The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother Gameplay Showcases

Koei Tecmo, TOHO Games, and Gust revealed new gameplay for their upcoming mystery adventure game The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother at Tokyo Game Show 2026, providing a closer look at exploration, medicine crafting, and Maomao’s deduction mechanics. This new gameplay footage was also saved to a VOD, which is timestamped and viewable above.

The presentation featured Aoi Yuki, the voice of Maomao, Takeo Otsuka, the voice of Jinshi, and Yohei Azakami, who voices the new character Guanyu. Director Akari Takinami from Koei Tecmo and TOHO producer Takayuki Onishi also appeared. 

The gameplay began with Maomao exploring the Jade Pavilion. Players can freely move through the rear palace, speak with characters such as Hongniang, inspect objects, and collect materials. Maomao can also dash, and interacting with different objects triggers reactions. The development team used 3D background data from the anime and incorporated it into the game’s environments.

The team also created gathering areas specifically for the game that did not appear in the anime. Materials can vary in quality, with better finds indicated by a rainbow-colored light. A batch-gathering option collects nearby materials at once and triggers an animation of Maomao celebrating. Character-focused episodes are also included, with Xiaolan appearing during the demonstrated exploration section.

Medicine crafting requires players to select and combine materials before completing minigames based on the tools Maomao uses. One shown activity has players time button presses while operating a medicine grinder, then rotate the right stick to grind the ingredients using a mortar. These minigames can be skipped. Finished medicines have different rarity levels, with the demonstration producing a four-star healing medicine.

The presentation concluded with a deduction sequence based on the poisonous face-whitening powder incident from the anime. Players work through the case by selecting answers. Incorrect choices reduce Maomao’s life gauge, and completely depleting it causes the investigation to fail.

Aoi Yuki said that Maomao has different voiced dialogue for every deduction choice. There are also numerous options where Maomao teases Jinshi.

The poisonous face-powder incident is apparently an exception among the game’s cases. The presentation confirmed that supposedly every other incident featured in The False Imperial Brother will be original to the game.

Thanks to Famitsu for sharing this news.

The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother will be released for Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam in early 2027.