suspended between the human and spirit worlds.
In Gurei, you play as Rei, a human spirit bound to the challenging duty of defeating the Kami—mystical entities of nature—and claiming their powers. You are free to confront the Kami in any order you choose, while the game’s dynamic difficulty system adjusts each enemy’s strength according to your path. The same Kami encountered at the beginning of one journey could become the final boss of another, returning with more challenging movesets and entirely different attack patterns.
In addition to sword attacks, dodges, stomps, and other core abilities, Rei learns a completely new skill from each defeated Kami. These include an air dash, a scythe capable of executing enemies, a healing ability, and many more. We strongly encourage you to experiment with different routes and approaches across multiple attempts to discover the order and playstyle that suit you best.
Beyond the combat, the world is filled with hidden secrets and intriguing challenges waiting to be discovered. We hope these details make the mysterious realm in which Rei is trapped feel more vivid, immersive, and alive.
If you enjoy the game, we would greatly appreciate your review or recommendation to your friends. Please also feel free to share your feedback with us.
Thank you sincerely in advance for your time, attention, and support throughout this journey. We hope you enjoy the game.
Sincerely,
Lobo Sagaz Studio & Astrolabe Games
Hello, everyone! Lucas (code/game design) here.
You already knew that Gurei was going to release on July 23, but the surprise is that the game will be available at 00:00 GMT+8. By that time, it'll still be July 22 in most countries! Crazy how time zones work, huh.
Also: We've taken the decision to remove the Gurei Demo for the time being. While it's nice for potential consumers to test what they're buying, Gurei's whole "choose your fights in any order" system heavily benefits from the larger options present in the full game (6 combinations in the Demo against 3,628,800, if our math is right), so you'll have to trust us on that one.
Sincerely, Lobo Sagaz Studio (pictured below)
Hello Players,
We have seen many of you playing Gurei on handheld devices, so we are pleased to share that Gurei is now officially Steam Deck Verified.
The green “Deck Verified” badge is now displayed on the Gurei Steam store page, and you can also find the game in the “Great on Deck” category.
Whether you are at home or on the go, you can now take on the Kami wherever you are.
We hope you enjoy playing Gurei on Steam Deck.
Team 「Gurei」
Hello Players,
We are thrilled to announce that Gurei will launch simultaneously on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch on July 23, 2026, same time as Steam release.
Drawing from classic Japanese samurai cinema, Gurei pairs hand-drawn art and fluid animation with a punishing, choice-driven combat system. Players take the role of Rei, a human spirit bound to hunt the Kami — ancient entities of nature drawn from Japanese mythology — in any order they choose, with every victory unlocking a new ability and pulling Rei deeper into the fracture between the human and spirit realms.
PlayStation Store:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10018780
Nintendo eShop:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/gurei
The demo of Gurei will be available on PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop May 21. Check it out!
Team 「Gurei」
Fellow mates,
We are proud to annouce Gurei, the highly-challenging action game will release on Steam July 23, 2026.
Inspired by classic Japanese samurai cinema, Gurei is an unforgiving action game that demands precision, patience, and adaptability from players. Featuring a hand-drawn art style, fluid animations, and a deep combat system built around player choice, the game puts players in the role of Rei, a human spirit bound to defeat the Kami, powerful entities of nature inspired by Japanese mythology. Players are free to take on bosses in any order, with each victory granting a new ability and bringing Rei deeper into a world where the human and spirit realms collide.
Rei, the main character, is a human spirit bound with the challenging duty of defeating mystical entities of nature, the Kami, to obtain their power. The game won’t hold the player’s hand, leaving it up to them to discover and conquer this fantastic hand-drawn world that is gray, both metaphorically and literally.
You are free to pick your fights against the Kami in any order. The game features a dynamic difficulty system where each enemy strength is defined by the player’s chosen path. This means that the very same Kami fought at the very beginning could also be the final boss in a different route. Hope to never leave the one you struggle most to fight last!
Besides sword attacks, dodges, head stomps and other basic abilities, Rei will learn a completely new skill for each defeated Kami. Those will provide further depth to your combat arsenal, be it a stronger dash, a weapon that can execute enemies, the ability to heal and many more!
Player choice is the ultimate power. Taking into account the vastly distinct enemies’ patterns and unique skills granted upon each victory, you will be able to decide how to approach every challenge. It won’t be easy either way, but you can always go back and try something different.
Gurei is a game about fighting strong enemies, but that’s not all. The Kami inhabit a surreal castle located between the human and spirit worlds. After each victory, Rei comes closer to the realm of spirits, starting to encounter peculiar characters from Japanese mythology. These creatures will add novelty and strangeness to your journey, providing commentary, unique animations, side objectives and obscure secrets.
You will get to know the different Kami quite well. When Rei defeats them, she absorbs their power – and their personality. The defeated Kami will be carried around wherever Rei goes, and they’ll surely have stuff to talk about. Sometimes their remarks will be useful information that builds the player’s understanding of the lore and the game mechanics, but sometimes they will be... not so helpful, to put it briefly. Good luck!
The public demo of Gurei is currently available on Steam. More news on the planned console releases coming soon.
Team 'Gurei'
Apr 30, 2026
Fellow mates,
We are proud to announce that Gurei, the hand-drawn action-platformer will be featured in the June 2025 Steam Next Fest!
Inspired by classic Japanese chambara cinema, Gurei invites you to embody Rei, a human spirit on a mission to defeat the mystical Kami and absorb their powers.
The game’s nonlinear boss structure and dynamic difficulty system ensure that each encounter is shaped by your choice, offering a unique challenge with every playthrough.
With each victory, Rei gains new abilities, along with unexpected piece of stories and commentaries from the defeated Kami, enriching the narrative and gameplay experience.
As always, we’d love to hear your feedback in the forums or Discord.
The Gurei Team
2025.6.6
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Gurei, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Gurei statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.