10 Indie Games That Feel Like Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli films have a quality that is hard to put into words. It is not just the watercolor skies or the hand-drawn forests. It is the feeling of stepping into a world where the wind carries meaning, where spirits lurk behind everyday objects, and where kindness is treated as the most powerful force in existence. That feeling is why millions of people rewatch these films every year.

Games have been chasing that feeling for a long time. Most of them fail because they copy the surface without understanding the substance. A Ghibli game is not just pretty backgrounds and a cute protagonist. It needs the emotional weight, the environmental storytelling, the quiet moments between the loud ones. The ten indie games on this list get that right.

Each game here is paired with the specific Ghibli film it most evokes. Not because these are adaptations or knock-offs, but because the connection runs deeper than visuals. If you love a particular Miyazaki or Takahata film, this list will point you toward the game that captures its spirit.

1. Mika and The Witch’s Mountain

Developer: Chibig, Nukefist | Released: January 2025 | Feels like: Kiki’s Delivery Service

The pitch is basically Kiki’s Delivery Service: The Game. You play Mika, a young witch who delivers packages to the residents of a small island. You fly on a broomstick. You explore a cozy village. You help friendly townsfolk with their problems. The parallels are impossible to miss, and the developers lean into them with obvious affection.

Mika and The Witch’s Mountain captures the specific warmth of Kiki’s early days in Koriko. The island is compact and full of personality. Flying feels joyful. The art style is bright and inviting without being saccharine. It is a smaller game than many on this list, but the Kiki connection makes it essential for anyone who has ever wanted to live inside that film.

2. Spiritfarer

Developer: Thunder Lotus Games | Released: August 2020 | Feels like: Spirited Away

The connection to Spirited Away is immediate. You run a floating vessel that serves as a waystation for spirits in transition. You cook meals, build rooms, and tend to passengers who each carry their own unresolved stories. Where Chihiro navigated a bathhouse for spirits, Stella builds one on the open sea.

Thunder Lotus poured extraordinary care into every animation. Characters hug with real weight. They wave, slump, laugh, and cry with an expressiveness that rivals feature films. The Farewell Edition added three major content updates and is the definitive way to experience the game. Spiritfarer will make you cry. It will also make you feel deeply at peace. If you enjoyed our best cozy indie games list, you already know this one belongs near the top.

3. Europa

Developer: Helder Pinto, Novadust Entertainment | Released: October 2024 | Feels like: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind / Castle in the Sky

Europa is set on Jupiter’s moon, terraformed into a lush paradise that has since fallen into ruin. You play Zee, an android gliding across rolling meadows and past crumbling monuments of a lost civilization. The Zephyr jetpack makes traversal feel like flying on a Mehve glider straight out of Nausicaä.

The giant, rusting robots scattered across the landscape bear a striking resemblance to the mecha from Castle in the Sky. Even the gentle piano soundtrack carries that unmistakable Ghibli warmth. Europa is a short experience at around three hours, but every minute of it feels like stepping into a Miyazaki film. The game wrestles with themes of nature, technology, and what humanity leaves behind. Those are Nausicaä’s exact preoccupations.

4. Hoa

Developer: Skrollcat Studio | Released: August 2021 | Feels like: My Neighbor Totoro

Every frame of Hoa looks like it was painted by hand. Because it was. The entire game is built from hand-painted backgrounds that evoke the pastoral forests and gentle creatures of My Neighbor Totoro. You play a tiny fairy returning to a forest filled with oversized insects, sleeping giants, and quiet magic.

The gameplay is a simple puzzle platformer. The challenge is low, the pace is gentle, and the whole thing can be finished in about three hours. That is not a criticism. Totoro is a film where almost nothing happens, and it is one of the most beloved animated films ever made. Hoa understands that the feeling of being small in a vast, beautiful world is enough.

5. Eastward

Developer: Pixpil | Released: September 2021 | Feels like: Spirited Away / Howl’s Moving Castle

Eastward is pixel art, not hand-drawn animation. But the character designs, the town layouts, and the emotional beats are pure Ghibli. The relationship between John (a silent miner) and Sam (a mysterious, cheerful girl) mirrors the kind of found-family bonds that run through every Miyazaki film. Think Howl protecting Sophie. Think Chihiro befriending Haku.

Pixpil, a studio based in Shanghai, spent six years building Eastward. The towns are dense with detail. NPCs have their own routines and stories. The pixel art food looks so good it rivals the animated feasts in Spirited Away. The Metacritic score of 82 reflects a game that occasionally loses focus in its second half, but the world itself is unforgettable.

6. Forgotton Anne

Developer: Throughline Games | Released: May 2018 | Feels like: Any Ghibli Film

This is the game on this list with the most direct Ghibli connection. The lead animators at Throughline Games studied animation in Japan under actual Ghibli animators. That training shows in every frame. Forgotton Anne is fully hand-animated at 24 frames per second, and it looks like a playable anime film.

