One way to do it
I wonder if enough thought has been put into where a game gets made. There is surely a special quality in other art forms like film where you might be whisked away to another country, or in theatre where you construct a world on a stage. Games mostly get made in office buildings, which isn't particularly magical sounding. What about a remote Japanese mountain village? Well, this is exactly what Yoshio Nishimura did, a former Capcom and Vanillaware devs with 30 years of experience. Enter stage left: Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle.
There is an exuberant feeling to the look of Veritas Tales. The entire thing is, more or less, set at your table. Your adventure mostly takes place within the pages of a choose your own adventure book, where each new page brings a new bit of story or challenge. To the right of your back is your adventurer sheet, with drawings of your character rendered in the style of those aforementioned CYOA books, alongside details of your level, health, and items you currently own. The entire thing is steeped in a deep love for tabletop RPGs.
"Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Dungeon Meshi — Beneath the fantasy worlds we celebrate today lie the gamebooks and tabletop RPGs that first gave them form," the game's Steam page explains. "Veritas Tales returns to that moment — to the true weight and texture of swords, sorcery, and rolls of the dice. Savor once again what we first called fantasy, on pages that remember how it all began." What's particularly lovely is how front and centre it puts the fact that every single drawing was done by Nishimura; "No generative AI was used at any stage. This game has a soul that can only be found in something truly handmade."
Nishimura himself was formally the chief background artist on the Monster Hunter series at Capcom, later working on games like Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim at Vanillaware. It was only a few years ago that he left Vanillaware to settle in "a small mountain village in rural Japan. There, he tends his fields and crafts games." Cripes, what an envious life!
Probably also worth a mention is that the music is being composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, best known for the soundtracks of Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 12. Veritas Tales is looking a bit stacked, 'ey? It's out soon, too, as it's due for release on July 9th. You can wishlist it on Steam now.