Learn Japanese To Survive! Katakana War
Learn Japanese To Survive! Katakana War
Game
Game2016
Learn Japanese To Survive! Hiragana Battle
Developer Sleepy Duck
The ideal introductory course to the Japanese language! Learn how to read and write Japanese characters (Hiragana) at a steady pace. A full-blown RPG specifically designed to keep you engaged. By playing along, you’re going to be introduced to the Japanese language like never before! From the Steam store page
195 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Nov 2, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
81
LovedLoved
151 positive · 35 negative
95% range 75–86%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 151 | 35 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 1 | 1 | 7 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,445 of 1,605 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
82% recommend · 158 yes, 34 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 192 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,898 of 2,091 positive).
Players find it an effective tool for learning hiragana when used alongside note-taking. [1][2][3] Some reviewers note the RPG gameplay can feel repetitive or clunky. [4][5][6] Many recommend it as a supplement rather than a standalone learning method. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
I learned hiragana quite efficiently using textbooks, but figured I would give this a try to see how it plays. Sadly this does not feel like a great way to learn. It does a good enough job teaching the information, despite how dry and unimaginative it does it. The real problem is the gameplay. It feels like the only reason this is an RPG is because RPGmaker is the only source the developer had to make a game. The …
- [1]
Good game for learning japanese. It plays just like your usual RPG except you take notes of characters and words that you learn. You will encounter hiragana, katakana and kanji along the way. Soundtrack is nice and story might grab your attention. Just take your notebook and learn some japanese!
- [11]
I played through this game alongside textbook-based self-learning. Memorization and study requires repetition and I found this to be a useful tool in entertaining me and keeping my attention while drilling hiragana into my head. I have a lot more confidence in recognizing hiragana at a glance now. Overall the game did exactly what I wanted it to, and I got it on a great sale. It's an education tool, and I found it …
- [2]
It's a good way to practice hiragana and learn some basic vocabulary. Simple game with simple but entertaining story for what it is. Definitely good enough for a beginner in learning Japanese but I recommend having a notebook when you play and actually writing down the vocabulary and hiragana as you learn it so you can practice both on screen and in real life.
- [3]
Worth every penny! But don't just play this game. It's meant for studying Japanese. Break out a pen and a notebook and make sure you take notes! It will teach you hiragana, words, and some grammar as well
Summarised from 34 of the 202 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
82% of the 192 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Learn Japanese To Survive! Hiragana Battle. The complaint that keeps coming up: gameplay can be a slog with high encounter rates. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 195 · most liked firstGood game for learning japanese. It plays just like your usual RPG except you take notes of characters and words that you learn. You will encounter hiragana, katakana and kanji along the way. Soundtrack is nice and story might grab your attention. Just take your notebook and learn some japanese!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I learned hiragana quite efficiently using textbooks, but figured I would give this a try to see how it plays. Sadly this does not feel like a great way to learn. It does a good enough job teaching the information, despite how dry and unimaginative it does it. The real problem is the gameplay. It feels like the only reason this is an RPG is because RPGmaker is the only source the developer had to make a game. The gameplay quickly devolves into you spamming through UI menus to click the correct…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is a pretty good way to review and solidify your knowledge of hiragana, but I wouldn’t recommend playing it with zero prior knowledge I’d also like to mention a problem with the fonts: the writing animation uses one font, while the rest of the game uses another. This inconsistency might confuse a newcomer to the language. That’s why I’d suggest using this game mainly for revision rather than as a first-time learning tool
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My Playtime: 10:52:49 (based on in-game clock, finished the game) Intro Learn Japanese To Survive - Hiragana Battle is an educational game that serves to teach you hiragana, one of three Japanese letters, in an RPG format. It focuses more on learning the letters to help you memorize, listen, and write the words. Pros: - Learning aspect is integrated well into the game to force you to remember - Explanation for each letter is done in detail Cons: - Pronunciation voice is too small compared to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good way to practice hiragana and learn some basic vocabulary. Simple game with simple but entertaining story for what it is. Definitely good enough for a beginner in learning Japanese but I recommend having a notebook when you play and actually writing down the vocabulary and hiragana as you learn it so you can practice both on screen and in real life.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hiragana Battle is language learning game hobbled by the limitation of the RPGmaker system more than anything else. It's a noble effort, but system mechanics get in the way of being an exceptional and effective learning system. The way this game works is that if gives you 5 (usually 10 actually) Hiragana letters per lesson and uses those letters as monsters to battle NES Final Fantasy style. Where you need to have each character select from the menu of learned options and pick the correct…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Learning English to learn Japanese to survive
