Tokyo Scramble feels like a game from another time. It isn’t because its graphics look like something you’d see during the PS360 days, or because the voice acting is cheesy, or even because of its outlandish premise. Tokyo Scramble feels like a game from an era when developers approached their wild, over-the-top scenarios with genuine sincerity. At times, it almost gave me Dreamcastian flashbacks to the late ’90s and early 2000s, when the world was stricken with dino-mania.
There’s no denying it; dinosaurs are awesome, and when you’re a kid, you practically worship them. Everything changed when the media saw boys enjoying themselves and decided dinosaurs had to be made less cool by retconning them to have feathers. Sadly, even though Tokyo Scramble follows the modern retcon of feathered dinosaurs, it’s still just as absurd as the kinds of games we used to get.
A mix of Siren and Disaster Report with a touch of Jurassic flair; what can gamers anticipate from this primordial and mysterious stealth adventure game? Find out in our Tokyo Scramble review!
TOKYO SCRAMBLE
Developer: Adglobe
Publisher: Binary Haze Interactive
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
Release Date: February 11, 2026
Price: $29.99
Anne was taking her usual train ride through the Tokyo subway when a massive earthquake turned it into a collapsing subterranean. With nothing but her quick thinking and a smartwatch, she has to find her way through this prehistoric nightmare. Within the dark depths of the ruined Tokyo transit system, Anne finds herself trapped in the midst of a goddamn dinosaur zoo, full of giant man-eating bats, towering insects, and, worst of all, drama between her friends.
The oblivious narcissism above torments Anne, while below, every step whispers of isolation, betrayal, and the thin line between survival and madness. Episode by tense episode, she puzzles her way upward: observing patrol patterns, managing her racing pulse to evade detection, turning the environment against her foes in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
It’s one girl’s desperate scramble from the jaws of prehistory back to the lights of home, where friends may prove more monstrous than the beasts, and the surface world hides cracks of its own. A journey not only through stone and shadow, but through the fragile bonds of youth and the primal roar within.
Anne’s quest to the surface is fraught with danger as she only has a smart watch to save her from being killed. She may be easy on the eyes, but she’s also not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. She apparently has no idea what dinosaurs are, and throughout her adventure, comes up with quaint names for each creature.
The raptor couldn’t just be a raptor; she calls it a “goblin”. That razor-sharp fish monster? She calls it a “ninja”. She called the big stone turtle “Blockhead,” the kind of name a five-year-old would come up with. She even names her smartwatch “Diana,” a device she’s likely had for a while before the game’s story begins, and yet now, of all times, she decides to give it a human name.
Anne’s bizarre sense of childlike wonderment is something out of a Japanese AA game developer in the 2000s. It’s such an earnest creative choice that I instantly found endearing and found myself latched onto her character. And it isn’t because she’s got silky smooth legs, a delectable stomach, short shorts, and a double-digit IQ. I found myself feeling bad for her because she also has the worst friends in the world.
Most of the story is told through Anne talking to herself or from her text messages from her oblivious and petty friends. The rest of the narrative is through the act of gameplay and visuals. Sometimes you’ll notice just how far you’ve come just by looking back and taking it all in. The story itself is exactly what it promises. What makes it fun is the straight face it has while trying to tell such an outlandish premise.
The visuals can be best described as a grab bag of generic assets and original elements clashing, with almost no coherence to the lighting. The boys at Adglobe are definitely going for something, but it doesn’t stick to landing and comes off as kind of ugly. Anne looks hot, but the environment suspiciously resembles store-bought assets.
Despite it being made in Unreal Engine, it looks like a mid-level PlayStation 3 game or an early PlayStation 4 game made in Unity at the best of times. The unconvincing normal and bump mapping, combined with sharp edges, make the remnants of the train station appear more artificial than intended. Monsters in the distance also animate at lower framerates, giving me flashbacks to Monster Hunter Rise on the first Nintendo Switch.
