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PROJECT ZIRCON Finally Becomes a Game: Five Years to Build a Nation Before the Dragon Ends It
PROJECT ZIRCON spent three years existing as a collaborative fantasy world before KONAMI put a much more concrete game underneath it. The new version gives players five in-game years to construct a functioning nation before a resurrected calamity reaches the end of the calendar.
By Hugat PROJECT ZIRCON 
KONAMI unveiled PROJECT ZIRCON's new deck-building roguelike during PRESS START on September 3. It is coming to PC through Steam, with no release date currently announced.
The player is the head of state rather than an individual adventurer. The Calamity Dragon of the Abyss has returned after a century, and the nation needs to survive long enough to confront the crisis.
Every year has a failure condition
A run lasts five in-game years. Each year establishes a required target, and failing to meet it ends the attempt.
The Normal Route ultimately asks players to defeat the Calamity Dragon in Year 5.
That deadline immediately gives long-term deck optimisation a problem to solve. Building the theoretically strongest economy later in the run is useless if the current nation cannot survive this year's requirement.
Strategy comes before administration
Each year is split into a Strategy Phase and an Admin Phase. Strategy is where territory expands and new Character Cards and Facilities enter the available build.
Commerce, Industry and Culture Points form three separate resources with different uses. Facilities and characters can then be combined around whichever direction the current run demands.
The deck is consequently doing more than representing a combat party. It models pieces of the state itself.
Character placement turns the engine on
The Admin Phase is where acquired Character Cards are deployed. Characters have Rank and Type properties, and their effects can interact with Facilities to generate stronger rewards.
Players may also equip up to three zirpowers to a deck, adding another source of specialised advantages.
The complete rules have not been published yet. KONAMI has instead scheduled the game's first public demo play for Tokyo Game Show on September 19.
The target length is roughly one hour per run
Steam describes PROJECT ZIRCON as a different one-hour nation-survival experience each time. Events and choices branch into multiple endings, while some routes change what victory itself requires.
Building Military Points and killing the dragon is therefore only the Normal Route solution, not necessarily the answer to every run.
A persistent Player Level unlocks additional Facilities and starting decks across repeated attempts.
The name has a much older history than the game
KONAMI originally introduced PROJECT ZIRCON at Tokyo Game Show 2023 as a community co-creation project built around a shared fantasy setting. Its early form included digital characters and collaborative world-building rather than the clearly defined strategy game now on Steam.
In January 2026, KONAMI announced work on a trial game after the project's official X account passed a 20,000-follower target.
Three years after the original announcement, the project now has Strategy and Admin phases, a five-year campaign structure and an actual Steam wishlist button.