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I started this game already having learned hiragana, for practice. While I don't think it's as straightforward as it could have been, here are my views: PROS: - Interactive experience learning hiragana characters (RPG style) - Constant battle encounters in which you have to practice your knowledge - A cool story, to fight the final boss you need to get better at hiragana - Most interactions with NPC are inspirational (motivating player to keep learning) - Smalls details that make the game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm learning Japanese, I think I'm learning Japanese, I really think so.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dont forget this i a study game, the gameplay and the story is not that great. You should play with a pen and a letter to write down those Hiragana. A big plus are the vocabulary side quests. Be prepared for a lot of backtracking in those lvls and constant fighting, but its worth it. Dont escape and try to write down as much as you can. Good luck ~
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →my son is autistic and he really enjoyed learning the different kana. i even helped him sound them out and showed him proper stroke order! (pause) anyways, if you have a younger kid who loves anime, playing this with them is a great bonding experience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A few zones in to this game I was ready to recommend it, but it falls apart down the line. First to get the game part out of the way: it's a terrible video game. The plot is bad, the mechanics are bad, the interface is a hassle, and the type of game it is ultimately subtracts from its real goal. As a tool to learn hiragana: I would not recommend using this as your sole or even main method. Because of the way the RPG enemies are each a hiragana, and therefore spawn in one location with one set…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While the idea is cute, the actual gameplay is a slog. Maps are large and encounter rates are high, making for the "go back through the map and do x thing" gimmick found in every area suuuch a chore. Nothing that Duolingo's hiragana or the Write Japanese ios app wouldn't cover at a much quicker pace.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played through this game alongside textbook-based self-learning. Memorization and study requires repetition and I found this to be a useful tool in entertaining me and keeping my attention while drilling hiragana into my head. I have a lot more confidence in recognizing hiragana at a glance now. Overall the game did exactly what I wanted it to, and I got it on a great sale. It's an education tool, and I found it an effective one for a reasonable price. Perhaps my biggest critique is that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game did in a few hour what months on language apps could not do
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The joy i felt when i could spell baka in hiragana surpassed the joy i felt when America destroyed Iraq's national air defence grid in one night of bombing during the second gulf war.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Eh.. It's a good idea, but the ui is clunky, and it's a pretty slow way to learn Hiragana. Mnemonics work much better
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a really useful tool to complement an independent study of Hiragana. Sometimes studying may be a little stressing or overwhelming, but through this game you can both play a decent game and revise hiragana bit by bit. While this game is not a bad teacher, I'd recommend take notes and be curious. Learn new things and spend time learning this language because now seems hard, but in the future you will see the fruits of your work. P.D.: The soundtrack is actually nice.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worth every penny! But don't just play this game. It's meant for studying Japanese. Break out a pen and a notebook and make sure you take notes! It will teach you hiragana, words, and some grammar as well
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played through the game in a few days. It was really fun. The basic story is quite interesting. Can you learn hiragana through the game? Yes, you can! You don't just learn hiragana, but also whole words, some grammar, and cultural aspects of Japanese culture. The hiragana symbols are taught gradually, including voice output, so you know how to pronounce them. I can't wait to start with the katakana sequel! PS: Every word you learn will be needed in the end game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To preface: I started playing this game after I had already began the journey of memorizing hiragana and katakana, so the system was already a bit familiar for me (if anyone is wondering, I'm learning solo via Genki). Even though I came in with a bit of knowledge, I didn't feel like this game was pandering, or anything like that. It was a good refresher, honestly. The story was pretty decent for a learning game and there was a lot of love that went into this game. My only complaint about this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've always seemed to have trouble learning and retaining the Japanese I've attempted over the years. My attention span has always been an issue. Since starting this game, it seems like I've been able to retain more and faster than I used to. I believe it has something to do with how similar it is to playing Final Fantasy games of my youth, as FF6 was my absolute favorite. For an RPGMaker game, I've found it enjoyable and fun to play while definitely learning. I hope this progress…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Short Review I already know hiragana and katakana. I mostly bought this as a refresher and wanted to check it out. Its not a good learning game by any means, especially due to how tedious it feels. I rather recommend the duolingo kana learning system than this game. Not only is the game, aside the kana, completely RPG maker stock gameplay, You fight kana by having them appear as random encounters. They are always in the same formation during an area. Not only do the battles offer no depth,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tonight around 9pm mst we be playing more Learn Japanese to Survive: Hiragana Battle! I’m excited to continue learning with everyone! #pngtuber #learningjapanese
neutral · AI labelView post →Works fine with proton and is a fun way to learn hiragana.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →want to learn hiragana? but can't afford some tutoring? this game surprisingly work well the repetition can help you remember the word
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly even duolingo is better than this. Actually, let me elaborate. I clearly didn't play much of this. I got this game for a good deal, mainly interested in the 3rd part of the trilogy. I learned Hiragana back in highschool, but I figured I'd give this a shot though, maybe as a review, or a good way to practice my Hiragana reading. It's just way too much of a slog for me. If you want to learn Hiragana, there are so many good resources out there, just search "Learn Hiragana" online,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am 32 years old. My ex-wife and I have a daughter together, and we adopted our son together. Both are now 4 years old. When we were going through our separation, I felt lost and unhappy. I was self-destructive. One day, I was so angry with everything spiraling out of control that I punched a concrete wall in a moment of overwhelming emotion. This resulted in breaking my fifth metacarpal in my right hand—the hand I worked with, played games with, and used to carry my children to bed—the hand…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great little game to help supplement learning Hiragana. The key word is supplement, because this isn't the only tool you should be using if you are trying to learn it. You can probably get away with only using this game, but the process will be slower for you. Try https://kana.pro/ - This website will help you retain what you learn from this game. After I learned a new set of Hiragana in game, I would use Kana Pro to help reinforce what I learned. You MUST have a notebook ready as you're…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I guess it's alright for learning hiragana, and some vocabulary, but be careful with words that aren't actually used all that much like "watashi" or "anata" and things like that. It's best to learn vocabulary from people that actually speak Japanese. Even if you don't know hiragana, it'd be much, much quicker to learn it through something like the ToFuGu blog post, and much more memorable. As a game it is very boring as well.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A Kind Stranger to Never Have Met Yet Rarely Walks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Apparently my brain is more willing to learn when there is a game quietly tricking it into studying. Learn Hiragana actually helped me get more comfortable with the characters instead of just staring at a chart and hoping something would magically stick. Hiragana can feel intimidating at first because everything is new, and my brain initially treated each symbol like a tiny cryptid with curves. The game is simple, but that works. It gives you repetition, recognition, and enough…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Within a week it gave me a little kickstart in reading Hiragana. Though I can't say this should be your sole learning experience, it's a wonderful and helpful way to learn some fundamentals. My only criticism lies with the UI, which can make selecting Hiragana/phonetics, and targeting enemies, a little clunky, but at least the game does have controller support. A minor note - the game must be framerate locked via your graphics card settings. On a 240hz monitor it ran at mach 5 for a bit. All…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Teaches the whole hiragana table, including the Yoon hiragana. In addition, it teaches an initial set of vocabulary and a bit of grammar. Both could have been more detailed, but it’s fine for a first impression. The story is not amazing, but good enough to keep you going through the game. The fights against the hiragana warriors are useful for repetition and learning. My gripe with them, however, is that the battle sequences are a bit too frequent, and the items to collect on the map are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this is "Learn Japanese to Survive! Hiragana Battle!" it's really barebones but I'M LEARNING DAMMIT it's also like seven dollars!
