Don’t Nod’s New Game Is Zelda Meets Final Fantasy

While you might know Don’t Nod as the developer of popular adventure games such as Life Is Strange, Tell Me Why, and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, the French company has also seen success in publishing various smaller titles from up and coming indie and AA developers.

These games often embody a unique idea or theme very different from Don’t Nod’s own portfolio, though the embodiment of positive themes like togetherness and companionship tends to be a recurring theme between these titles.

Following in the footsteps of PortaPlay’s Gerda: A Flame In Winter and Studio Tolima’s Koira, Tiny Bull Studios is the next developer to have a game published under Don’t Nod’s publishing label with its upcoming action RPG, The Lonesome Guild.

The Lonesome Guild features a colourful cast of misfits who each find solace in each other’s company, and end up going on an adventure to discover the origins of one of their party members. It’s set in a world where loneliness has started to spread like a disease, corrupting anyone who comes into contact with it.

Given its colourful aesthetics and wholesome vibes, it’s clear that The Lonesome Guild has aimed for a family-friendly approach to its themes. Indeed, a lot of the dialogue and story content skews that way too, where the game often uses humorous and sentimental writing to portray its characters. Considering the overall theme of togetherness, this works in the game's favour, delivering a message that all age groups can appreciate and follow clearly.

The main character of The Lonesome Guild is named Ghost, a lost spirit who wakes up to find that they have no memories. Ghost quickly becomes entangled with a few other party members, each with their own stories, and the group sets off together to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Tiny Bull Studios

I’ve had hands-on with an early build of the game, which includes around 4 hours of gameplay across five areas. From what I’ve played so far, The Lonesome Guild seems to scratch the easy-to-learn action RPG itch reminiscent of old school RPGs like Final Fantasy or Digimon Story. Combat is relegated to a main attack, a dodge, and two unique powerups per character that you can activate once they’re charged up.

Ghost, while not an active participant in the fight, can often team up with a character during battles to enhance their abilities and improve their strength. Once the party deals out enough damage, Ghost and the rest of the party can also activate a special combined attack that deals massive damage, completely obliterating the field and winning the battle.

In between fights, you’ll explore a world that was once thriving, and has now been overcome by loneliness. The explorable world is split into different locations, each with their own biomes and themes, and you face various different enemies within these places.

As The Lonesome Guild is an RPG, levelling up and earning new skills is part of the progression process. However, the game emphasises the relationship-building between each character as a core way of upgrading your skills and gear. Making sure your party members interact with each other, both on the battlefield and off it, can ensure that levels are earned more quickly as their bond grows.

This is also achieved through campfires, short moments where the party can kick their feet back and relax while chatting amongst themselves. It’s here that you’ll get to learn more about each character as they learn about each other, and you also earn relationship points here to help with levelling up. Growing these bonds also unlock new side quests, powers, and story progression.

Tiny Bull Studios

It’s quite difficult to avoid bonding with your party in The Lonesome Guild. You can always try, but that goes against the spirit of the game. Besides, when your companions are as likeable as this lot, I can’t see why you would try to do that. At the end of the day, Tiny Bull Studios has taken traditional RPG mechanics, and is attempting to fit them around this core idea of togetherness.

This idea of looking out for each other, of helping our community, it’s something that is so incredibly important to emphasise when the real world is filled with so much divide. Much like those early COVID pandemic games like Animal Crossing New Horizons and Death Stranding, this game sees a world that is worth fighting for by holding onto the community that surrounds you. It feels like the type of narrative that we really need in 2025.

The Lonesome Guild will be available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on 23rd October, 2025.