National Institute for Environmental Studies Debuts Project: Leaves at TGS2026
A national research body is using a game show booth and a branching-narrative concept as its science communication channel, betting that players will grasp environmental simulation models through their own choices rather than through presented findings.
Reporting from 1 source: GameBusiness.jp.
The National Institute for Environmental Studies will exhibit at Tokyo Game Show 2026 for the first time, running September 17-21 at Makuhari Messe. The institute will unveil Project: Leaves, a project that turns its accumulated research and simulation technology into games. The planned game has players conduct investigations and conversations within limited time, complete inventions, and send them to society, with choices branching into different futures. The game remains in concept stage with no playable demo.
The institute's booth at Hall 8 (08-N12) will display a PV, key visual, and character design for the concept. Visitors who answer a survey and follow the official SNS accounts can enter a lottery for original novelty goods, limited in quantity and available until they run out.
The game itself is in the concept stage, so there is no playable demo at the venue. Updates will be posted on the project's note page and the Fukushima regional collaborative research base's official X and LINE accounts.
The institute frames the exhibit as a way to build a contact point with game fans and younger generations who have had little exposure to environmental research, presenting multiple choices and their results instead of a single correct answer.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- GameBusiness.jp 国立環境研究所、TGS2026に初出展。環境研究をゲーム化する『Project: Leaves』を初公開