Escape an Exit 8-like looping train platform in this free-to-play Japanese browser game 

A solo Japanese developer released their own twist on the emerging Exit 8-like genre on March 24. Track No. 9 is a free-to-play browser game that can be played on your computer or smartphone. The game is only available in Japanese at the time of writing, but it is still possible to play even without any knowledge of the language. 

Creepy first-person walking sim The Exit 8, in which you had to escape a looping Japanese subway station corridor, was a surprise hit on Steam last year. Its anomaly-spotting gameplay has since spawned many titles that use a similar mechanic and are set in unnervingly empty public places (see Station 5, B1 and Chilla’s Art’s Shinkansen 0).  

Track No.9 is an adventure game where you play as a girl who is wandering around a fictional train station called Narihira Station. The platform looks like a normal Japanese station at first glance but, it is deserted. The only sounds are the ambient noises of trains, train crossings and station announcements, giving the charming pixel art environments a desolate feel. Like The Exit 8, strange changes suddenly appear in your surroundings. If they spot an anomaly, the player must turn left. If nothing seems strange, they should exit the ticket gates to the right of the platform. You start out at Track 0 and progress to Track No.1, 2 and so on if you make the right choices. The goal is to make it to the titular Track No.9 and board the train. 

When you begin the game, you should first walk along the platform by pressing the right arrow key. Have a look around and try to remember key features of the platform. When you walk through the gates on the right of the screen for the first time, the instructions below on how to play will appear. Hold the right arrow key to walk into the start of the game. 

The controls are simple- you use the left or right arrow keys to walk along the platform. The Q key can be used to help you keep track (pun intended) of the anomalies you have found (there are 34 in total). Found anomalies are indicated by a white dot in the menu, however the description of the anomaly is written in Japanese, so reading skills would be helpful for completionists who want to keep track of what they have found. Some of the anomalies are quite subtle and require you to have an eagle eye and a good memory of what the platform should look like. Track No.9 features a mixture of innocuous changes and creepy anomalies that can catch you off guard. 

The game was created by solo Japanese developer Yuji. He usually releases games with similar pixel art-style or low poly graphics on itch.io and unityroom, a Japanese site that hosts free games created in Unity. Track No.9 seems to have been created in one week during the 1 Week GAME JAM (unity1week) event that is held from time to time by unityroom. 

The theme for the latest event was “Change,” so Yuji designed a game in which the surrounding environment would change. Many other interesting games were also completed during the event. 

Track No.9 is a free browser game that can be played on unityroom. 

Based on the original Japanese article by Rikuya Melichar (original article’s publication date: 2024-03-25 15:03 JST)