It's safe to say the cozy games contingent here at 12DOVE is thoroughly excited for Europa, the upcoming action-adventure indie game that looks like the love child of The Legend of Zelda and Studio Ghibli. We've been gushing about its devastating portrayal of loneliness and lost civilizations, heart-stirring presentation, and relaxing gameplay from its June debut through to its gorgeous Steam demo, which is still live.
Now, at long last, publisher Future Friends Games has announced an April 16, 2024 release date alongside an accompanying trailer that gives a little more context to the story through wistful narration. It also showcases plenty of gameplay that, indeed, marries the environmental puzzle-solving and varied exploration methods of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom with a decidedly Ghibli-esque art style and partial weightlessness of physics and movement. Its sound design is also an impeccable mishmash of both, featuring prominent sounds of nature, swells of strings, and sparse, emotive piano flourishes.
Even with these similarities being so apparent, there's a responsibility in comparing a relatively unknown and unreleased indie project to two of the most beloved IP of their respective mediums, and I don't take it lightly. Having played the demo myself, and wanting to avoid competing with my coworkers in finding the words to describe just how beautiful a thing it is, I can only say that it deserves the comparison - at least from the limited sample available in the demo. Try it, love it, wishlist it if you're as into it as we are.
"On the moon Europa, a lush terraformed paradise in Jupiter’s shadow, an android named Zee sets out in search of answers," reads the Steam blurb. "Run, glide and fly across the landscape, solve mysteries in the ruins of a fallen utopia, and discover the story of the last human alive."
Europa is due out on Steam first, but it's also scheduled to release on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One at a later date.
Europa is just one of many upcoming indie games we can't wait to play.
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