neutral · AI labelView post →Well I got what I wanted - something that makes the rote memorization of kana more tolerable (Because apparently grinding in a game is better than grinding irl). That being said, not really sure it was worth the price though. For an educational game, it leans wwaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too heavily into the RPG mechanics - why would I want a skill that boosts the damage from attacks when I'm trying to learn characters not do strategy? And why do I have to hit the same character multiple times when I've…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was decent supplemental material for helping stick the hiragana in my head when I was starting out. A few bonus points as well for the inclusion of some vocabulary and phrases. If you can catch it on sale then this product is certainly worth the price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So far, so good. The game runs like an old school, turn based RPG. You fight hiragana by guessing correctly what it means. I think the people who are criticizing this game were expecting too much from it. I just bought all 3 games, plus the DLCs and didn't even break a 20. Most language courses are really expensive. These games are not meant to replace a full language course. This is just a great memorization game for people who like RPGs. I definitely think they could improve upon…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Meh. Wanted to brush up on my hiragana in a fun way. But the lack of ability to skip cut scenes, or speed through dialog makes this largely a waste of time. Gave up after only the first few battles. You already know how to write half the hiragana? Enjoy watching a video of them being *slowly* drawn. Make sure you don't accidentally click to repeat the video because you are spamming the enter-key to go to the next dialog. Enjoy watching the same unstoppable video again. Even for people…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Summary: A good, fun way to learn hiragana (the basic writing system for Japanese), but you can outgrow it quickly. This game was my first step in studying Japanese, and early on it was very helpful and quite effective. However, as time went on, it wore on me, and I ended up getting hiragana flashcards, which were much more effective. I ended up not finishing the game, however it gave me a good foundation once I started using the flashcards. The gameplay it typical of JRPGs,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ok so I start the game. Game goes waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too faast. like reaaaally fast. no matter what I do even changing my Hz to 60. I download cheat engine to enable speed hack. something happens. now game is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to slow. I dont understand this game. the idea is good and simple but I cannot enjoy the game because it speed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bought all three of the games in a Steam sale and regret nt playing them sooner - because if I had I would have been able to return it within the 2 weeks time limit. The plot makes no sense what-so-ever. Game mechanics are SUPER clunky. There is no balance to gameplay or progression. Battle enemies are not randomly drawn from a pool, so battles become repetitive super quickly. The store has a couple options for equipment right off the bat - many of which are insane amounts of in game money,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →good game to learn basic japanese and i highly recommend it as a bad FF player :P
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its buggy, doesn't run properly, crashes a lot. Don't buy this! If you're learning Hiragana there are much faster and logical ways! I've tried to run this game multiple times on different devices and it's been a complete waste of time every single time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Learn Japanese to Survive: Hiragana Battle] Last Set of Hiragana, then we can start moving on to common Kanji. www.twitch.tv/aosorarisu I feel like we are doing pretty well... even if we can't say any words yet beyond what we already knew. Let's get spelling! #LearnJapanese #Hiragana
