Rock,Paper,Shotgun
Hoa review: a gorgeous platformer with big Studio Ghibli vibes
While Level-5’s pair of Ni No Kuni games lay the biggest claim to being interactive Studio Ghibli movies (the first having actually been made in collaboration with Hayao Miyazaki’s world famous animation studio and the second borrowing a former Ghibli character designer), the Vietnamese-made Hoa comes a very close second. Not only do Skrollcat Studio’s lush, hand-painted visuals look like they’ve been plucked straight from the dewy, sun-dappled forests of My Neighbour Totoro, but you can hear it in the music, too. Johannes Johansson’s sweeping, romantic piano score channels pure Joe Hisaishi goodness for the length of Hoa’s two hour…
