{"id":1215462,"date":"2026-02-22T06:59:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T06:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=602220"},"modified":"2026-02-22T06:59:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T06:59:37","slug":"the-2-year-hunt-for-one-of-the-rarest-games-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-2-year-hunt-for-one-of-the-rarest-games-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2-year hunt for \u2018one of the rarest games in history\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cosmology of Kyoto<\/em> is a first-person horror exploration game where players navigate a deeply haunted yet surprisingly educational terrain. Originally released in 1993, Cosmology of Kyoto<\/em> and its disturbing depictions of suffering have since become a cult classic. Roger Ebert, known hater<\/a>, loved the game so much that he spent weeks playing it. Despite its acclaim, though, the game was a commercial failure and never got a sequel. At least, that\u2019s what many people believed until now.<\/p>\n

In 2023, a game called TRIPITAKA \u7384\u5958\u4e09\u8535\u6c42\u6cd5\u306e\u65c5<\/em> was listed on Yahoo Japan. The game was sold for $300 to an unknown party who, despite embarking on a bidding war that culminated in hundreds of dollars, didn\u2019t really share anything publicly about it. The transaction was originally noticed by Mark Buckner, who brought it up in a discussion between fans<\/a> about the original eerie Japanese game.<\/p>\n

Though diehard aficionados had a suspicion that the Cosmology<\/em> developers had considered a follow-up, concrete evidence of it was scant. The only apparent mention of a sequel lied in the resumes of two Cosmology<\/em> producers, Hiroshi \u014cnishi and Mori K\u014dichi. Fans also spotted mention of it in an old website for a 1999 museum exhibition on the Silk Road. Though it was a work of fiction, Cosmology<\/em> was rooted in the history of 10th century Japan and provided players with an in-game encyclopedia. It would make sense for a potential sequel to have enough an educational focus worthy of a museum exhibition. <\/p>\n

Despite these rumblings, it was unclear if the game had ever been published, or how far into production it got. Knowledge of the auction prompted video game academic Bruno de Figueiredo to track down the auction winner. The hope was that whoever bought it might share a copy of the game online. After all, up until this point, few knew what this game was and its mere existence lay in doubt. But if it did exist, then it was obviously significant from a historical perspective. Fans would be eager to play it.<\/p>\n

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