Death Momotaro Opens Steam Page, Targets Late September Launch at Around 400 Yen

Indie developer Hirasaka has opened the official Steam page for Death Momotaro (デス桃太郎), a new game that turns Japan's classic Momotaro folktale into an intentionally absurd horror-action comedy. The store page went live alongside new promotional material on September 8, 2026.

Instead of simply traveling to Onigashima with a dog, monkey and pheasant, players encounter “Death” versions of familiar elements from the story. The developer's release information targets late September 2026 at approximately ¥400, while a specific launch date has yet to be announced.

Quick Summary

• Title: Death Momotaro
• Japanese title: デス桃太郎
• Developer: Hirasaka
• Publisher: Hirasaka
• Type: horror-action comedy
• Official Steam genre: Action
• Platform: PC
• Store: Steam
• Steam App ID: 5119790
• Target release: late September 2026
• Steam currently displays: September 2026
• Specific release date: unannounced
• Planned price: approximately ¥400
• Status: unreleased
• Steam wishlist: available
• Mode: single-player
• Estimated playtime: approximately one hour
• Number of chapters: four
• Chapter 1: DEATH PEACH
• Chapter 1: escape DEATH Grandpa's giant kitchen knife
• Chapter 1 objective: escape from inside the giant peach
• Chapter 2: DEATH ANIMALS
• Chapter 2 enemy: DEATH Dog
• Chapter 2 enemy: DEATH Monkey
• Chapter 2 enemy: DEATH Pheasant
• Chapter 2 mechanic: stop them with landmines
• Follow-up action: feed them DEATH Kibi Dango
• Chapter 3: DEATH ONIGASHIMA
• Chapter 3 enemies: DEATH Oni
• Weapon: firearm / gun
• Official phrasing: bullets of JUSTICE
• Chapter 4: DEATH ???
• Chapter 4 contents: still secret
• Streaming / Let's Plays: explicitly welcomed
• Comedy target: streamers skilled at witty commentary
• Japanese: interface, full audio and subtitles
• English: interface and subtitles
• Simplified Chinese: interface and subtitles
• Indonesian: unsupported
• Steam Achievements: supported
• Official trailer: available
• Trailer status: non-live
• Generative AI disclosure: listed on Steam
• AI usage: assists portions of systems
• AI usage: assists portions of 3D models
• AI usage: assists portions of textures
• AI usage: assists localized translations
• Minimum GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
• Recommended GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
• Storage: 3 GB
• Developer background: 3DCG designer
• Engine Hirasaka has cited for indie horror development: Unreal Engine 5
• Previous Hirasaka game: Kodoku: As the Moon Mourns
• Kodoku release: May 7, 2026

Trailer, Steam and Death Momotaro Gameplay

The Momotaro Folktale Becomes a Horror Comedy

Death Momotaro retains enough of the traditional story to make its parody immediately recognizable.

In the familiar folktale, Momotaro is born from a giant peach and later heads toward Onigashima with a dog, monkey and pheasant after sharing kibi dango with them.

Death Momotaro keeps that sequence while turning almost every component into a threat.

The peach becomes a place the player needs to escape from while DEATH Grandpa attacks. The three animals normally known as Momotaro's companions become opponents. Onigashima remains a destination, but the journey ends up involving firearms and DEATH Oni that the player is encouraged to blast with what the developer calls “bullets of JUSTICE.”

The game is therefore openly comedic rather than attempting to disguise its parody, combining horror imagery and violence with an exaggerated reinterpretation of one of Japan's best-known folktales.

Chapter 1 Starts Inside the Giant Peach

The game consists of four sections built around different gimmicks.

The first is titled DEATH PEACH.

Death Momotaro starts in immediate danger, attempting to escape from inside the giant peach while avoiding an enormous kitchen knife swung by DEATH Grandpa.

It directly reverses one of the folktale's most recognizable scenes.

