TamagawaSoft’s upcoming 2D action platformer isekizima: Ruins and Tails Journey puts you in the paws of a nekomata, a two-tailed cat spirit from Japanese folklore, on a trip to the island of Isekizima, which the travel brochure calls the Ruins Island of dreams and romance. The brochure undersells it. The 30-plus stages on the island are packed with ancient ruins, caves under the forest floor, and plenty of things that want you dead. Yeah, kind of like Haiti, I guess.

The gameplay hook is the tails. Players can use Kijino’s twin tails to execute combo attacks and perform other actions like dodging, dashing, triple jumping and dodging, and when a special meter is full you can blast a whole crowd at once. There’s also a grappling wire for traversing large gaps, minecarts for long hauls, and even a golem you can pilot yourself when the road gets too rough. There are more than a dozen skills to unlock, stats you can raise, and three optional challenge settings for everyone from gaming journalists to competent veteran players. You can also earn a Steam achievement for reaching the end goal without defeating a single enemy.

TamagawaSoft has touted the folk-inspired soundtrack, which features more than 40 tracks written for the scenery of each area, so the music changes as the ruins do. The full game runs about 10 hours to complete the story, and more than 20 hours if you chase everything, so some solid tunes will definitely keep things engaging as the hours start running into those late teens.

isekizima: Ruins and Tails Journey is scheduled to launch on Steam PC January 19, 2027, with a Nintendo Switch version coming later. You can also pick up a Supporter Pack (soundtrack, artbook, and a bonus outfit) if you want to throw down more cash, and there’s a demo available on Steam now so you can take Kijino for a test pounce.