You play Anne, a human enforcer in a realm called the Forgotten Lands, where lost objects come to life. Socks, lamps, and scarves become sentient “Forgotlings” who want to return to the human world. The premise sounds whimsical, but the story takes dark turns about power, loyalty, and what it means to be forgotten. The animation quality is genuinely movie-grade. If you want the single most visually authentic Ghibli experience in gaming, this is it.

7. The Wandering Village

Developer: Stray Fawn Studio | Released: July 2025 | Feels like: Nausicaä / Princess Mononoke

You build a village on the back of a giant, wandering creature called Onbu. That sentence alone should tell you why this game belongs on a Ghibli list. The central tension mirrors Nausicaä and Princess Mononoke: how do humans coexist with nature when survival demands exploitation?

Stray Fawn Studio designed the relationship between your village and Onbu as the game’s core mechanic. You can work with the creature or against it. You can feed it, heal it, and guide it. Or you can drain its resources for your own benefit. The moral dimension elevates what could have been a straightforward city builder into something that feels like a Miyazaki parable about ecological responsibility. If you like city builders with personality, The Wandering Village is one of the most original in the genre.

8. Baldo: The Guardian Owls

Developer: Naps Team | Released: August 2021 | Feels like: Porco Rosso / Castle in the Sky

Baldo wears its Ghibli influence on its sleeve. The cel-shaded art style, the round-faced characters, and the sun-drenched Mediterranean landscapes all scream Porco Rosso and Castle in the Sky. Naps Team is an Italian studio, and the Southern European warmth in their world design matches the same warmth Miyazaki brought to his European-inspired films.

Honesty requires a caveat. Baldo launched with significant technical issues and frustrating puzzle design. Patches have improved the experience, but reviews remain mixed. The visual presentation, however, is genuinely stunning. If you can tolerate some rough gameplay in exchange for one of the most beautiful Ghibli-inspired worlds in gaming, Baldo rewards your patience.

9. Yokai Inn

Developer: ShibaPixels | Status: In Development | Feels like: Spirited Away

Yokai Inn is not yet available on Steam, but it is already one of the most anticipated Ghibli-adjacent games in development. You run an inn for yokai (Japanese spirits), cooking meals, managing rooms, and building relationships with your supernatural guests. The connection to Spirited Away is direct and intentional.

The pixel art evokes the spirit bathhouse atmosphere of Spirited Away with farming, crafting, and life-sim elements layered on top. ShibaPixels is building the game for Steam and Nintendo Switch. If you want to keep an eye on it, the developer posts updates on their official site. This is the kind of game that could become a cozy classic once it launches.

10. Project Bloomwalker

Developer: Netmarble Neo | Status: In Development | Feels like: Howl’s Moving Castle / My Neighbor Totoro

Project Bloomwalker debuted at Gamescom 2025 with a trailer that immediately drew Ghibli comparisons. You travel across a tainted world in a moving house (yes, like Howl’s castle) accompanied by adorable spirit companions called Oddlings. Your footsteps literally bring flowers and life back to corrupted landscapes.

The premise blends the mobile wonder of Howl’s Moving Castle with the environmental healing themes of Nausicaä. Netmarble is developing it for PC and Xbox, and it will be available on Game Pass at launch. No release date has been confirmed, but the visual style and cozy crafting gameplay make it one of the most promising Ghibli-inspired games on the horizon.

Honorable Mention: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Developer: LEVEL-5 | Released: 2011 (Remastered 2019) | The actual Ghibli game

Ni no Kuni is not an indie game, so it does not earn a numbered spot on this list. But it would be dishonest to write about Ghibli-inspired games without mentioning the one that was literally co-produced with Studio Ghibli. The animated cutscenes were created by the studio. Joe Hisaishi composed the soundtrack. It is the real deal.

LEVEL-5 built a full JRPG around these animations, and the Remastered version on Steam still holds up beautifully. If you finish the ten games above and still want more Ghibli in your life, this is where you go. Just know that the combat system has its quirks.

Which One Should You Play First?

The right pick depends on what you love most about Ghibli.

If you want Kiki’s small-town warmth, Mika and The Witch’s Mountain nails the broomstick deliveries and village charm. Watch the trailer above and tell me you do not see Kiki.

If you want the emotional depth of Spirited Away, start with Spiritfarer. No other game on this list handles themes of loss and friendship with the same grace.

If you want the soaring freedom of Nausicaä, play Europa. The jetpack traversal across those green meadows is the closest a game has come to flying through the Valley of the Wind.

If you want the gentle forest magic of Totoro, Hoa is your game. Short, beautiful, and exactly as peaceful as you need it to be.

If you want the most authentic Ghibli animation, Forgotton Anne is unmatched. The animators literally learned from Ghibli. You can see it in every movement.

If you want a Ghibli-style ecological parable, The Wandering Village turns the nature-vs-civilization tension of Princess Mononoke into a city builder you can actually play.

Every game on this list understands something that most Ghibli imitators miss. The magic is not in the art style. It is in the way these stories make you feel. Start with whichever one speaks to you, and you will find your way to the rest. If you are looking for more recommendations, our best cozy indie games list has more titles in the same spirit.