City-building on the back of a giant creature, The Wandering Village 1.0 is out now

Got a lot of love for this game, after a very chilled and engaging early access gamepass run through. Got a steam copy of the game to go and see what’s changed.

wow what a plagiarism of Miyazaki! Thankfully, he is not Nintendo XD

person who's never really played civ sims here, HEAVY recommendation from me. the game is a banger

@Geppeto35
I'd prefer to think of it as a tribute to Miyazaki instead.

wow what a plagiarism of Miyazaki!

Miyazaki?

Yeah, Miyazaki. Not the game itself, just that trailer, has a feel that goes beyond general "anime" style and more into the specific animation style of the studio Ghibli films of Hayao Miyazaki, like "Kiki's Flying Delivery Service" or "Spirited Away" (which are awesome; if you haven't seen Spirited Away, just bloody go and see it). I don't think that's a problem.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 21 Jul 2025 at 2:59 pm UTC

@Purple Library Guy

You forgot to name the anime that inspired The Wandering Village in the first place: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

One of our main inspirations for the game is the 1984 anime ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ by Hayao Miyazaki. The world of The Wandering Village is heavily inspired by the anime’s setting, a post-apocalyptic world where poisonous plants are spreading and gradually making life on the ground impossible. This adds a survival aspect to the game. The villager and Onbu are dependent on one another and need to find a way out of this mess together.

Taken from an interview on the Masters in Gaming! site.

https://mastersingaming.com/2023/07/21/the-wandering-village-creating-onbu-the-giant-walking-ecosystem/

Spirited Away is probably one of studio Ghibli's most recognized anime in the West. Personally, though, I think that Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind remains one of his best. His manga expands on the story even further. Of course, my first encounter with Miyazaki's works was Princess Mononoke. Unlike Spirited Away or Kiki's Delivery Service, neither of these films are targeted for children.

That being said, I have enjoyed every one of studio Ghibli's anime that I have seen. If you haven't already, you should see them all!


Last edited by Caldathras on 21 Jul 2025 at 4:47 pm UTC

I liked Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, I found it very impressive in certain ways, but at the same time it was one of the bigger examples of some of Miyazaki's weaknesses. Like, Miyazaki has a tendency to let the story sort of trail off because he's set up a conflict and he either doesn't know how to resolve it or he gets to liking the bad guys and so he just doesn't want to resolve it. A lot of the time I actually find it kind of charming. But in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind it bothered me . . . the issues and mysteries set up were so big and ominous, and then it just kind of didn't deal with them. Just sort of goes shrug, never mind.

Spirited Away is perhaps less ambitious, but it's much more of a complete movie. It's still weird, it still raises some issues (not all that subtly, but I've never really been into subtle anyway), it still has distinctive Miyazaki approaches to characters and things go in some odd directions, and it has perhaps the most gorgeous, rich and strange visuals of any movie I have ever seen--perhaps the fullest flowering of that Miyazaki "look". But all the stuff works together, the strands get pulled together and the movie has a resolution. Every so often I re-watch Spirited Away, just because I want to. I might re-watch Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind someday, but if so it will be less because I really want to and more because I think I should.