In the middle of the E3 madness, Bandai Namco quietly revealed a launch date for Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. The follow-up to the wonderful 2013 PlayStation3 Japanese RPG Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch lands on PlayStation 4 and PC November 10, according to a press release.
As previously detailed, Ni No Kuni II takes place 100 years prior to the events of Wrath of the White Witch, and features (obviously, maybe) a whole new cast. Set in the kingdom of Ding Dong Dell, you play as Evan, a boy king who has been forced out of his own kingdom after a successful coup. Ding Dong Dell is a world where species like humans, cats, and mice, coexist peacefully — well, at least they used to.
According to Bandai Namco, “Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom recounts the story of this deposed king and his journey to build his own kingdom and unite the entire world.”
Wrath of the White Witch was widely praised for its collaboration with Studio Ghibli. The game simply looked like nothing that had come before it — in a good way. Although Revenant Kingdom was not co-developed with Studio Ghibli, the Ghibli charm is expected to remain. Former Studio Ghibli artist Yoshiyuki Momose handled the character design for Revenant Kingdom. Additionally, Joe Hisaishi, who worked on numerous Hayao Miyazaki films and Wrath of the White Witch, composed the score for Revenant Kingdom.
Much of Revenant Kingdom is still under wraps and we have yet to see it at E3 this year, but from comments earlier this year from Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino, it is expected that it will infuse its Japanese RPG roots with western RPG tropes. The extent of the western influence is unknown, but there is a chance that Revenant Kingdom will delineate a fair bit from Wrath of the White Witch in terms of design and gameplay.