Traditionally, the old couple opens the peach and finds Momotaro safely inside. Death Momotaro turns the act of cutting the peach into a survival sequence in which the knife itself becomes the threat.

With the complete game estimated at roughly one hour, the chapter appears designed as one short scenario with its own gimmick rather than the basis for an extended campaign.

Dog, Monkey and Pheasant Have Become Enemies

Chapter 2 makes the largest change to Momotaro's famous animal companions.

The section titled DEATH ANIMALS features DEATH Dog, DEATH Monkey and DEATH Pheasant as opponents.

Rather than simply attacking them with a gun, players first need to stop the trio using landmines, then take advantage of that opportunity to feed them DEATH Kibi Dango.

This again reverses the original folktale.

Momotaro traditionally shares kibi dango willingly to recruit the three animals as companions. Death Momotaro turns that recruitment ritual into a situation where the player first traps them and then forces the dango into the encounter.

It also demonstrates that individual chapters are designed around specific portions of the folktale rather than simply changing the scenery.

Onigashima Turns Into a Shooting Gallery

After the DEATH ANIMALS encounter, Chapter 3 brings Death Momotaro to the destination that normally serves as the folktale's climax: Onigashima.

Its title is appropriately DEATH ONIGASHIMA.

This time the gameplay moves into armed action, with players shooting DEATH Oni using firearms and the officially described “bullets of JUSTICE.”

The developer has not yet detailed the number of Oni, the full weapon selection, stage structure or whether multiple firearms will be available.

What is clear is that Hirasaka is deliberately changing the action pattern between sections: escape gameplay in Chapter 1, trap-and-feed mechanics in Chapter 2 and gun action in Chapter 3.

Chapter 4 remains hidden under the name DEATH ???, leaving the final encounter as one of the game's main pre-release mysteries.

A One-Hour Game Designed With Let's Plays in Mind

Death Momotaro is not being positioned as a long horror campaign.

Steam directly lists an estimated playtime of about one hour.

The developer also says streaming and Let's Plays are “more than welcome,” while the promotional description specifically recommends the game to streamers who are good at witty comebacks.

That suggests the short pacing and succession of absurd situations are intentionally suited to a single-session playthrough and spontaneous reactions.

Game Ad

Steam Frame

The tone is notably different from Hirasaka's previous project, Kodoku: As the Moon Mourns, which leans much more heavily toward straightforward survival horror.

Death Momotaro instead uses horror as the setup for comedy and deliberately exaggerated situations.

Hirasaka Previously Released Kodoku: As the Moon Mourns

Death Momotaro is not Hirasaka's first Steam project.

Hirasaka's Game Creators CAMP profile describes the developer as a 3DCG designer who also develops indie horror games using Unreal Engine 5.

One of those projects became Kodoku: As the Moon Mourns, a single-player survival horror game that launched on Steam on May 7, 2026.

Kodoku sends players into a monster-filled otherworld built around exploration, collecting souls and escaping threats that cannot simply be killed.

Death Momotaro moves in a significantly lighter tonal direction, but it continues Hirasaka's interest in monsters, 3D environments, horror imagery and action-oriented mechanics.

Its targeted late-September launch also means Hirasaka is aiming to release two Steam projects during 2026.

Steam Also Includes a Generative AI Disclosure

Death Momotaro's Steam page contains an AI Generated Content Disclosure.

According to that disclosure, generative AI tools were used during development to assist with portions of the game's systems, 3D models, textures and localized translations.

Steam does not break down exactly which individual assets use AI assistance or identify the specific tools involved.

The confirmed scope is therefore limited to what the developer explicitly states on the storefront.

For system requirements, Steam currently lists Windows 10 64-bit, an Intel Core i7 processor, a GTX 1650 minimum GPU, an RTX 3060 recommended GPU and 3 GB of storage.

