At any E3, there is a beautiful game that shied away from the spotlight. And this time, that game was Spiritfarer.

Thunder Lotus - the developer of Jotun has released an announcement on the game release windows, with an aesthetic animated trailer. You can watch the trailer below:

Learn how to say goodbye with Spiritfarer

Thunder Lotus has primed the game in Microsoft's Xbox briefing as “a cozy management game about dying”. The short but grim introduction has raised a lot of curiosity in me, so I have to give it a closer looks. And it doesn't let me down!

In Spiritfarer, you are the ferrymaster named Stella. If you don't know who ferrymaster is - it refers to the person guiding the souls of the ones who have died to the afterlife.

Spiritfarer Sends A Touching Message Of Life And D
Meet Stella - the ferrymaster and her companion - Daffodil the cat

Stella lives on a boat with her spirit friends, spending times with them and then release them into the other world. The job seems quite cold and boring, but the developer has succeeded in sketching Stella's life as a human-like life.

Stella lives with the spirits just like we're living with our friendly neighbors. She chats, she cooks and shares foods, and she further expands the boat the welcome even more friends.

Stella is having a great time with her neighbors
Stella is having a great time with her neighbors

As times goes, Stella creates tight bonds with her neighbors, but duty is still duty. She still has to say goodbye to her friends, but don't worry if the separation will be too sad. The game takes a positive approach towards loss, and it will teach you the best way to say goodbye!

Every journey has an end, and you must learn how to say goodbye
Every journey has an end, and you must learn how to say goodbye

"Spiritfarer is a positive game about loss, friendship, empathy, and what is left behind." - the creator proudly affirmed.

Overview on gameplay

Spiritfarer is an adventure management game, where you will both spending time taking care of the spirits and further expand the boat and explore the mysterious world as well.

Your everyday jobs will be farming, mining, fishing, harvesting, cooking. All of that is for the wishlist of the spirits, and you have to do help them fulfill it before their time runs out.

Hey! That weasel looks so familiar
Hey! That weasel looks so familiar!

Each spirit has its distinctive wish that will guide you through the whole story, so you won't be bored doing the same works over and over again.

Apart from that, you're also the captain of the boat, navigating it to visit new islands. At the same time, you'll also craft your boat to get more space for the coming spirit to stay in the future.

Aye aye. Captain!
Aye aye. Captain!

The graphics of the game are hand-drawn, and it has a lot of reminiscence to the famous animation Spirited Away from Studio Ghibli. The artwork suits extremely well with its story, and it will surely give you a lot of touching moments, just as Ghibli's movies.

It looks like My neighbor Totoro as well!
The game looks like My Neighbor Totoro as well!

The game is still under development know, but Thunder Lotus has announced that the tentative release date of the Spiritfarer will be some point in 2020. The developer will support PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch with the release, and information on further platforms still remains unknown.