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CRITICAL REFLEX
CRITICAL REFLEX is showing playable demos of at least five titles at Tokyo Game Show 2026 and has released a Steam demo for Inkblood. TANUKI: Pon's Summer is 95 percent complete, Militsioner is set for 2027, and Inkblood is scheduled for release within 2026.
Synthesized from 10
Yomimono stories · updated
1d ago
CRITICAL REFLEX spent Tokyo Game Show 2026 as a publisher with several games in public hands at once. The show ran September 17 to 20 at Makuhari Messe. The lineup at the booth included a playable build of Inkblood, the detective adventure from Hey Bird!; Militsioner, the immersive sim from TALLBOYS; the Metroidvania Altered Alma; Being and Becoming, also a Metroidvania, from Ichthys; and GIMMIKO, an action roguelite built on custom dice. GIMMIKO appeared at the booth on the first day of the show.
Beyond the show floor, the publisher put concrete dates and figures behind its catalog. A demo of Inkblood went to Steam on October 2, 2026, with three cases, including a rebuilt version of "The Murder at the Burned-Down Inn." TANUKI: Pon's Summer, the tanuki courier game from Denkiworks, is 95 percent complete according to the studio's Ari of DENKIWORKS, who said so at the show. Militsioner is scheduled for 2027. Outside the show, CRITICAL REFLEX announced SATED, a roguelite cooking game from Forest Reges, during the PC Gaming Show 2026 stream, and released a new demo for TANUKI on June 15.
Founder and CEO Rita Lebedeva used the show to describe the publisher's strategy as a solar system with big hits and smaller orbiting games. She said 'No, I'm not a Human' passed 1 million copies sold, and that a new update for it is in development with a deeper story, new endings, and character-focused content. That title's one-year anniversary fell on September 15.
Key facts
- TANUKI: Pon's Summer development completion
- 95 percent complete, per Ari of DENKIWORKS at Tokyo Game Show 2026 ↗
- Inkblood demo release
- Launched on Steam on October 2, 2026, with three cases ↗
- Inkblood release window
- Scheduled for release within 2026 for PC via Steam, with Japanese display planned ↗
- Militsioner release window
- Scheduled for 2027 on Steam (PC), Xbox Series X|S, and Microsoft Store, with Xbox Game Pass support ↗
- No, I'm not a Human sales
- Passed 1 million copies sold, per founder and CEO Rita Lebedeva ↗
- Being and Becoming developer and demo
- Developed by Ichthys; playable demo at Tokyo Game Show 2026 includes the Sublime Axe-Hatchet, sliding, and wire actions ↗
- GIMMIKO origin
- Drew attention at the 2022 GMTK Game Jam, with development continuing after that ↗
- SATED announcement and platforms
- Announced during the PC Gaming Show 2026 stream on June 8; coming to PC via Steam with Japanese subtitle support ↗
- TANUKI demo date
- New demo arriving June 15 on Steam, covering the first three days of the game ↗
Timeline
- Oct 5, 2026 TANUKI: Pon's Summer Is 95 Percent Complete, CRITICAL REFLEX Says at Tokyo Game Show
- Oct 4, 2026 Inkblood Demo Launches on Steam with Three Cases
- Oct 3, 2026 Inkblood Hands-On At TGS2026: CRITICAL REFLEX Shows Inquisitor Mystery Adventure
- Sep 21, 2026 Critical Reflex Brings Militsioner And Altered Alma Demos To Tokyo Game Show 2026
- Sep 20, 2026 Critical Reflex CEO Rita Lebedeva Talks 'Umami' And What The Publisher Wants Next
- Sep 20, 2026 Being And Becoming Playable At Tokyo Game Show 2026
- Sep 17, 2026 GIMMIKO Brings Its Custom Dice Action Roguelite to Tokyo Game Show 2026
- Aug 28, 2026 Militsioner Stealth Sim Set for 2027 Release, New Trailer Shows Giant Officer
- Jun 11, 2026 Tanuki: Pon's Summer Gets New Demo on June 15
- Jun 7, 2026 Roguelite Cooking Game SATED Announced at PC Gaming Show 2026
Synthesized by Yomimono from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself
sourced, then editorially reviewed. Every
fact links the story it came from.
