In Brief:
- Oh Baby Games said Torii: Beyond The Gates is coming to Steam Early Access this December. No exact date or price has been posted.
- The Early Access build adds the Yaksha Gate, three new Arcana bosses, a reworked kunai and Orb system and 18 swords.
- Changes promised after the Demo 3 feedback are in, including perfect dodge and parry and contact damage switched off by default.
Oh Baby Games will release Torii: Beyond The Gates in Steam Early Access this December, the studio said in a Steam announcement posted Nov. 5.
“It has been quiet since the last demo in July, and here is why: Torii: Beyond The Gates is coming to Early Access this December!” the studio said.
Torii: Beyond the Gates is coming to Early Access!
The post doesn’t give a day or a price. The game’s Steam store page still lists the release date as “To be announced” and shows no price. It’s coming to Windows and Mac.
A new gate and three bosses
Demo 3 ended in the Ryu Gate. Early Access goes past it into the Yaksha Gate, which the studio described as temples floating in a violet void, crystal caverns and a ferryman at its center. The studio said its enemies “hit hard, and they rarely come alone.”
“Three Arcana rule the Yaksha Gate, and none of them fights fair,” the studio said.
The Devil fights in the gate’s depths alongside bats, and her fight pulls the player toward her. The Hierophant uses chains that sweep his sanctum and come up from the floor, and he also fights with a blade at close range. The High Priestess floats behind a shield while the sky falls on the shrine gardens, and she fights with a blade and a staff.
Kunai and Orbs
The studio has rebuilt the kunai around the Orb system. “Torii’s kunai used to be a sidearm,” the studio said. Every kunai that lands now leaves a mark, and slotted Orbs decide what that mark does. The post lists burning, piercing, healing, restoring Wisdom and punishing a parry among the effects.
That’s a reversal. In an earlier design post, the studio said Orbs had been pulled from Demo 3 so the Dharma skill tree could be the focus.
The build has 18 swords. “Eighteen swords now, each with a twist,” the studio said. One sword answers every third strike with thunder, another gets sharper as the player’s health drops and another scales with the player’s coin purse. New merchants are spread across the gates, and a meditating sensei on the dragon islands offers companions.
The Dharma board has been redesigned to show what the player has learned, what they can afford and what is still out of reach. The bestiary and maps now cover the Yaksha Gate.
Demo 3 feedback
In June, after Demo 3 closed, the studio posted a list of changes based on player feedback. The new announcement says those changes are in the game.
Perfect dodge and perfect parry both open slow-motion windows. Contact damage is off by default, with a toggle for players who want it back. A Soul Reclaim mechanic lets players recover the coins they lost on death, plus a small bonus, if they reach their lost spirit.
Parried projectiles now damage the enemies they hit. The game has full rebinding on keyboard and controller, and the studio said platforming has been tightened, with cleaner jumps, more forgiving inputs and attacks that can be cancelled with a jump or roll. It also cited a full audio pass, expanded save slots and “dozens of fixes from our playtesters.”
Steam Achievements are tied to the Arcana and Sages players defeat, plus some hidden ones. Steam Cloud saves are supported.
Early Access scope
The Yaksha Gate isn’t the end of the game. “The Yaksha Gate is not the last. More gates are taking shape beyond it, and more Arcana are waiting,” the studio said. The post doesn’t say how many gates the full release will have or when they’ll arrive.
Torii is a hand-drawn 2D action RPG. The player searches the gates of a broken spirit realm for their missing brother. The store page lists 13 interface languages, and full audio is in English only.
The studio put out three demos before this announcement. The Orb system it’s now bringing back was cut before Demo 3, and the studio explained at the time that testers “felt it wasn’t as influential and a system that felt out of place.”
