Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a role-playing video game, developed by Level-5. It was released for the PlayStation 3 in Japan on November 17, 2011, and published in Western regions by Namco Bandai Games in January 2013. The game is a significantly enhanced version of Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn, released for the Nintendo DS in Japan in December 2010, featuring similar gameplay and story elements.
Players control Oliver, a young boy who sets out on a journey to save his mother. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on foot, by boat, or on a dragon. While players navigate Oliver throughout the game's world, other characters can be controlled during battles against enemies; during these battles, players use magic abilities and creatures known as "familiars", which can be captured and tamed.
Development began in 2008, simultaneous to Dominion of the Dark Djinn. The game's animated sequences were produced by Studio Ghibli, while the original score was co-composed by Joe Hisaishi. The art style was also inspired by Studio Ghibli's other productions. The character development of Oliver was a large focus of the game, intending to make children empathize with the character and for adults to relive their adolescence. The developers used the power of the PlayStation 3 to its full potential to render the world with great detail not possible in Dominion of the Dark Djinn.
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