Beautiful Ghibli-inspired adventure game Forgotton Anne out next month

Forgotton Anne is an indie game that looks like a Studio Ghibli movie, as we said last year when we spoke to the team at ThroughLine Games about its creation. More specifically, it's an offbeat 2D adventure game that mixes puzzles, platforming and impeccable hand-drawn art, and now it finally has a release date. Forgotton Anne will launch on Steam for $20 on May 15, as revealed in the latest trailer.

You play as Anne, a human enforcer trapped in the Forgotten Lands, a fantastical world populated by Forgotlings, forgotten objects come to life. In her quest to return to the human world, Anne encounters and aids all manner of Forgotlings, from clothes to contraptions.

While exploration plays out as a mix of platforming and puzzle-solving, Anne's decisions as an enforcer offer branching dialogue and decisions. These encounters often result in strange scenarios, like the one where Jody was left to ponder the guilt of a scarf.

More than anything, we were struck by Forgotton Anne's art when we played it earlier this year. "The world of Forgotton Anne is gorgeous," Jody said in his write-up. "While the hand drawn-style animation seems a bit simple up close in cutscenes, in-game it creates a beautiful effect. The contrast between drab industrial imagery and beautifully lit, warm interiors in the Forgotten Lands is lovely."

Austin freelanced for PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and has been a full-time writer at PC Gamer's sister publication GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a staff writer is just a cover-up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news, the occasional feature, and as much Genshin Impact as he can get away with.