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HIPS N NOSES is rebuilding its combat because the café roguelike needs both halves to matter
HIPS N NOSES almost contains its own design problem in the pitch. Running a café by day and fighting monsters inside dreams at night is instantly memorable, but either half could easily become the chore sitting between the other one's interesting moments. PepperStones is using TGS 2026 to rework that balance.
By Kader HIPS N NOSES 
A new build of HIPS N NOSES is playable at Tokyo Game Show 2026 from September 17 to 21 at the KOCCA Korea Pavilion in Makuhari Messe.
PepperStones is showing a substantial combat overhaul, a new part-time staff system for the café and second-week content that is not included in the currently available Steam demo.
Tags are meant to make combat builds less predetermined
The largest change affects the nighttime combat. Players can now apply tags to party members' weapons and skills, using them to shape character roles and progression more deliberately.
PepperStones has also revised the wider card and growth structure around that system. HIPS N NOSES remains an action roguelike, but the new build is designed to give players more control over how individual combat tools interact.
That matters in a game where repeated dream expeditions have to remain interesting long after the novelty of the setting has worn off.
The café is moving in the opposite direction: automate the routine
Daytime management receives a new part-time employee system.
As the café becomes busier, staff can prepare and serve drinks for regular customers. That leaves the player with more room to focus on special visitors, conversations and relationships instead of manually handling every recurring order.
It sounds like a convenience feature, but it also addresses a structural problem. A management system that grows larger can become slower precisely when the story expects players to care more about individual customers.
Daytime information becomes a nighttime objective
Mela is the only person capable of sleeping in a world where everyone else has lost that ability. She runs a café with Beri that helps customers recover missing memories.
Conversations during the day reveal tastes, problems and requests. At night, Mela enters shifting dream worlds, fights monsters and collects Memory Flowers.
Those flowers become ingredients back at the café, so information gained during management can define what the player needs to find at night, while dream rewards create new possibilities during the next day.
Week two is where the loop has to prove it can grow
The existing Steam demo already introduces HIPS N NOSES, but the TGS build lets players reach content from the game's second week.
That is especially useful for a game built around repetition. One café day followed by one dream expedition can demonstrate the concept; several cycles are needed to show whether the two systems actually deepen one another.
PepperStones is therefore expanding the playable timeline at the same time it adds systems intended to prevent either half from becoming repetitive too quickly.
More than 33,000 wishlists before Early Access
PepperStones says HIPS N NOSES has passed 33,000 Steam wishlists, while a free demo has been available since July.
The full game is still planned to launch first through Steam Early Access on PC. Its current store page lists the release simply as coming soon rather than displaying a firm date.
The studio expects Early Access to last for roughly six months and describes a five-week progression structure, with additional dream battles, customisation and a hidden final storyline planned as development continues.
HIPS N NOSES has never struggled to explain why it sounds unusual. Tokyo Game Show is about proving that serving coffee and building a nightmare-fighting loadout genuinely belong to the same progression loop.