Children of Belgrade Metro Is Worth Revisiting, a Psychic Battle Visual Novel Really About Feeling Inadequate

Children of Belgrade Metro is back in the spotlight through AUTOMATON's September 2026 feature series highlighting Japanese PC games that may have slipped past a wider Steam audience. Developed by the indie circle Summertime, the visual novel originally launched in September 2020, yet its combination of Belgrade, retro visuals, psychic battles and psychological drama still gives it an identity that is difficult to confuse with other visual novels.

What ultimately stands out is not simply the cast of teenagers with supernatural powers. The story repeatedly turns toward more ordinary but painful questions: comparing yourself with others, feeling that you lack something everyone else seems to have, wanting to be recognized, and trying to find a place where your existence feels genuinely wanted.

Quick Summary

• Japanese title: ベオグラードメトロの子供たち
• English title: Children of Belgrade Metro
• Format: visual novel
• Genre: psychic battle / psycho-suspense
• Developer: Summertime
• Publisher: Summertime
• Creator / scenario: 隷蔵庫
• Primary platform: PC
• Steam: available
• BOOTH: available
• Release date: September 11, 2020
• Current verified BOOTH price: ¥980
• Game language: Japanese
• Playtime: more than 10 hours
• Structure: episodes of roughly 30 minutes to one hour
• Script: more than 280,000 Japanese characters according to launch material
• Stills: more than 150
• Animation: used in selected scenes
• Setting: Belgrade, Serbia
• Period: an alternate 20XX setting
• Protagonist: Shizuki
• Shizuki's status: possesses no supernatural ability
• Major character: Dejan
• Dejan's ability: psychokinesis
• Major character: Marija
• Marija's position: daughter connected to Golden Dawn
• Major character: Nedelka
• Central group: ability users rejected by mainstream society
• Gathering place: an abandoned unfinished Belgrade Metro
• Major threat: Golden Dawn
• World policy: supernatural ability use is prohibited by the government
• Story system: newspapers, letters, diaries and other documents unlock through progress
• Visual style: pixel-art / PC-98-inspired
• Backgrounds: some are based on photographs taken by the creator in Serbia
• Music: roughly half of the game soundtrack was created by Virtual Cat / バーチャルねこ
• Major theme: inferiority
• Major theme: the need for recognition
• Major theme: loneliness
• Major theme: finding a place to belong
• Content: includes violence and sexual themes
• Original age recommendation: 15+
• Manga adaptation: available
• Manga publisher: Kodansha
• Manga platform: Morning Two / Comic DAYS
• Manga original: 隷蔵庫
• Manga artist: 山座一心
• Manga serialization began: August 2025
• Story reached: LINE.14 CHILDREN OF BELGRADE METRO
• Currently released manga volumes: two
• Volume 3: September 18, 2026
• Volume 3 status: final collected volume
• Volume 3 price: ¥792
• Volume 3 ISBN: 9784065449059

PV, Steam and the World of Children of Belgrade Metro

It Is Not a Story About How Cool Superpowers Are

Children of Belgrade Metro uses psychic abilities as a foundation for its world, but the game does not treat them as gifts that automatically make their owners superior.

People with abilities live under pressure. Their powers have been outlawed by the government, while the massive corporation Golden Dawn has participated in hunting them down.

Many eventually gather in the abandoned metro because society above ground has stopped giving them a safe place.

Shizuki occupies an unusual position because he has no ability at all. He enters a community full of extraordinary people while remaining an ordinary teenager.

AUTOMATON highlights how that setup moves the story toward self-worth. Those with powers are not necessarily complete or secure, while Shizuki keeps struggling to stand beside them despite having none.

An Unfinished Metro Becomes a Home for People Left Behind

Belgrade is more than an exotic location chosen simply to make the visual novel look different.

Within the game's setting, construction on the Belgrade Metro was abandoned, leaving its underground spaces unused. They eventually became a gathering place for ability users who no longer had anywhere else to go.

The metro begins to function like a city beneath the city: not fully legal and never completely safe, yet still capable of becoming a home.

That gives the setting meaning beyond geography.

For the characters, it is one of the few places where they do not constantly need to hide or explain who they are.

Threatening the metro therefore connects directly with one of the game's central questions: whether a person can find somewhere that genuinely accepts their existence.

PC-98 Visuals, Serbian Photography and Electronic Music Create a Distinct Mood

Children of Belgrade Metro uses character sprites and stills with a pixel-art look reminiscent of PC-98-era games.

Its backgrounds take a different approach.

Some of the source photographs were taken directly by 隷蔵庫 while visiting Serbia before being processed into the game's visual style.

The result is an unusual clash between retro-digital characters and urban environments that feel grounded in a real place.

Brutalist apartment blocks, summer streets, underground spaces and Belgrade infrastructure make the setting difficult to separate from the story itself.

Music reinforces the same atmosphere. Roughly half of the game's tracks were created by Virtual Cat / バーチャルねこ, using electronic textures that help sustain its lonely, urban and slightly unsettling mood.

