BODY: Imagine running a sleepy hot spring inn by day and crawling through a monster-infested dungeon by night to stock your pantry. That is the unsettling premise of Under Mythos, a new dark-fantasy JRPG announced by studio Kadath on September 10.
You play as a cat searching for its "Mother," who stumbles upon a mysterious otherworldly bathhouse. Daytime is spent managing the inn and tending to guests; nighttime demands venturing into dungeons to gather food and resources — an "extraction"-style loop where survival is never guaranteed. What begins as gentle, cozy routine gradually curdles into creeping madness as the story unfolds.
The pedigree behind the project is what turns heads. Character design comes from Atsuko Nishida, the artist who created Pikachu and Charmander. The scenario is penned by Takumi Saneyashima of Tales of the Abyss, with music by Noriyuki Iwadare, composer for GRANDIA, LUNAR, and the Ace Attorney series. Producing is Yoichi Miyaji, the force behind the LUNAR and GRANDIA franchises.
Kadath itself is brand new, founded in January 2026, with development support from Matrix, Liz, Cosmo Makiare, and Taiwan's iSWEET. Under Mythos is currently in a vertical-slice prototype phase, targeting a 2028 release on PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch. Pricing has not been announced.
The insider take
The lineup here reads like a reunion of Japan's mid-1990s to 2000s RPG golden age — Miyaji and Iwadare in particular have been creative partners since the Game Arts GRANDIA days. That a fresh studio can assemble such names in 2026 reflects a growing Tokyo trend: veteran creators leaving the constraints of major publishers to form small, auteur-driven outfits. Pairing a Pikachu artist's warmth with Lovecraftian dread (the studio name "Kadath" nods to H.P. Lovecraft) is a deliberately jarring hook, and the "cozy-by-day, horror-by-night" structure taps the same loop-based survival design fueling indie hits worldwide.
Originally reported by AUTOMATON (Japanese).