Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗The Kaiyo Mission
eXplore Studio · Published by eXplore Studio · Official site ↗
2 user reviews — 100% positive (2 reviews)
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
Control a submarine or a diver into the depths of unknown underwater worlds and take photographs of alien animals, plants and artefacts. Continue your journey through this casual, side-scroller, exploration game and collect stars to unlock more secrets before travelling to an alien home planet.
£8.50
Lowest price we've ever recorded
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Price history
Adventure, Indie, Casual · 2025 · More £5 - £15 games
Embark on a casual, side-scrolling underwater journey where you control either a submarine or diver to capture photos of exotic sea life. Discover hidden stars and progress through mysterious environments before venturing to an alien home planet.
About this game
Embark on a relaxing yet thought-provoking single-player adventure in The Kaiyo Mission, a 2D side-scrolling indie game that blends atmospheric exploration with story-rich sci-fi. Dive beneath the icy surface of Enceladus to photograph alien life, solve minimalist environmental puzzles, and uncover a narrated tale rooted in real science. With casual gameplay, educational themes, and a nature-focused underwater setting, this futuristic journey invites players to slow down, reflect, and immerse themselves in a world where music, mystery, and meaning converge.
'The Kaiyō Mission’ is about peaceful yet dangerous space exploration in hostile underwater environments of ocean worlds. The players embark in three different mission phases that lead them to various underwater plateaus of ocean worlds, including the Saturnian moon Enceladus. They will control a submarine or a diver and take photographs of alien animals, plants and artefacts. A tutorial level is available, and a bonus mission phase with several self-contained games is opened upon successful completion of the initial three phases.
Key Features of The Kaiyo Mission:
A unique story based on real research and a hard science-fiction adventure.
The game triggers the curiosity of the player to explore alien underwater worlds that are peaceful but dangerous, performing research tasks. The different vision modes, sound effects and music make the experience varied and engaging. Some of the context is realistic to a certain extent, based on real research, science and hard science-fiction. The player is placed in an international context, where humanity works together to push the boundaries of knowledge…
‘After a smooth descent, the habitat was gently put down on the seabed, not far from the portal but sufficiently enough from any rocks that could become an obstacle for the recovery of the habitat. The new ‘home’ for the explorers was a bit like a spacecraft. Comfort and personal space were not high on the list of priorities. However, all was designed to be functional and optimised to support safe diving operations on the seabed at depths of several hundreds of meters, for a group up to ten divers over several days or even weeks.’ (Extracts from 'The Kaiyo Mission – Enceladus')
Use of African music in a science-fiction game.
Not many people link space travel and the exploration of our universe with anything related to Africa. This is often so, because many of us are biased to rather associate these topics with classical music, or sometimes Western music, or bespoke ‘futuristic‘ music. The Kaiyō Mission wants to break this sub-conscious bias and use this uplifting music to enhance the game.
An indie game localised in Basaa language.
The Kaiyo Mission is probably the first indie game localised in the Basaa language, widely spoken in Western Africa.
Mini games on an alien planet based on traditional African games.
Some traditional games of the Basaa tribe are included in the Bonus Mission Phase perpetuating these parts of African culture that are threatened of being lost in the near future…
~ Explore unknown underwater worlds ~
~ Take photographs ~
~ Beware of the dangers ~
~ Portals and journeys ~
‘Are you telling me that one of our two ESEL submarines that landed on Enceladus last month, that was deployed, melted through the ice, found life in the subsurface ocean, and suddenly vanished…has been found on Earth last week?’ asked the Head of Deep Space Exploration of JAXA. (extract from 'The Kaiyo Mission – Enceladus')
At eXplore Studio, we value the creative work of human artists in the widest sense. Together, we and our partners create our own stories, game design, graphic art, 3D models, sound effects, music, and voice acting, and appropriately use and reference other human work as relevant, without infringing other people’s IP rights. We do not use generative AI for the content of our games, but human creativity.
Love the Art.
