A Daring Quest — Studio Ghibli and Ni no Kuni

Studio Ghibli is extremely well-known, not just for their beautiful movies but also for the lush, intricate worlds they create for their characters. If you’ve ever seen one of their movies, you know how painstakingly beautiful these worlds are, from the magical undersea world of Ponyo to the modest portrayal of modern Japan in Whisper of the Heart. The lush, detailed settings are part of what the studio is known for, and are part of their signature style.

Now imagine that quality of visual appeal in a video game. Is your mind blown yet?

This is exactly the vision that game company Level5 had, and in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, they achieved it. Released as a Nintendo DS and Playstation 3 title, NNK tells the story of a young boy, Oliver, who loses his mother and is asked to save an entirely different world from his own — saving his mother in the process. Level5 worked in collaboration with Studio Ghibli to create this game: Ghibli animated the story cutscenes, and the in-game animation is done in a style that imitates -with incredible success- their art style, right down to spots of sunlight filtering through tree leaves. It’s really incredible.

This is an in-game image. No, seriously.

Joe Hisaishi composed the game’s score — you’ll recognize him from Ghibli films like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. His music adds richness to the game and makes it even more enjoyable to play. It’s tempting to run around all over the world map, and around towns and cities, just to keep listening to the beautiful background music.

It’s easy to see that this game was lovingly crafted. Not only is it beautiful, it’s genuinely really, really fun to play. Level5 creates a world where you want to explore and collect and fight baddies — it’s just that much fun! I can definitely recommend this game to anyone that likes RPGs. If these images don’t convince you, check out the trailer below…

Additionally, I think it’s important to note that a lot of people worked extremely hard on this game, and it shows. Buying used games is certainly cheaper, but when you buy games new, it ensures that the profits from the sale go to the companies that worked in the game, not to the store that sold it. If you want these companies to continue producing good work, it’s important to show support for them!