Getsu Fūma Den: Undying Moon

Lore & Background

The game follows Fūma, the 27th leader of the Getsu clan, who must journey into hell after the seal to the gate of hell is broken by Ryukotsuki following 1,000 years of peace. Monsters invade the surface world, and Fūma must find his lost brother and repair the seal by stopping the source of the cataclysm. Gameplay centers on mastering spacing, timing, and enemy attack patterns, with the player acquiring moves inspired by Japanese martial arts and picking up enhancements and customizable weapons across eight procedurally generated levels. Death forces a restart from the beginning, and each stage ends with a boss that must be defeated to progress.

Konami unveiled the game with a teaser trailer in April 2021, and it entered Early Access on Steam on 13 May 2021. Early Access purchasers received a digital mini soundtrack, digital art book, and a port of the original Getsu Fūma Den (with menus in Japanese and English but the rest untranslated). The full release followed in February 2022. The development team took influence from younger staff to create a roguelike with procedurally generated levels intended to encourage player growth, making in-game enhancements secondary. The game uses 3D character models styled to appear and move like 2D, with backgrounds painted in the nihonga style inspired by the Heian period, while models draw from ukiyo-e. Enemy designs evoke an eerie feel through unpredictable movements and joints attached the wrong way.

Reader's Guide

Getsu Fūma Den: Undying Moon received mixed or average reviews on Metacritic. Destructoid gave it a 6.5 out of 10, comparing the game feel to Dead Cells but criticizing the poorly designed roguelike structure. Nintendo Life awarded 5 stars out of 10, praising the art style, soundtrack, and potential while criticizing the lack of creativity, polish, updates, and technical performance relative to its contemporaries. The game represents Konami's revival of a dormant Japanese-exclusive franchise, updated with modern roguevania mechanics and a distinctive visual approach blending nihonga and ukiyo-e styles. Its procedural generation and emphasis on player skill over enhancements reflect design choices aimed at sustained engagement, though critical reception suggests uneven execution in the roguelike structure and overall polish.

Did You Know?

• The game is a sequel to the 1987 Famicom title Getsu Fūma Den, which was released only in Japan.
• Enemy designs feature joints attached the wrong way to evoke an eerie feel.