Playism's Skateboard Knight and Sea Sniffers offer fun casual action RPG gameplays

One of the booths I visited during Tokyo Game Show 2026 was run by Playism. The publisher showcased a variety of titles at the event, and I had an opportunity to play some of the demos available there.

Among the titles Playism showcased at TGS 2026, two of them have the RPG genre tag, which are Skateboard Knight and Sea Sniffers. I managed to try out both titles at Playism's booth during the event.

Skateboard Knight

Although Skateboard Knight has an RPG genre mark, it feels more like a roguelite action game to me. The demo immediately put us in control of a knight who rides a skateboard on three-lane horizontal roads. You can move the knight up and down across the lanes, and the character will automatically launch slashes towards enemy monsters that are approaching on the same lane.

Enemies defeated will drop money and experience points on the same lane, but you have to make sure the knight stays on the same lane to actually take those most of the time. Once you have gathered enough experience, the knight will level up, and this is where the usual roguelite element kicks in by offering you 3 random buffs ranging from stat increases to bonus skills like extra elemental attacks, from which you can pick just one for each level.

The general gameplay flow I've observed in Skateboard Knight is that we would encounter waves of enemies with increasing numbers until the boss of the stage eventually appears. Boss fights will oftentimes require you to move frequently across lanes, as they can also make good use of the multiple lanes. Once you have successfully defeated the boss, you can move to the next area.

As of this writing, Playism just published a new version of the public demo for Skateboard Knight, which is accessible via Steam. Although I was only able to reach the beginning of Chapter 3 in my 15-minute playthrough of the TGS build, this public demo lets us play up until Chapter 4. The full release is slated to appear on not only PC but also iOS and Android in 2027.

Sea Sniffers

Sea Sniffers could be described as a 2D side-scrolling fishing action RPG, where the protagonist has a seal that can explore the seas and catch various kinds of fish. The demo available at TGS 2026 covered the beginning phases of the game.

We initially control the protagonist on land as we interact with NPCs who give us quests with specific objectives, such as catching specific fish. Once we're ready for the real adventure, we can send our mascot seal to the open seas. We then control the seal as it explores the seas, with the depth limited by the reel's maximum length—which I assume will be extendable gradually in the full release.

The seal also wields a net that it will use to catch fish across the seas. I noticed that the rarer the fish species is, the more effort will be needed to catch it, and some will even involve actual combat gameplay. But when a new kind of fish has been caught, it will be registered to the dex, which totally invokes the "Gotta catch 'em all" feel of creature-collection games to me.

After we have explored enough during the session, we can call back the seal anytime to return control to the protagonist, who can then purchase further upgrades and deliver quest items to receive rewards, while gradually unlocking more explorable areas.

Even though I only managed to play this demo for a short time, I was very impressed by how fun Sea Sniffers looks like, and I would like to check out the full game once it's available. A public demo version has yet to be made available as of this writing, but Playism has listed 2027 as the release window for Sea Sniffer's full version on PC via Steam.