The Japanese doujin circle Sky Scraper Project — which styles itself as an “evil secret society” — has released “Gate to Die,” a point-and-click survival crafting adventure, for free on Steam.

The protagonist teaches at a university. Waking up in a large mansion they don’t recognize at all, they have no idea how they got there. Doubting their own memory, they set out to find their way home. Players investigate the mansion by choosing from six commands: いどう (move), しらべる (examine), はなす (talk), つかう (use), とる (take), and なげる (throw).

Alongside exploration, players gather materials to craft weapons, armor, beds, workbenches, and more. There is also combat against enemies: the direction an attack will come from is telegraphed in advance, and players read that cue to dodge it. The mansion is filled with an abundance of unreasonable ways to die, and players must avoid them to progress. The expected playtime is about 8 hours, and the game has 34 Steam achievements.

“Gate to Die” was developed by Sky Scraper Project, the doujin circle led by @uta_vit999. The game has openly declared its tribute to “Shadowgate.” “Shadowgate” is an adventure game that KEMCO released in Japan for the Famicom (Family Computer) in 1989.

@uta_vit999 avoids letting money change hands over this game. According to AUTOMATON, @uta_vit999 believes that “nothing of a monetary nature should be allowed to occur” (translated from Japanese). Because of this policy, the game imposes a blanket ban on both commentary/let’s-play videos and live broadcasts.

The game launched at midnight Japan Standard Time on August 7, 2026 — 8:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on August 6 in North America, and 4:00 p.m. British Summer Time the same day in the UK. On May 25, 2026, a roughly three-hour demo had already been released early on itch.io. However, the Steam store page explicitly states “English language not supported,” and the interface, voice audio, and subtitles are all Japanese only.

itch.io page: uta-vit999.itch.io/gatetodie