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Level-5's Akihiro Hino: Ghibli-Inspired Ni no Kuni II Game is Massive, Aimed at Adults and Children
posted on by Karen Ressler
Level 5 head Akihiro Hino said in an interview with IGN Japan on Sunday that Bandai Namco Entertainment and Level 5's upcoming Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom PlayStation 4 role-playing game is a very large-scale game and "probably has the largest number of Level-5 staff members working on it."
Hino also said that, like a Studio Ghibli movie, the game's world and setting will be aimed at both adults and children. "The contents [of the last game] were very much aimed at adults, but the visuals ended up looking a little like they were for children," Hino commented. "The hero [this time] is another young boy, but overall we're taking care to make a game that adults can enjoy."
Hino, artist Yoshiyuki Momose (The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko), and Hayao Miyazaki's longtime collaborator Joe Hisaishi (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) are all returning for story and general direction, character designs, and music, respectively.
Level 5 debuted the fantasy role-playing game Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for the PlayStation 3 in Japan in 2011, after a Ni no Kuni: Shikkoku no Madōshi game for Nintendo DS in 2010 and a game for Japanese phones. Namco Bandai Games then released Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch outside Japan in 2013. The RPG featured cut scenes from Studio Ghibli, although Ghibli was not specifically mentioned in the new sequel's announcement.
[Via Hachima Kikō]