Facts
- Announced
- playable demos of Militsioner and Altered Alma at Tokyo Game Show 2026 (Tokyo Game Show 2026) · 2026-09-21
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- Confirmed CRITICAL REFLEX produces tanuki pon s summer Aug 31 · source
All coverage
5d ago
CRITICAL REFLEX brought TANUKI: Pon's Summer to Tokyo Game Show 2026 at Makuhari Messe, where the studio's Ari of DENKIWORKS said development is 95 percent complete. The game casts a tanuki courier on a BMX restoring a desolate shrine before the Tanuki Festival, repairing torii gates, chozuya purification pavilions, ema votive plaques, and komainu guardian dogs with funds from delivery work and errands.
6d ago
CRITICAL REFLEX began distributing a demo of Inkblood, a detective adventure by Hey Bird!, on Steam on October 2, 2026. The player is an inquisitor investigating murders tied to a suspected cult, working from inside a carriage he cannot leave. The demo includes three cases, among them a rebuilt version of "The Murder at the Burned-Down Inn" with a changed solution method.
Oct 3
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.
Sep 21
Critical Reflex showed playable demos of two titles at Tokyo Game Show 2026: Militsioner, an adventure game from Russia-based developer TALLBOYS, and the Metroidvania Altered Alma. Militsioner is scheduled for Steam (PC) and Xbox Series X|S within 2027. Its protagonist is framed for a crime he does not remember and tries to escape a city watched over by a giant policeman. The event build supported Japanese.
Sep 20
At Tokyo Game Show 2026, Critical Reflex founder and CEO Rita Lebedeva spoke about the publisher's lineup. She said 'No, I'm not a Human' passed 1 million copies sold and called its reception meaningful for expanding the range of games the label handles. She also said a new update for that title is in development, announced around its September 15 one-year anniversary, with a deeper story, new endings, and character-focused content.
Sep 20
Critical Reflex is showing a playable demo of Being and Becoming at Tokyo Game Show 2026. The Metroidvania is developed by Ichthys and set in a kingdom held together by a Collective Dream produced by thousands of martyrs. The protagonist is a nun who is a lucid dreamer, and the demo includes the Sublime Axe-Hatchet, sliding, and wire actions.
Sep 17
GIMMIKO is an action roguelite where players embed Gimmicks into the faces of dice and use them to fight. The game drew attention at the 2022 GMTK Game Jam, and development continued after that. It appeared at the CRITICAL REFLEX booth on the first day of Tokyo Game Show 2026, which opened September 17 in Japan.
Aug 28
CRITICAL REFLEX and TALLBOYS released a new trailer for the immersive sim 'Militsioner' on August 28, 2026, and confirmed a 2027 release window. The game is set in a city where a giant police officer named Militsioner, tall enough to pierce the clouds, sits at the center. Players control an ordinary civilian arrested for a crime they have no memory of, aiming to escape the city under the officer's surveillance. The core gameplay is first-person stealth action, but the sources emphasize multiple solutions for every problem, including running, hiding, lying, stealing, and even informing on residents. A Tamagotchi-like relationship system lets players influence the moods of characters, including the giant officer, through conversation and gifts. Anger them and they may turn you over to the authorities, but it is also possible to date the giant, though caution is advised when he is on duty. The dynamic world features residents on their own schedules, real-time floods that open new areas, and a surprise during a solar eclipse. 'Militsioner' is scheduled for PC via Steam and Microsoft Store, and Xbox Series X|S, with Xbox Game Pass support. A demo is being prepared for Steam.
Jun 11
CRITICAL REFLEX released a new trailer for Denkiworks' TANUKI: Pon's Summer and announced a demo arriving June 15 on Steam. The demo covers the first three days of the game, where players deliver mail as a tanuki named Pon, perform BMX tricks, restore a shrine, and build relationships with townspeople across four Japanese cities.
Jun 7
Publisher CRITICAL REFLEX and developer Forest Reges announced the roguelite cooking game SATED during the PC Gaming Show 2026 stream on June 8. The game is coming to PC via Steam, with Japanese subtitle support. In SATED, players partner with a cursed refrigerator that dispenses ingredients such as organs, industrial waste, live insects, batteries, and human eyeballs. Players must cook dishes to satisfy monsters with incomprehensible tastes while descending through a randomly generated dungeon in a decaying giant structure. The balance and order of ingredients matter: if the procedure is wrong, the dish may become moldy, cursed, or sentient. If a customer is not satisfied, the player character becomes the ingredient instead. The developer, Forest Reges, previously worked on LiDAR Exploration Program, which holds a 90% positive rating from 273 Steam reviews. The Steam store page lists the game as coming soon.