ToeJam and Earl co-creator Greg Johnson has announced his new game Dancing with Ghosts, which he and his company HumaNature Studios describe as a "life sim about finding joy from grief".
Set in a small Thai village, Dancing with Ghosts casts you as Mai, a young girl who loses both of her parents in an accident. When she meets Pim, a ghost who can't remember who she was in life or how she died, the two must set out on a journey to "process their identities".
Johnson got the idea for Dancing with Ghosts following the sad and untimely passing of his daughter at just 28 years old, as well as "his family's loss of everything in the 2023 Lahaina fires", according to a press release announcing the game.
According to that same press release, Johnson wanted to "tell a story in another culture close to his heart"; he became fluent in Thai "to communicate with his beloved Thai and Muslim family", and he was inspired by Thai "cultures and customs around the departed".
To make Dancing with Ghosts, Johnson sought the aid of local artists Ferrai Duanghathai and Tanta Voratawankul, as well as the Thai Bit Egg animation studio and "long-time" Indonesian collaborator Ferry Halim, so it's got some serious authenticity behind it.
In gameplay terms, Johnson says you can expect the "chill, sim-type gameplay of a living village" in which you'll help villagers with their problems, earn karma, and play "cultural mini-games that are integrated into the themes of the story". It's got serious Spiritfarer vibes, so if you love that game, you may well like this one too.
You can check out the announcement trailer for Dancing with Ghosts, which gives a good sense of what the game will look like in motion, right here.
Dancing with Ghosts debuts on PC and Nintendo Switch sometime next year, and if you want to help support its development, there'll be a Kickstarter campaign to contribute to in October.
