Relive the cozy charm of retro anime in upcoming adventure game Vivarium 

Players can look forward to being immersed in an old-school anime in the upcoming adventure game Vivarium.  

Vivarium is an adventure game with a distinctive hand-drawn art style that takes inspiration from old Japanese anime. It is set in a rural village located inside a terrarium. It seems people live inside this miniature secret world that no-one knows about. The player must explore this charming, riddle-filled world. In the game, you will meet various anthropomorphic characters, such as a talking dog called Yulia. From the trailer, it seems that there will be an in-game clock and tools that you can equip. 

Vivarium is the brainchild of New York based freelance animator Michael Fegreus. On X, he has been chronicling the game’s development, beginning with concept art posted back in April 2017. It seems that Vivarium was originally going to be a 3D game until the developer decided to switch to 2D in order to better convey the handcrafted feel he wanted the game to have. 

One of the inspirations for this location was from this painting by animator John Canemaker.
And another one was this bridge in Chulip where Dan Yamada tells you about his job as a public school teacher. pic.twitter.com/JDqeTzkx8t

— Vivarium Dev (@Vivarium_Game) July 22, 2022

The game’s aesthetic aims to recreate hand-drawn cel animation, with its inspiration coming from 70s cartoons made in the US and Japan. The Vivarium Dev account has mentioned a wide range of Japanese anime that have influenced the game’s development, including Studio Ghibli’s Panda! Go, Panda! (1972), Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974) and even Crayon Shin-chan (1992-present). In addition, Punchline’s Playstation 2 release Chulip (2002) also appears to have a big influence on the creator.  

Oh yeah and as far as layout and paint, I referenced Mimiko’s house in Panda Go Panda, and Heidi’s Swiss cottage as well. 🙂

Not all of the anime refs will be Takahata, Otsuka, Kotabe, and the other Studio A Pro affiliated artists, its more like just the foundation for Vivarium. pic.twitter.com/l2VFobv7CC

— Vivarium Dev (@Vivarium_Game) January 22, 2023

An announcement trailer for Vivarium was released on December 7, but the game’s release date and supported platforms have yet to be revealed. 

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-12-07 14:59 JST)