Inkblood Hands-On At TGS2026: CRITICAL REFLEX Shows Inquisitor Mystery Adventure
The demo shows a mystery structure where each solved case feeds into a larger thread, since Inquisitor #133, the protagonist's missing predecessor, is tied to the burned inn, and the carriage manual states an inquisitor's heart is removed and placed in the Engine's glass vessel on the first day of assignment.
Key Facts
- CRITICAL REFLEX showed a playable demo of Inkblood, developed by Hey Bird!, at Tokyo Game Show 2026, held at Makuhari Messe from September 17 to 20, 2026.
- Inkblood is scheduled for release within 2026 for PC via Steam, with Japanese display planned.
- The player controls Inquisitor #134, who takes over from predecessor #133, and is confined to a carriage equipped with investigation devices.
- The demo's second case takes place at an inn that burned to the ground with multiple deaths, where four members of a musical troupe must be assessed.
Reporting from 2 sources: 4Gamer.net, Game Spark.
CRITICAL REFLEX brought a playable demo of Inkblood, the new mystery adventure game from Hey Bird!, to Tokyo Game Show 2026, held at Makuhari Messe from September 17 to 20, 2026. Players take the role of Inquisitor #134, who is both an inquisitor and a prisoner confined to a carriage, investigating brutal murders and traces of blasphemous rituals in a town where suspicion falls on a cult. The carriage interior holds investigation devices, including the Echo Mirror, also called the Reverberation Device, which recreates past events when dragged over a scene, and an old-fashioned camera used to photograph suspects. Reports are filed using a rotary-dial telephone. The demo opens with a corpse by the roadside, then moves to a case at an inn that burned to the ground with multiple deaths, where four members of a musical troupe must be assessed. Inkblood is scheduled for release within 2026 for PC via Steam, with Japanese display planned.
The Japanese version uses a serif typeface chosen to match the atmosphere of the original language version. The retro texture across the whole screen is styled after lithographic printing.
Hey Bird! is the studio behind Ministry of Broadcast. CRITICAL REFLEX is also the publisher behind Mouthwashing and Burden Street Station.
The carriage interior holds more than the Echo Mirror and the camera:
- A radio, a lamp, and fasteners sit on the seats.
- A letter near an altar describes the case under investigation.
- A book records the details of each solved mission.
- The Vault is a desk where letters and evidence can be dragged down and taken out at any time.
- Green glowing circles can be zoomed in on for extra information.
Screws on items inside the carriage can be loosened to reveal evidence. On the second case, loosening the screws on the drum the band had used produced a clue.
Submitting an incorrect report carries no particular penalty, so players can test hypotheses as they come to mind.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.