Love the Artist.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: 10 or above
- Memory: 8 MB RAM
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Recommended
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Supported Languages
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
The Kaiyo Mission - Update May 2026
Based on player feedback, minor bugs have been corrected.Read full article on Community Announcements (eXplore_studio)Patch NotesOfficial
First update after release v.1.0.01
Minor incremental improvements and bug fixes based on feedback.Read full article on Community Announcements (eXplore_studio)AnnouncementsOfficial
New Year, New Beginnings
After what I’ve heard a lot of people describe as a challenging year, here at eXplore Studio we have been reflecting on what progress we have made. It has not been all sunshine and rainbows for us either. We have had our fair share of hurdles, especially as a truly independent indie game studio with very limited funding. However, I am also incredibly proud to be writing that our first game will be released 29th January 2025, and we are now less than a month away from this milestone. This comes with both nerves and excitement, but The Kaiyo Mission game is a piece of art we cannot wait to share with the world. For us this is not simply a commercial product we are aiming to sell, instead it is a passion project we have invested so much into. This includes effort, time, and giving it our all. Looking back at 2024, it has been amazing working with the team of freelancers we do and developing a game which has such a peaceful and loving message. We particularly love the global nature of the translator team we work with, as we get to localise the game and hopefully reach even more people without language as a barrier. This adds to the main theme of our game being people from all over the world working together for a common goal, which we equally do as part of game development. We are so excited to see the reaction to what we have created and how this resonates with players. This will equally include taking any feedback to improve our other two games in the pipeline. So as always, please reach out to us and we would be most happy to connect with you. Looking forward, we would love to develop more connections with people who enjoy playing The Kaiyo Mission when it is released. Though it is challenging to build up a high social media profile without funding for marketing, we are pleased our content is connecting with some people. We are very grateful for the support and engagement we have already received. Additionally, we are enthusiastic to help other indie video game devel...Read full article on Community Announcements (eXplore_studio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Working using the Agile principles
At eXplore Studio, we see the value of taking an agile approach to our work. This working style still includes two structured weekly meetings with the whole team, with a scrum planning meeting on Monday and a technical meeting on Thursday. Nonetheless, throughout the week we are flexible and maintain strong lines of communication. This means we are continuously in touch to share our insights and prioritise our working connections as a team. Equally, the agile approach gives clear advantages when developing working products which we continuously refine. Through this technique, we avoid striving for perfection from the outset and learn that we can evolve as we go. Testing and asking for feedback are also a huge part of this process, as we then do not end up with a “finished” product which needs to be wholly altered. Concentrating on progress over perfection means we can keep work going, instead of going into the pitfall of endless minor revisions. Moreover, we are open to change and expressing different opinions as we know the benefits of diversity of thought. Creativity breeds from experimentation and being able to respectfully disagree, to find solutions and innovate. Therefore, we focus on creating safe spaces at work to discuss various options and ways of carrying out projects. As a Studio, we remind ourselves of the importance of saying “no” when necessary. How such a little word can build so much guilt and shame in many work cultures is something we wish to manifestly avoid. We believe in recognising our limits and respecting the reality that we can only accomplish so much within the time constraints of a day. Having a proper work-life balance is not always simple but absolutely necessary. Many game developers have separate jobs or other responsibilities alongside game development, so to prevent burn out is key. Continuously saying “yes” may seem kind to the people asking you to carry out a task but can also be a sure fire way to destroy sustainable development....Read full article on Community Announcements (eXplore_studio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Making The Kaiyo Mission accessible to all
Whilst developing video games, accessibility might not be your first thought. After all, some people argue that certain accessibility functions could limit your creative scope. However, here at eXplore Studio we believe that accessibility and inclusivity are key to creating strong video games. Most importantly, ensuring that everyone is able to be included and thought of before constructing a video game is key, rather than including accessibility as an afterthought. This makes it easier to figure out ways of working which are most accessible, as well as the video games themselves. In fact, we have found that accessibility helps everyone benefit from clearer and more effective work. Accessibility can be challenging, giving how many different needs different kinds of people may have. This is particularly hard with video games. For example, adding loud music to the background of a game could be jarring and overstimulating for some. Equally, for others, this may help them due to hearing difficulties with quieter music. Whilst deciding on accessibility features is not always straightforward, we believe it is better to at least consider and strive to make our work as accessible as possible. Diversity and inclusion overall are a key message of our game, and even the game development team we have, is filled with individual and unique people. We find that this leads to better creativity of thought and helps us generate more imaginative content. Regarding working with our game development team, we have seen the positive effects of allowing flexibility and being open to accessible ways of working. This is particularly important given the international scope of many of our freelancers. More and more, we see that trusting people to work in ways which are better for themselves leads to better outputs and team spirit. We believe in the strength of an adaptable approach to work and an open passage of communication to all our freelancers. Specifically for our game The Kaiyo Mission,...Read full article on Community Announcements (eXplore_studio)
