Ni no Kuni

Ni no Kuni grew out of a collaboration between developer Level-5 and animation studio Ghibli, which gave the series its unmistakable visual signature of storybook worlds and hand-drawn characters. The first game, Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn, released in Japan on the Nintendo DS and linked two worlds — the real one and a magical parallel realm that young Oliver enters to save his mother. The expanded version, Wrath of the White Witch, later brought the series outside Japan for the first time, this time on PlayStation 3, and became the entry most players associate with the franchise.

At the core of the gameplay is a turn-based combat system built around companion creatures called familiars, which players capture, train and swap much like in a collecting RPG. Wrath of the White Witch is still regarded as the series' high point, pairing a touching story with music by Joe Hisaishi and an atmosphere that stays true to Ghibli's animated style. Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, released in 2018, then pushed the series in a different direction: combat shifted to real-time action and the game added kingdom-building, splitting longtime fans between those who welcomed the new direction and those who missed the familiars.

Alongside the main saga, the mobile Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds arrived as an MMORPG that reused the series' recognizable art style for an online world shared with other players. The franchise is still credited with showing how powerfully a visual style can define an entire gaming experience, and it remains one of the most distinctive examples of Japanese animation crossing over into the RPG genre.