Danchi Days

Danchi Days is a single-player adventure about 12-year-old Hoshino Kanaoka, who returns to her Japanese hometown to live with her grandmother, Kimiko, who has dementia. Hoping to cheer her up, Hoshino sets out to revive the local summer festival by gathering RSVPs from 51 neighbors. Across a five-chapter story, you explore the danchi, meet its residents and uncover forgotten truths about the neighborhood.

The neighborhood and its residents

The danchi is home to people with different lives and concerns, from sociable seniors and grumpy high-schoolers to adults trying to get by. Each neighbor has their own quirks and story, and getting them to RSVP calls for different approaches. The story balances comedy and bittersweet moments while exploring friendship, everyday life, an aging society and family life with dementia.

Hoshino is a lively, headstrong sixth grader who wants to bring the festival back. Her grandmother Kimiko, a former kindergarten principal, once organized it and has built many connections around the danchi. Hoshino’s close friend Rio Tsukimi is an expert with computers, but has grown distant since her return. Moro-Q, a poetic kappa and Hoshino’s festival assistant, remembers little of his past.

Five ways to interact

You use five mechanics to explore the neighborhood and persuade its residents:

• Explore: walk around the danchi and discover what is there.
• Look: focus on objects to learn about them and sometimes trigger events.
• Sense: absorb sparkles to start minigames with different objectives. Touching eggs earns points for the Sunflower Bar, while Footsteps must not run out.
• Talk: speak with neighbors and invite them to the festival.
• Internet: browse neighbors’ personal websites on Hoshino’s handheld computer. Some ask you to play a minigame before they RSVP.

The in-game internet contains dozens of websites with minigames, journals, blog posts, surveys and personality tests, as well as secrets, surprises and some sadder, darker pages.

A festival to revive

You work to collect RSVPs from all 51 neighbors, including people who may not want to attend at first. The game has no levels, combat, money, farming, quest logs or time pressure. A playthrough takes about 8–12 hours.