Ori and the Will of the Wisps developer Moon Studios’ next game is an RPG, and Creative Director Thomas Mahler has provided some hints of what to expect. Taking to Twitter, Mahler likened the team’s work to Nintendo’s flagship franchises, writing that “Ori was our ‘Mario‘, this is our ‘Zelda‘”.
He added that the project has been in the works since 2015, though the team focused on the Ori sequel “to give this project more time in the over so that we’d then be able to turn it into a full-blown ARPG.”
Ori was our 'Mario', this is our 'Zelda'.
That was my thought when I first started prototyping our new project back in 2015.
We then committed to Wisps, which allowed us to give this project more time in the oven so that we'd then be able to turn it into a full-blown ARPG.
— thomasmahler (@thomasmahler) February 4, 2023
In itself, that doesn’t give much away, but Mahler has recently divulged a few other morsels in response to fan queries. One of the most telling is that the game won’t be a 2D ARPG, like Salt and Sacrifice. “We went all out on Wisps and probably did as much as you can with 2d games technically right now,” he wrote. Elsewhere, he’s compared the overarching style to that of Zelda, Diablo, Dark Souls, and Animal Crossing. That’s a fairly broad array of experiences, but it makes a 3D setting for this mysterious new project a safe assumption.
Finally, he has said that Moon Studios’ next game will be recognizable thanks to the unique art style that the team deploys.
While the hints don’t give much away, they’re enough to start getting some idea of what to expect. Unlike the team’s earlier games, this next project will be a multiplatform release, with Private Division handling publishing duties.
