MONOPHOBIA Story Demo to Debut at Tokyo Game Show 2026
The TGS debut pairs a Love Live! main scenario writer with a Nijisanji character designer, an unusual pedigree for the first independent project from indie team Dendrobium.
Key Facts
- Shochiku Games announced on September 8, 2026 that MONOPHOBIA will be playable at Tokyo Game Show 2026, held September 17 to 21 at Makuhari Messe.
- The story demo for MONOPHOBIA will be shown for the first time at the Tokyo Game Show 2026 exhibition.
- Light novel author Mikami Teren wrote the MONOPHOBIA scenario, and illustrator Wata handled character design and the main visual.
- MONOPHOBIA is developed by Dendrobium, an indie team established in 2022, and is the team's first independent development project.
- MONOPHOBIA is planned for PC via Steam with Japanese voice support; the price has not been announced.
Reporting from 2 sources: 4Gamer.net, Game Spark.
Shochiku Games announced on September 8, 2026 that MONOPHOBIA, the 2.5D urban legend adventure it publishes, will be playable at Tokyo Game Show 2026, held September 17 to 21 at Makuhari Messe. The exhibition marks the first public showing of the game's story demo. The game follows two contrasting high school girls, the always mysterious Kirihara Konoka and the gal classmate Nakano Shino, who form a buddy pair to investigate eerie supernatural phenomena in a modern city rendered in nostalgic 2.5D pixel art inspired by 32-bit era adventure games. Light novel author Mikami Teren wrote the scenario, and illustrator Wata handled character design and the main visual. Developer Dendrobium, an indie team established in 2022, calls MONOPHOBIA its first independent development project. Japanese voice support is planned. The game is slated for PC via Steam with the price undecided.
MONOPHOBIA's visuals draw on 32-bit era adventure games, blending nostalgic pixel art with modern lighting across a 2.5D side-scrolling space. Players collect clues and connect them logically in a journal to reach the truth behind each supernatural case, while the story tracks the deepening bond between the two leads.
Mikami Teren, who writes the scenario, is the author of Black Black Lotus serialized in Dengeki Daioh and wrote the main scenario for Link! Like! Love Live!. She took first place in both the written-for-publication book category and the 20s reader category of the Next Light Novel Award 2021. Wata, responsible for character design and the main visual, is an illustrator whose credits include the light novel Majo ni Kubiwa wa Tsukerarenai and the design of Nijisanji's Hyakumantenbara Salome.
Dendrobium, founded in 2022, describes MONOPHOBIA as its first independent development project, with members drawn from multiple countries and backgrounds in the game industry. The developer's comment frames the story around characters who lose sight of what they truly want while pursuing what they think they want, and asks players to watch how the two girls answer that question by the end.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.