Game: The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America (West)
Genre: Hand-Drawn Storybook Adventure
Western Release: 2027
Japan Release: April 30, 2026
Platforms: Switch 2 · Switch · PS5 · Steam
Players: Single-player
Audio: Japanese with English text
Rating: ESRB Everyone 10+
🕯️ Worth knowing going in: despite the Everyone 10+ rating and the picture-book presentation, this is a game about a child trying to save a dying sibling from an incurable illness — and each storybook you enter reportedly contains a traumatic story about the girl who became it. Nippon Ichi’s previous two games in this style were quietly devastating. Expect the same here.
📖 NIS America revealed The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster at PAX West 2026. The hand-drawn storybook adventure comes from the team behind The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince and The Cruel King and the Great Hero, and it’s heading west in 2027 for Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Steam.
⚖️ People Become Books. Books Become Monsters.
The premise is the best thing here, and it’s a genuinely nasty piece of fairytale logic.
A magical disease called Paper Mortis sweeps this world. It turns people into picture books — and then turns those picture books into monsters.
So the things you fight aren’t creatures. They’re somebody’s sister, two transformations removed. And the way you learn about them is by diving into the books themselves to read the story of the girl each one used to be.
That’s a boss roster where every entry comes with a biography, and the biography is a tragedy. It’s exactly the move this development team have built a reputation on.
One book at a time
To save her sister, Mono has to work with a monster who wants revenge — and walk through the stories of every other girl the disease already took.
The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster is a hand-drawn storybook adventure from Nippon Ichi Software, revealed by NIS America at PAX West 2026 for a Western release on Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Steam.
You play Mono, a young girl whose sister contracts Paper Mortis. To reach her, she allies with Mär, a monster bent on vengeance, and together they traverse the Libratarium — the place where the transformed are kept. Along the way you’ll enter individual storybooks, solve puzzles and fight bosses tied to each tale.
It’s Already Out in Japan
🇯🇵 This Is a Localisation, Not a New Game
The press materials read as a fresh reveal, and this is the detail they leave out: The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster launched in Japan on April 30, 2026, under the title Shinigami Hime to Ishokan no Kaibutsu, on PlayStation 5, Switch 2 and Switch.
So what was actually announced at PAX West is the Western localisation, plus the Steam version — which wasn’t part of the Japanese launch.
That’s genuinely good news rather than a caveat. The game is finished, shipped and already in players’ hands, which removes most of the usual uncertainty around a 2027 window. It also means Japanese impressions exist if you want a sense of how it plays before committing.
One inconsistency worth noting: the press materials we received list the release simply as “to be announced.” NIS America’s wider announcement and the coverage around it both point to 2027, with no month attached. Treat 2027 as the working window until NISA put a firmer date on it.
The Third Book in an Unofficial Trilogy
📚 If You Know, You Know
This comes from the Nippon Ichi internal team behind The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince and The Cruel King and the Great Hero — and it belongs to them completely.
Both of those games did the same trick: a hand-drawn picture-book presentation gentle enough to sit on a children’s bookshelf, wrapped around a story that is considerably sadder than it looks.Liar Princess was a puzzle-platformer about a wolf pretending to be a princess for a boy she’d blinded. Cruel King was about a girl raised by the dragon who killed her father.
Even the naming convention matches — “The [Adjective] [Noun] and the [Adjective] [Noun]” is now this team’s signature, and it’s doing real work as a signal to the audience that already loves them.
If those two landed for you, this is aimed squarely at you. If you’ve never played them, they’re both cheap, short, and worth starting with.
👧 Mono
A young girl who’ll do whatever it takes to save her sister from an incurable illness.
👹 Mär
A monster hell-bent on vengeance, and Mono’s only route through. An uneasy alliance.
🏛️ The Libratarium
Where the transformed are kept. Part library, part hospital, part prison.
📕 The Grimoires
Each holds the story of a girl and her misfortune. Enter them, solve them, fight what’s inside.
Editions and Platforms
💿 Physical Editions Are Coming
Not mentioned in the materials we received, but confirmed in NISA’s wider announcement: there will be a physical Limited Edition and a Deluxe Edition alongside the standard release.
No contents or pricing have been detailed yet. NIS America’s limited editions typically bundle art books, soundtracks and assorted collectibles in a box, and given this game’s picture-book presentation, an art book feels close to guaranteed — and more appropriate than usual.
Worth keeping an eye on if you collect. NISA limited editions sell through their own store and have a habit of going quickly.
🎮 Four Platforms, No Xbox
The Western release covers Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam. No Xbox version has been announced, which is unfortunately typical for NIS America’s smaller titles.
It’s single-player, with Japanese audio and English text — no English dub, consistent with how NISA handle this team’s games.
Rated ESRB Everyone 10+. The Steam version is a Western addition; the Japanese launch was console-only.
📖 Storybook Adventure
🎨 Hand-Drawn
🧩 Puzzle
↔️ Side-Scroller
🌑 Dark Fairytale
👤 Single-Player
Who’s Making It
🐧 Nippon Ichi Software
Founded in 1991 and best known for strategy RPGs — Disgaea, Phantom Brave, and the penguin-like Prinny mascot. The storybook adventures are the work of a specific internal team and sit a very long way from the studio’s headline output, which is part of their charm.
🇺🇸 NIS America
Established in Southern California in 2003 as Nippon Ichi’s Western subsidiary. Alongside its parent studio’s catalogue it publishes other Japanese titles in the West, including The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak.
🎪 Also at PAX West 2026
This wasn’t NISA’s only reveal at the show. Astonishia Story was dated for February 11, 2027, and the publisher also announced The Eminence in Shadow: Phantom Echoes and Anomalith — a busy weekend by their standards.
The Grimm Reapress and the Drearytale Monster arrives in the West in 2027. More details, including a firm date and edition contents, are expected closer to release.
Hi there! I’m Marie, also known as CtrlQueen. I’m passionate about keeping up with the latest in gaming news and sharing my insights. RPGs steal my heart with their rich narratives and immersive worlds, but I also love unwinding with fun, casual games. Whether you’re here for deep dives into game mechanics or just to chat about your favorite casual game, you’ve found the right place! Let’s game and explore together.
