10

It’s the closest thing yet to stepping inside the animated world of Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away.

With captivating storylines, enchanting characters, and beautiful imagery, Studio Ghibli’s world-renowned animated films seem like a good fit for the gaming world. Aside from a handful of obscure Japanese PC games based on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind released some 30 years ago, no adaptations have been made.

Fans got a taste of what might be possible, with the 2010 release of Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn and its follow-up, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, in 2011, which featured animated cut-scenes illustrated by the Studio Ghibli team, but when it comes to Ghibli-esque gameplay, the landscape has been barren and empty for far too long.

▼ That is, unless you count this 8-bit video game art of Princess Mononoke.

Now, Bloomylight Studio, a French independent video game developer, is producing a new game designed to draw us into an animated world inspired by two of Studio Ghibli’s most well-known films, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Called Lynn and the Spirits of Inao, the new trailer and artwork from the game shows just how well they’ve captured the spirit and atmosphere of the anime films.

16

11

12

The star of the game is Lynn, a disciple of the High Priestess on the island of Inao. One day, the island’s residents are suddenly attacked by lost souls. When Lynn and the high priestess attempt to perform a ritual to send the spirits back from where they came, the priestess becomes injured, making them unable to complete the ceremony and leaving the island and its residents vulnerable to further attack. Lynn must now restore peace to her village and venture out to unearth the origin of the evil spirits, encountering a number of new friends, demons, and intimidating bosses along the way.

14

1

The 2D platform-adventure game will initially be available on PC and Steam, and with the help of supporters on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, the studio hope to release it on other platforms too. With 20 days to go for the crowdfunding campaign, the group has raised 28,682 euro (US$32,418) of their 53,000-euro goal, and is offering a variety of packages to supporters which include the chance to become a villager in the game.

13

To see just how impressive the game looks, take a sneak peek at the beautiful trailer below. With a Windows release scheduled for 2017, we hope the company gets all the support they need to make this game one we can all play very soon!

Source, images: Kickstarter/Lynn and the Spirits of Inao