Yomifuda: Kanji Survivors

Fun little game for getting to know Japanese. A few quick matches of this every day could go a long way if you want to learn the language. Easily worth the two bucks.

全て自力で書きました。翻訳機は一切使っていません。 I totally wrote this on my own without a translation tool! Okay, maybe that was a lie. I did not write this purely with the Japanese skills I acquired in this game so far, but I did already start recognizing and remembering quite a few kana, which honestly feels great. And that’s exactly why this game works so well. At first glance, this looks like a Vampire Survivors-style action game. You run around a beautifully designed environment, attacks happen automatically, enemies swarm the screen, you kill them, level up, pick upgrades, and slowly evolve from poking at single enemies to absolutely deleting entire hordes. That progression feels genuinely satisfying, and surprisingly deep too. I found myself thinking about builds and what upgrades to commit to next. But the clever part is how the learning integrates into the gameplay loop. To earn upgrades, the game regularly throws quick Japanese kana challenges at you. And somehow… I was always excited when those popped up. They’re fast, satisfying, rewarding, and immediately tied to gameplay because succeeding gives you cool new abilities and upgrades for your run. It did not feel like the game interru…

Pretty good!

Excellent Value! I love the variety of kanji that are available to learn, and that you can choose which lessons to learn yourself without prerequisites.

I learned something about a language without getting haunted by an owl, but by an endless horde of yokai instead. Definetly new experience, easy recommend!

As someone who wanted to learn japanese for a while, this game is a really great way to casually and playfully learn some words and characters. Also the music and art style have a nice, memorable vibe to it! Very happy with this game :3