Welcome back to our weekend segment, where we showcase a handful of recently released and/or upcoming Japanese indie games that share a specific theme.
The theme for this weekend is jobs, because even after spending a whole day working, many of us still can’t help but crave games that emulate the occupations of others.
inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories
Starting this list on a high note, inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories is a cozy simulation game set in early 1990s Japan. You play as Makoto Hayakawa, a college student working part-time at her aunt’s convenience store. Unlike Chilla’s Art’s The Convenience Store, there are no scares to be had here. Just pure, relaxing store management.
As a store clerk, it is your job to order the appropriate goods and stock the shelves. You’ll also be setting prices, taking calls, and most importantly, interacting with your clientele. As you process their requests, you will learn more about the locals and the town in which you work. It’s that last part that gives the game its subtitle and draws you into its world.
inKONBINI has some of the most immersive ASMR audio that I’ve heard in a while. From the clinking of bottles and rustling of plastic wraps to the sound of rain on the store’s windowfront, the game’s sounds make you feel immersed in your virtual workspace.
inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories is developed and published by Nagai Industries, and is set for an April 2026 release on the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, as well as PC (Windows and macOS) via Steam. A prologue demo is available to play on Steam.
Work Life Balance
Just because this list is about jobs doesn’t mean all of the games here are happy. Work Life Balance is a dystopian corporate satire RPG where everything has been gamified by an all-powerful company. In exchange for food, housing, and employment, all that is expected from you is absolute obedience.
The game starts you off with mundane tasks like checking emails and nature recreation before allowing you to peek behind the company’s curtain of lies. Whether you decide to continue living your seemingly perfect life is up to you, as the story takes your decisions into account.
Depending on your choices, Work Life Balance can alternate between completing boring, everyday tasks and exploring the world around you – the latter of which involves some light stealth elements as well as organizing logic clues to progress. That’s quite a lot of work for such a seemingly perfect lifestyle.
Developed and published by LandUni Studio, Work Life Balance is out for PC (Windows and macOS) via Steam. A free demo is also available.
Life of a Lonely Indie Game Developer
Continuing the streak of depressing job-based titles, Life of a Lonely Indie Game Developer paints a bleak picture of life as a solo indie dev. Though you are free to develop whatever games you want, everything has a cost, and time is limited.
Simply living costs money. From taxes and insurance to unexpected hospital bills that you incur by overworking, the game leaves you to decide the best approach on how to survive. You aren’t strictly limited to developing games for a living, either. When money gets short, you can find other sources of income (like taking part-time jobs, doing contract work, or gambling) to make ends meet.
As you get older, you can train several abilities and acquire various traits that will make your life easier. Want to make your games’ graphics look better? Invest points in Graphics. Have trouble meeting deadlines? Acquire a trait that makes it faster to develop games.
True to its namesake, Life of a Lonely Indie Game Developer doesn’t offer you any form of help outside of outsourcing and buying assets for your games. While you can get yourself a pet, that animal will eventually die… as will you.
When you die, you can be reincarnated with some of your abilities and start from the beginning as a young, dewy-eyed whippersnapper. You’ll also be able to gain some useful traits, such as tax exemption and immortal pets, that will make your succeeding runs easier and/or less depressing.
Hidden under the guise of cute pixel art, Life of a Lonely Indie Game Developer focuses on the trials and tribulations that a real solo indie dev experiences. The game is developed and published independently by Kan Kikuchi and is set to launch in 2026 on PC (Windows and macOS) via Steam. A free demo is available.
Chill with You: Lo-Fi Story
Chill with You: Lo-Fi Story’s Satone will hopefully make up for the past two depressing titles. Instead of being an outright job simulation, this game acts as more of a task companion app.
At the heart of Chill with You: Lo-Fi Story is the Pomodoro Timer, which you can set to follow your work schedule. When the work timer starts, Satone, the game’s sole character and your new work companion, will join you. As a novelist, she will research and type her latest work at a steady pace. During breaks, she relaxes by stretching, brewing coffee, and having idle conversations with you.
Spending time with Satone will cause your relationship to deepen. Conversations with her evolve from occasionally asking how your work day is going to more personal matters about her. Think of it as a light visual novel that progresses the more you work together.
Featuring several original songs and ambient tracks, you can listen to the game’s soundtrack in the background while working on other tasks. Should you have some spare time, you can adjust the scenery behind Satone to suit your tastes.
Developed and published by Nestopi Inc., Chill with You: Lo-Fi Story is available for PC (Windows and macOS) via Steam. A free demo is also available.
We may have stumbled onto a couple of sad games there, but what is a job without a little bit of depression? Tune in next time, as we cover several new Japan-based indie titles centered around a different theme!
