Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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So, it's no secret that "Vampire Survivors" popularized a whole wave of these "Roguelite Bullet Heaven" type games, and most have looked to the game for inspiration while putting their own spins on said game, but Zxima's "Mochi-O" adds wrinkles of Tower Defense and horizontal Shooting Gallery into the mix with an off-beat story and satisfying gameplay loop to transform the game into something special that helps it punch above its weight. Published by Kodansha at the beginning of the year, Zxima isn't exactly new to making games (having started in 2017), but they've made various small-scale games for mobile phones and "Mochi-O" is the first game they've released for PC (Steam). The game is a little wonky in terms of configuration and such, but I didn't have any real issues playing the game on PC. Also of note, the game says it doesn't support controllers, but it most certainly does (so you can disregard said prompt).

The story is a fairly simple one that shouldn't be taken too seriously (but nonetheless has a twist or two). The world is under siege by weapons of mass destruction and the only way to defend your homeland is with the power of a state-of-the-art Hamster! As the successor to the previous "Handler", your job is to build a rapport with the compact anti-personnel annihilation weapon, Mochi-O, while completing numerous missions. As you progress, your ally, the "Director", slowly unveils the truth behind what's going on as you bond over your shared interest in cute Hamsters (she has a cute side as well, and Mochi-O humorously refers to her as a Tsundere). Keeping Mochi-O happy (narratively) is your biggest objective, as prior handlers have been murdered by mishandling Mochi-O, so you're also a guinea pig of the military as they gauge Mochi-O's full capabilities.

The gameplay is simple and, for the most part, intuitive. Missions are outlined with pertinent info such as the duration, whether there are any "Ultimate Weapons", hidden blueprints, prior high score and alternative goals (clearing the stages and clearing without damage). During combat, the game is played in first-person, although the player character is actually shown in third-person (this actually serves a purpose), and players must track enemies and obstacles with their crosshair and shoot them down (putting the crosshair on a target will automatically trigger a shot). There are a multitude of weapons at your disposal that you earn as you progress and by defeating Ultimate Weapons in combat, and blasting down enemies give you cash, loot crates, watches (reduces stage length 30 seconds), various seeds that do different things and more. Anything that falls into the field can be sucked up by Mochi-O but pink seeds are used to help bond (care) with Mochi-O (which gradually increase your level threshold with different milestones) and white seeds give you experience points used for leveling in missions. Leveling and loot crates give you random buffs and weapons you can add to your arsenal and enemies that breach your defenses take hit points from your base.

Each mission resets your abilities to the default, but money earned during the game (missions, achievements, etc.) can be used to buy permanent perks and raising your level cap by bonding with Mochi-O is extremely important if you want to maximize your runs. Besides the missions themselves, you can also get rewards by petting / rubbing Mochi-O and get other hamsters as the game progresses. You can also place "HamstArt" to spruce up your living quarter a bit, and there's a surprising amount of them of different shapes and sizes. The graphics are good for the most part with crispy pixels and lots of carnage, but the font (at least in English) is a little hard to read in places. Music is catchy and the localization itself seems fine. I don't really have much else to say, but for $5, you'll definitely get your money's worth.

This is a video of the game in action. You can get it at:

store.steampowered.com/app/3596670/MOCHIO

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