The memory field currently displays 4 MB RAM for both minimum and recommended specifications. No developer clarification of that number has been found, so it is best treated as the storefront's current listing rather than silently replacing it with an assumed value.

Why This Matters

1) Each piece of the folktale becomes a different gameplay concept

Birth from the peach, meeting the three animals and traveling to Onigashima are not merely story references; each provides the basis for a separate chapter gimmick.

2) The humor relies on reversing something extremely familiar

Momotaro is widely known in Japan, allowing DEATH Grandpa, DEATH ANIMALS and DEATH Kibi Dango to function as jokes without extensive setup.

3) The one-hour format fits the experimental concept

The game does not need to stretch one joke across a long campaign and can quickly move from one strange scenario to another.

4) The final chapter remains genuinely hidden

Three chapters have already been explained, but the developer is still keeping whatever waits at the end of Death Momotaro's journey secret.

Game Information

For now, the additional important information currently known includes:

• the global game title is Death Momotaro
• the Japanese title is デス桃太郎
• the developer is Hirasaka
• Hirasaka is also the publisher
• the game is an indie project
• the press release describes it as a horror-action comedy
• Steam categorizes its primary genre as Action
• PC through Steam is currently the only announced platform
• no PlayStation version has been announced
• no Xbox version has been announced
• no Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 version has been announced
• the press release targets late September 2026
• Steam currently lists only September 2026
• a specific launch date remains unannounced
• the planned price is approximately ¥400
• the final Steam storefront price is not yet displayed
• the game can already be wishlisted
• it is designed for single-player
• Steam Achievements are listed
• estimated playtime is approximately one hour
• the game consists of four chapters
• Chapter 1 is DEATH PEACH
• Chapter 2 is DEATH ANIMALS
• Chapter 3 is DEATH ONIGASHIMA
• Chapter 4 remains DEATH ???
• DEATH Grandpa attacks with a giant kitchen knife
• DEATH Dog, DEATH Monkey and DEATH Pheasant appear as opponents
• landmines are used to stop the DEATH ANIMALS
• DEATH Kibi Dango is part of Chapter 2's mechanics
• DEATH Oni appear on Onigashima
• firearms are used in Chapter 3
• the identity of Chapter 4's threat remains unannounced
• Japanese supports interface, full audio and subtitles
• English supports interface and subtitles
• Simplified Chinese supports interface and subtitles
• full audio is currently listed only for Japanese
• Indonesian is unsupported
• the developer explicitly welcomes streaming and Let's Plays
• the game is specifically recommended for streamers skilled at spontaneous commentary
• Steam includes an AI Generated Content Disclosure
• generative AI assisted portions of systems
• generative AI assisted portions of 3D models
• generative AI assisted portions of textures
• generative AI assisted localized translations
• the listed minimum OS is Windows 10 64-bit
• the listed processor is Intel Core i7
• the minimum GPU is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
• the recommended GPU is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
• storage is listed at 3 GB
• Steam's current memory field displays 4 MB RAM and has not received a verified developer clarification
• Hirasaka is a 3DCG designer according to the Game Creators CAMP profile
• Hirasaka has described using Unreal Engine 5 for indie horror development
• the previous Steam project is Kodoku: As the Moon Mourns
• Kodoku launched on May 7, 2026
• Death Momotaro is Hirasaka's next planned 2026 Steam game
• the game page is available through Death Momotaro on Steam
• the video is available through the Official Death Momotaro Trailer
• creator updates are available through Hirasaka Official X
• the developer profile is available through Hirasaka on Game Creators CAMP

Closing

Death Momotaro takes an extremely familiar folktale and turns nearly every part of it into horror-comedy material: the peach becomes an escape sequence, Momotaro's three companions become landmine targets and Onigashima turns into an armed confrontation.

The game is targeting a late-September 2026 Steam release at approximately ¥400. Its exact launch date, final storefront price, complete Chapter 4 contents and several gameplay details remain unannounced.