Behind the Frame is chill anime-inspired puzzle with strong Ghibli vibes

There's something about the trailer for Behind the Frame that just calms you down immediately. It begins with a painter dropping her brush, and instead of immediately picking it up, she stretches leisurely. You can see her sun-dappled apartment, paintings on the walls, lush greenery on a table, and the atmosphere is set.

Developer Silver Lining Studio describes Behind the Frame as a "story-oriented puzzle game", and from the looks of the trailer, the gameplay seems to be a relaxed affair, too. You discover scraps of an old painting and put those together. You paint your grumpy neighbour from across the road and his cat. You make a good cup of coffee. Gameplay takes place in first-person perspective, letting you interact with certain items in the room, which stand out simply thanks to being rendered as 2D cell-shaded objects. Sometimes the gameplay is broken up by simple cutscenes.

The thing I really enjoy about Behind the Frames is the style. Everything from character design to its bright cutscenes reminds me of Studio Ghibli films such as Kiki's Delivery Service, and I think we can never have enough games like that. If you agree, you can wishlist Behind the Frame on Steam now. There's no release date yet.