‘Get ready to say goodbye’ in Spiritfarer

An emotional new adventure story, Spiritfarer, is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.

The video, first showcased at Microsoft‘s E3 conference, showed a loveable cast of animal characters with the legend, “get ready to say goodbye”.  Developer Thunder Lotus describes Spiritfarer as a “cosy management game about dying” that aims to deliver an experience “that is both entertaining and emotionally moving”.

You play as Stella, a ferrymaster that must befriend and care for spirits before releasing them into the afterlife. While the teaser shows building a boat and exploring the world, you can also “farm, mine, fish, harvest, cook, and craft your way across mystical seas”. Two-player co-operative play with Daffodil the cat is also available.

As yet there’s no formal release date beyond a 2020 window, but the teaser did confirm that the first-party game will be available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on release day.

“As soon as I heard the initial idea, it became clear to me that Thunder Lotus was where I belonged,” said creative director Nicolas Guérin. “It was as if it finally made sense, as if games could really be what I always thought they had to be. And this one would be just that. A game that matters, an experience that means something and has a purpose.”