Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, a PC and mobile spin-off, heads west this summer

A lot of JRPGs are gorgeous, but the Ni no Kuni games have the borrowed luster of Studio Ghibli’s involvement. That’s why I’m interested in Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds. It’s not quite the third game in the series, but rather a PC and mobile spin-off currently available in Asia that’s making its way west this summer.

All the Ni no Kuni games are about players from our-ish world being drawn into a fantasy land, and so it is in Cross Worlds. You’re a player of a new virtual reality game called Soul Divers, who quickly realizes that the world you’re connecting to isn’t virtual. Adventure ensues.

Much of what follows seems familiar from the previous games in the series. There are splashy battles, an anime world to explore, and too-cute familiars to make fight on your behalf. Each player also has a kingdom of their own, which they can customize and defend in ways that seem to evoke a similar system in Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom.

It also, I should add, evokes the structure of several other mobile RPGs. It’s hard to tell from the trailers or from the official site how much of your time will be spent doing story quests a la the previous games, and how much will be spent doing rote battles and grinding for daily XP rewards so you can unlock a new paint for your kingdom’s roofs. There’s also no official confirmation of platforms that I can find for its “early summer” release, although a PC version is currently available in other territories.

I’m choosing to be hopeful. I mean, just look at the screenshot at the top of this post. Don’t want to hug some fantasy sheep? To further underline the Studio Ghibli influence, here’s an animated trailer: