{"rewrite":{"id":"r_4976b14fd73775bf244752af","clusterId":"c_eb53d59f4a1367b431178696","slug":"kanipro-opens-steam-page-for-utopia-97-a-retooled-hong-kong-2097","model":"deepseek-v4-1-flash","headline":"Kanipro Opens Steam Page For Utopia '97, A Retooled Hong Kong 2097","summary":"Kanipro opened the Steam store page on October 2 for Utopia '97, a fixed-screen twin-stick shooter. The game has no violent content: the player controls a boy named Chen-kun and sends cute animals to an amusement park with blown kisses and cinnamon stick projectiles. It is a version of Hong Kong 2097, the controversial shooter that could not be sold on Steam, with characters and graphics replaced. Release is set for PC via Steam in the first quarter of 2027.","whyItMatters":"The developer's own stated reason for the rework was frustration at being unable to release the original on Steam, which makes this a case of a storefront rejection reshaping a finished game's content rather than killing it.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eUtopia \u0026#39;97 keeps the structure of its predecessor and strips out the parts that caused trouble. The developer describes the process plainly: not being able to release the original on Steam was frustrating, and after weighing options for how to make it work somehow, the retooled version was the answer.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat replaces the original material is a game about sending animals to an amusement park. Chen-kun uses magic blown kisses and projectiles that look like cinnamon sticks. Stages ask the player to move a set number of animals inside a time limit. Green bullets fired by the animals can be absorbed with the Rainbow Shield and turned into magic power, while purple bullets cannot, so positioning matters.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe influences cited are Robotron 2084 and Smash T.V., and the release window is the first quarter of 2027 on PC through Steam.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Utopia '97 keeps Hong Kong 2097's twin-stick structure but swaps its arsenal for blown kisses, which tests whether Steam's objection ever sat with the violence or with the setting.","twitterPost":"Utopia '97 keeps Hong Kong 2097's twin-stick frame but swaps bullets for blown kisses, testing whether Steam's line was the violence or the setting.","threadsPost":"Utopia '97 keeps Hong Kong 2097's fixed-screen twin-stick frame and swaps the arsenal for blown kisses and cinnamon sticks. The retool answers the sales block by changing the content, but it leaves open whether the objection was ever about the violence or about the setting itself.","newsletterBlurb":"Kanipro opened a Steam store page for Utopia '97, a fixed-screen twin-stick shooter built from Hong Kong 2097 with replaced characters and graphics. The developer said the inability to release the original on Steam was frustrating and led to the rework. It is set for PC via Steam in the first quarter of 2027.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Game Spark\",\"url\":\"http://www.gamespark.jp/article/2026/10/02/173035.html\",\"title\":\"Infamous Controversial Game \\\"Hong Kong 2097\\\" Reborn as Something Soft and Cute!? A Twin-Stick Shooter That Hurts No One, \\\"Utopia '97,\\\" Coming to Steam - A Retooled Version Made Out of Frustration After Being Banned\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4781,"outputTokens":695,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1791248831,"createdAt":"2026-10-06T01:04:50.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-10-06T01:06:07.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-06T01:06:07.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_eb53d59f4a1367b431178696","canonicalTitle":"不謹慎ゲー『香港2097』ゆるふわになって転生！？誰も傷つけないツインスティックSTG『Utopia '97』Steamで登場へ―発禁で悔しくて作った改装版","representativeArticleId":"a_5e887373e3c125c9d6d73ad2","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"Utopia '97\",\"Hong Kong 2097\"],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[],\"type\":\"announcement\",\"domain\":\"games\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-10-01T15:00:04.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-10-01T15:00:04.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-06T01:06:08.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Game Spark","url":"http://www.gamespark.jp/article/2026/10/02/173035.html","title":"不謹慎ゲー『香港2097』ゆるふわになって転生！？誰も傷つけないツインスティックSTG『Utopia '97』Steamで登場へ―発禁で悔しくて作った改装版"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["Utopia '97","Hong Kong 2097"],"studios":[],"people":[],"type":"announcement","domain":"games","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}