Relics, a 1986 Japanese adventure, appears on Steam

Relics, a 1986 action-adventure originally released on MSX, PC-88/98, Sharp X1, X68000 and FM-7, has appeared on Steam. Its limited palette and modest frame rate hide a strangely compelling design that conveys a real sense of place despite the hardware constraints.

The slim manual offers only vague mythic setup, and the game drops you into a humanoid shadow with no clear purpose. Progress comes from 'spirit riding' into different bodies — a skeletal rabbit inspired by H.R. Giger, an armoured soldier with a gun, a gilded sorcerer — revealing the world through fragmentary notes, most presented in English or an English cipher solved with an in-game key.

Combat is deliberately ambiguous: health is represented by ??? and a beating organ, violence is optional, and opponents react in nuanced ways — stumbling, fleeing, or becoming vulnerable to possession. Positional hits, such as attacking knees from behind, and expressive animations make encounters feel consequential and often uncomfortable.

Japan

relics, steam, msx, pc-88, pc-98, x68000, sharp x1, fm-7, action-adventure, h.r. giger