Newspapers, Diaries and Letters Expand the Mystery Beyond Dialogue

Although it is fundamentally a visual novel, players do more than simply read character conversations.

Progress unlocks various documents such as newspaper articles, letters and diaries.

They add information about the history of ability users, government policy, Golden Dawn and incidents that are not always explained directly through the main scenes.

Players gradually assemble a larger picture of the world themselves.

Those documents also strengthen the suspense. What initially appears to be optional lore can change how an earlier character or event is understood.

That helps Children of Belgrade Metro operate not only as a coming-of-age drama but also as a mystery that rewards attention beyond the main dialogue.

Psychic Battles Matter, but the Internal Conflicts Linger Longer

The game still contains major entertainment-driven conflicts.

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There are battles between ability users, clashes with Golden Dawn, Shizuki and Marija's relationship, and substantial shifts in the characters' positions.

But the psychic battles are not the only force moving the story.

Dejan has psychokinesis, Marija comes from a radically different social position, and Nedelka has her own background as a minority girl.

Each carries problems that cannot simply be solved by possessing a special power.

AUTOMATON's reading emphasizes the difference between being “special” and believing you have value.

Having an ability does not automatically erase a sense of inadequacy. Lacking one does not automatically make someone meaningless.

The Manga Adaptation Has Reached Its Ending in 2026

Children of Belgrade Metro later received a new life through Kodansha's manga adaptation.

The manga uses newly written material by 隷蔵庫, with 山座一心 handling the artwork. That means it is not merely a panel-by-panel recreation of the game's scenes.

Serialization began through Morning Two in August 2025.

By 2026, the story had reached LINE.14 CHILDREN OF BELGRADE METRO, while the publisher prepared Volume 3 as the final collected volume.

The third volume is scheduled for September 18, 2026, priced at ¥792, with ISBN 9784065449059.

That makes AUTOMATON's latest retrospective particularly well timed: the six-year-old game is being revisited just as its manga interpretation approaches its own conclusion.

Why This Matters

1) Superpowers become a way to talk about people who feel incomplete

The game is less interested in asking who is strongest than in showing how different characters measure their own value.

2) Belgrade genuinely shapes the work's identity

Real Serbian photography, brutalist architecture, the abandoned metro and the urban atmosphere create a setting that could not simply be swapped for another city.

3) The mystery also lives inside documents

Newspapers, letters and diaries encourage players to connect information themselves instead of passively following dialogue.

4) The game and manga offer different narrative forms

The manga uses rewritten original material for another medium, giving readers and game players related but not identical experiences.

Game and Manga Information

For now, the additional important information currently known includes:

• Children of Belgrade Metro was developed by Japanese indie circle Summertime
• the game originally launched on September 11, 2020
• Steam is one of its primary platforms
• BOOTH also sells a download version
• BOOTH currently lists the game at ¥980
• the BOOTH download supports Windows and Mac
• the game is presented in Japanese
• estimated playtime exceeds 10 hours
• story episodes run for roughly 30 minutes to one hour
• original promotional material listed more than 280,000 Japanese characters of text
• more than 150 still images are included
• selected scenes use animation
• several backgrounds originate from real Serbian photographs
• the creator personally took some of those photographs
• character visuals use a retro PC-98-inspired approach
• Virtual Cat composed roughly half of the music
• a separate original soundtrack is also available
• Shizuki is a protagonist without supernatural abilities
• Dejan possesses psychokinesis
• Marija is directly connected with Golden Dawn
• Golden Dawn is one of the major powers in Belgrade
• supernatural ability use is prohibited by the government within the setting
• the metro becomes a space for marginalized ability users
• newspapers, letters and diaries unlock through story progression
• the game contains violence and sexual themes
• original promotional material recommended ages 15+
• Kodansha publishes the manga adaptation
• original manga material is written by 隷蔵庫
• manga artwork is handled by 山座一心
• serialization began in August 2025
• the manga uses newly written original material
• Volume 1 launched January 22, 2026
• Volume 2 launched April 23, 2026
• Volume 3 is scheduled for September 18, 2026
• Volume 3 is the final volume
• Volume 3 costs ¥792
• Volume 3 ISBN is 9784065449059
• the game is available through Children of Belgrade Metro on BOOTH
• the PC version is available through Children of Belgrade Metro on Steam
• the official video is available through Children of Belgrade Metro Official PV 2
• manga information is available through the Morning Official Children of Belgrade Metro Page
• Volume 3 timing is listed in the Kodansha September 2026 Comic Calendar

Closing

Children of Belgrade Metro works as a psychic battle story, but its stronger impact comes when its characters begin questioning their own value. Belgrade, the abandoned metro, PC-98-inspired art, real Serbian photography and electronic music give those internal conflicts an unusually specific place to exist.

The original game has been available since 2020 and remains obtainable on PC, while its manga adaptation is now approaching the end of its run with Volume 3 scheduled for September 18, 2026. For anyone who missed Summertime's visual novel six years ago, the current moment offers a natural reason to look back.