neutral · AI labelView post →I got so bored I started working out of a textbook. The textbook helped a lot, this game was definetly motivating.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →### Overview Learn hiragana through this very grindy turn-based adventure through a fictional town and japan. ### Gameplay - WASD and point and click, it’s definitely game maker studio or something of that sort - If you think about this as an educational game, then it’s fun. but it’s not a fun game LOL. I skipped alot of fighting because it was the same ones repeating and repeating and i was also tired of scrolling through like 50 hiragana to find the fcking answer. tedious LOL - It’s…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a good way to learn Hiragana. Too slow.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My Japanese Journey: 1月30日：One night I laid in bed feeling like a loser and said to myself "What am I doing with my life?" because I literally just played games, went to school, repeat. I then thought about it and was like.. "Wait, I'm totally going to learn Japanese." I hopped out of bed and instantly bought this game and it really kick started my journey. 今日：To be honest, this game didn't really help me much at all because I ended up using Tofuguu's guide to Hiragana and Katakana but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really great if your a visual and kinesthetic learner
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It would have been a great educational game if combat wasn't so punishing. It doesn't matter if you know hiragana and answer correctly ALL THE TIME, your party is still going to receive huge amounts of damage, more so if enemies get to go first (surpise attack as it's called here). On top of that, combat encounters are so frequent that I have no choice but to flee from all of them that can be fled from. However, thanks to surprise attack mechanic, sometimes my party gets damaged nonetheless,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let me first start of by saying the idea is fantastic, and it worked really good in the beginning. The story is a bit silly, but not too bad. I wish there were a bit more variety on the "classes", like a mage would be nice, but that doesn't matter too much. So, why a negative review? Beacuse while the idea is BRILLIANT, and works great in the start, at least for me, it quite quickly fell apart. The combat works like this, the game plays like your basic RPGMaker game, however instead of normal…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you want to start learning Japanese, this is a great learning tool for beginners to learn Hiragana, and some basic Japanese grammar while you're at it, all covered up as an adorable JRPG c: And prepare your notebook to write down what you've learned, it will come in handy in the end game! It teaches you how to read/write Hiragana, it teaches you some basic words and some basic grammar, to be able to form a sentence.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Something akin to Misaki's quizzes should be added that encompasses all Hiragana you've learned to that point. The reviews are a hassle.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thanks to this game, Hiragana was permanently burned into my brain. If you're a newcomer to Japanese, this game is a MUST PLAY. It also teaches some words and grammar. Definitely complete this one and Katakana War before tackling Genki or Wanikani.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Learn Japanese to Survive: Hiragana Battle] Day 2: I hope I remember day 1. www.twitch.tv/aosorarisu My brain is pretty blank this morning, so this should be fun. Let's see if we can push out the rest! #LearnJapanese #LearnJapaneseToSurvive #Hiragana
neutral · AI labelView post →Learn Japanese To Survive – Hiragana Battle is a clever and approachable fusion of educational software and classic role-playing game design, built specifically to ease newcomers into the fundamentals of the Japanese language. Developed by Sleepy Duck and published by RIVER CROW STUDIO, the game sets out with a very clear goal: to teach players how to read, recognize, and recall Hiragana in a way that feels engaging rather than intimidating. Instead of relying on traditional flashcards or rote…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After having played the game for a few hours, I noticed a couple things! First off, the game is wonderfully detailed and goes at a nice pace for learning. At first I was frustrated that enemies seemed to show up so often, but then once I thought about it, it's pretty genius! It makes you frustrated juuust enough to want to hurry up and defeat the enemies, therefore pushing you to actually memorise the hiragana! There's a part where you're sent to an "alternate reality" and have to put the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →RPGMaker game that gives a fun way to learn language. It's fun and educational and I like the approach, but I'd appreciate it more if they remade/revised the game in a more friendly game engine. RPGmaker has a TON of issues with screen capture, full screen, options, etc. But as I do enjoy it, I did send the complete series to a few friends. Anyone who wants to learn Japanese should play it, it can't hurt and can only help while scratching that JRPG itch.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a good and fun way to practice the basics of japanese, helps with learning the Hiragana alphabet. But this is no substitute to studying from a serious source.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.
