Ethereal

A game reverse-engineering collective.
We take games apart to understand how they really work.

About

Ethereal is a collective of game reverse engineers based in Japan. We pull apart game binaries, engines, and file formats to document how they work — turning closed systems into things the community can study, preserve, and build on.

Our work spans static and dynamic analysis, binary patching, and tooling for the games and engines we care about. We value evidence over assumptions: claims are backed by disassembly, traces, and reproducible results.

What we do

Binary analysis — disassembly and decompilation of game executables and native modules (IDA Pro, Ghidra, Binary Ninja).
Format research — reverse engineering proprietary archive, asset, model, and save formats, with specs and parsers.
Runtime instrumentation — hooking, tracing, and debugging to map behavior that static analysis alone can't reach.
Tooling — unpackers, loaders, patchers, and documentation for the community.
Preservation — documenting undocumented systems so knowledge outlives the original release.

Toolbox

IDA Pro · Ghidra · Binary Ninja · x64dbg · Frida · Cheat Engine · C/C++ · Rust · Python · x86/x64 & ARM asm

Projects

Browse our repositories. Flagship projects are pinned on the org profile.

Scope & ethics

We focus on interoperability, preservation, research, and education. We do not build or distribute cheats for online/competitive play, piracy tooling, or anything intended to harm other players or publishers. Respect the laws of your jurisdiction and the terms of the software you study.