The lighting leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of the time, light cast on objects or characters leaves no shadows. There is no ambient occlusion, making everything feel more uncanny. Sometimes, this sloppy effect works and makes the atmosphere feel otherworldly. Most of the time, it looks hideous and won’t attract people to give the game a chance.
At least the creatures look awesome, right? Actually, yes, they look pretty bitchin’. When they aren’t clipping through geometry or snapping into animation cycles, they resemble designs straight out of the best Monster Hunter games. They are not as dynamic as the beasts in Capcom’s series, but there are distinct behaviors programmed into each type that make them understandable to deal with.
The large bat creature is blind, yet has gigantic ears, which means that you need to be extra quiet around them since they can zero in on a mouse fart. The tall mantis creatures are all eyes and don’t hear that well, but you can use their vision against them by blinding them. You can infer a lot about each monster by its design, but no matter what, every single one of these things is out to kill you, so don’t expect any heartfelt moments where any of them get friendly with Anne.
This may sound very critical, and it is, but I found myself growing attached to Tokyo Scramble‘s visuals. Even the offensive feathered dinos- I mean “Zinos”, grew on me with their goofy elf ears and their “Don King” hair style. The overall aesthetic is very video gamey and goes against the grain of games trying to be cinematic. While the lighting may look very inaccurate and hokey, the trade-off is that everything is in focus and visible.
You’ll need to see things clearly because Tokyo Scramble is a hard stealth game. Diana might be a superpowered hacking smartwatch that can inexplicably blind any creature- including the blind ones, but it’s also Anne’s lifeline for escape. Players can cycle between different contextual actions based on the range of Diana and the devices scattered throughout the ruined Tokyo underground.
Things like escalators, forklifts, and alarms can either distract, disable threats, or protect Anne from attacks. The system is binary and not dynamic at all, but at the same time, it removes any guesswork or fuzzy logic from the situation. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t any fuzzy logic at all. The uh… “Zinos” can be unpredictable at times, randomly breaking their routine patrol to look around to spot Anne and chase her, ripping her to shreds.
At least, I wished they ripped her to shreds. Sadly, Tokyo Scramble is rated T for teen, and shies away from showing any awesome gore or violence. You won’t see her head bitten off or a raptor- I mean goblin tear her stomach open. When these animals maul Anne, they seemingly give her a rude push to the ground, which kills her. The effect is more comedic than anything, and they should have gone full M rating and have Tomb Raider-style deaths.
The gameplay is level-based and liberal with checkpoints to make up for the brutal, trial-and-error gameplay. Each episode has its bespoke objectives, kind of like Siren on PlayStation 2. In a way, the variety and structure remind me of the VR Missions from Metal Gear Solid. Boss fights are a highlight and emphasize puzzle-solving and using the environment against whatever the hulking creature might be.
Stages are impressive with their scale and might be a reason why Tokyo Scramble looks the way it does. Anne feels like a mouse in some of these utterly cavernous locations. The sheer quiet of the setting adds to the atmosphere since music is rare, and you find yourself focusing on the sounds of a patrolling Zino, which sound fittingly predatory and otherworldly.
Tokyo Scramble is an awkward and ridiculous stealth game. Its unusual visuals and crushing gameplay might turn away most gamers, but I was completely won over by its personality, atmosphere, and challenge. It’s a lengthy game with tons of variety, but it is disappointing that it has no post-game unlockables or costumes.
There really should have been a sexy French maid outfit or sailor fuku for Anne if you beat the game on the absurd Despair mode. Unfortunately, you don’t get anything for finding all the hidden messages or earning S ranks on the stages. What matters most is that Tokyo Scramble is an entertaining, sometimes frustrating game that will make you laugh.
TOKYO SCRAMBLE was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 using a code provided by Binary Haze Interactive. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. TOKYO SCRAMBLE is now available for Nintendo Switch 2.
AloJapan.com