Daisuke Taka, the creator best known for producing Harvestella at Square Enix and serving as an early producer on Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space, is cooking something very niche with his new studio, Impachi.
And when we say niche, we mean properly niche: Impachi’s first project is an unannounced strategy game that blends 4X, roguelike, and deck-building elements.
Taka founded Impachi in January 2026, and in a new interview with Automaton Media, he shared the first broad details about what the team is building. The game does not have a public title yet, but the pitch already sounds like the kind of thing that will either fully consume your brain or bounce off you instantly — no in-between.
Civilization Meets Deck-Building, But Not Exactly
When people hear 4X, the obvious comparison is Sid Meier’s Civilization or Stellaris — games about exploring, expanding, exploiting, and exterminating. Taka is very much a Civ guy too. He specifically mentioned loving Civilization IV and Civilization VI, and even used to manage a well-known unofficial Japanese Civilization IV wiki called Pericles Server.
But Impachi is not trying to simply make a smaller Civilization clone. Taka described the project as a deep fusion of 4X strategy and roguelike deck-building, rather than something that just borrows surface-level ideas from Civilization and Slay the Spire.
That’s the interesting part for SEA players, especially the Malaysian PC crowd. Strategy games and deck-builders have quietly become big “one more run” genres here — the kind you buy during a Steam sale, then suddenly realise it’s 3AM and your Discord friends are already asleep. A properly balanced 4X deck-builder could hit that same dangerous zone.
Story Still Matters, But Mechanics Come First
Taka is often seen as a story-focused creator because of his RPG background, but he pushed back slightly on that label. His approach, according to the interview, is not to start with a scenario and then build a game around it. Instead, he wants the worldbuilding and story to grow together with the mechanics.
That’s actually very egg.network-coded, because a lot of games say they care about story, but the gameplay and narrative feel like two separate tabs open in the browser. Taka seems more interested in making them lock together properly.
He also pointed out that many 4X and roguelike deck-building games do not usually rely heavily on scenario. Impachi wants to challenge that expectation by giving the genre stronger storytelling without sacrificing the systems.
Balance Is A Big Focus
The project is still early. Impachi is currently working on a vertical slice, basically a short playable demo that proves the core idea works. Taka said the demo is already running, but the game still has a long road ahead.
Balancing this kind of genre mashup sounds like a nightmare, but Taka sounds confident. Impachi has brought in Uemura, who handled balancing work on both Another Eden and Harvestella. Taka even described the early balance of Another Eden as almost divine, which is a strong claim, bro.
For strategy fans, that matters. A 4X deck-builder can easily become either too random, too slow, or too spreadsheet-heavy. If the team really nails the balance, this could be something special for players who like planning five turns ahead but still want roguelike chaos.
Built For “Six People”
The most charming part of the interview is Taka’s mindset. He said that instead of chasing the biggest possible commercial audience, he imagines there are maybe six people in the world who love everything he makes — and he wants to make games for them.
Obviously, six people will not keep a studio alive, but the point is clear: Impachi is aiming for a very specific creative identity, not a safe mass-market product. In today’s overloaded games market, that kind of sharp focus can actually be a strength.
Taka also said the team plans to release the game worldwide from day one, introduce it to overseas media, and show it at game events. More concrete details are expected around summer.
For Malaysian and SEA players who enjoy Japanese RPG storytelling but also want crunchy PC-style strategy systems, this is one to keep on the radar. Weird genre hybrids are risky, sure — but when they land, they land hard.
Source: Automaton Media