Japanese indie game developer Monthly Wetland (月刊湿地帯) and publisher Waku Waku Games have announced Glow Box, a new text adventure game slated for launch on August 28 on Steam. The Steam store page for the game is out now. Waku Waku Games also stated that the game would come to the Nintendo Switch in the future, though the release date is yet to be determined.
First released for free on itch.io, Glow Box’s original Japanese title describes all you need to know about the premise of the game, “A Machine That Can Only Glow.” Showing only an innocuous blue-framed text box on a black screen, the title’s entire gameplay focuses on a singular mechanic: the ability to make the text box glow while the mouse is held down.
The Steam store page further elaborates that “there are no text input options, nor any choices to select”, leaving the player to the whims of the narrative. Notably, the game can be cleared in approximately 1 hour, and does not feature a save option.
Glow Box’s story follows an unnamed individual who, on one snowy day, takes refuge in a mountain cabin while searching for something. There they find a strange machine that the player takes control of. Having second doubts about the machine that seemingly glows in reaction to their words and actions, they wonder if the device has a will of its own. The player engages in a strange interaction with this mysterious figure, communicating by turning the machine’s lights on or off in response to their words.
The Steam version of Glow Box included all the features of the free itch.io version, with the addition of controller support, English and Chinese localization, additional optional features (volume control and screen size adjustment), and the unlocking of a sound gallery after completing the game.
The game’s developer, Monthly Wetland, has previously released Enjoy the Diner in August 2023 and Why Dolphins Have No Scales (unofficial translation) in November of the same year. Another title, METRO PENGUIN EUTOPIA, is also in development, releasing somewhere this year. The Steam version of Enjoy the Diner released to critical acclaim, with 97% of its 1091 user reviews being positive, earning it an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating at the time of writing.
Glow Box is scheduled to release on August 28 for PC and macOS (Steam), with English, Japanese, and Chinese (Simplified/Traditional) language support. A Nintendo Switch release is scheduled in the future.
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