The Lonesome Guild champions the power of friendship

The Lonesome Guild, to be published by indie trailblazer Don’t Nod, is something of a departure from developer Tiny Bull Studios’ previous games: a VR title and a Lovecraftian horror game. The Lonesome Guild is decidedly much more kid-friendly, featuring a cast of anthropomorphic animals adventuring together — along with a ghost, who’s more “Casper the Friendly” than poltergeist. With its focus on the evergreen theme of friendship, it’s the exact type of game I would have enjoyed as much when I was a kid as I do now.

It starts with a shooting star streaking across the world of Etere, aching with loneliness, and eventually crash-landing in a forest. A miasmic mist of concentrated loneliness spins out of it, as well as a ghost in need of a friend. Inventor bunny Davinci crosses paths with the ghost, whom Davinci aptly names Ghost, and together they set off to unravel the mysteries of both this mist and Ghost’s past, of which they have no recollection.

They meet Mr. Fox (I assume not his real given name, but who knows), the final playable character of the roughly two-hour demo. Davinci is excitable and has a whole “Gee Willikers!” vibe to him — he frequently exclaims “Sparks!” in lieu of four-letter words — while Mr. Fox is decidedly curmudgeonly and pessimistic. Still, you can tell they’ll be best buds by the end of the game.

And that’s because friendship and building relationships are at the core of The Lonesome Guild. The trio march toward a “friend” of Davinci’s, Ran, who can supposedly help them take a shortcut out of the forest. Instead, they’re greeted by that friend’s automaton creation, and it promptly attacks. Later in the demo, you learn Davinci has never met this friend in person before and they’ve only corresponded via letters; it gives off the impression that Davinci is embellishing his perception of his relationship with Ran, and they might not be as close as he implies. Maybe Ghost isn’t the only one suffering from being lonesome.

Davinci, Mr. Fox, and Ghost bond over campfires when resting, and here is where The Lonesome Guild gamifies its core theme. Characters gain Relationship points through conversations around the fire, upping their relationship with Ghost, and opening up pathways for new skills and passives to be unlocked. Gamified relationship building is nothing new for games, but I hope the full build of The Lonesome Guild, with its focus on friendship, goes further than superficially gaining relationship ranks with characters just to increase some stats.

Boosted damage will come in handy as The Lonesome Guild’s enemies can pack a hefty punch if you’re not careful. Aside from Ran’s robots, most of the enemies are some little dudes sporting overalls and pots on their heads like they’re Greg and his teapot in Over the Garden Wall. Gameplay is of your classic dodge-roll variety (think Tunic or Death’s Door), but with a fun and unique mechanic: Ghost can inhabit other characters, boosting their damage and granting them a Super Saiyan-like aura. That buff will wear off, and you’ll then swap to another character in the combat arena to give them the same boost. You’re constantly shifting about in combat to gain Ghost’s buff, and it offers a fun way of making sure the game doesn’t get stale. However, you’ll need quick reflexes as you might switch control to another character who you don’t realize is actually under attack and needs to skedaddle.

The combat in The Lonesome Guild is enjoyable, but the real draw is its emphasis on relationship building and friendship. Its Steam demo revealed a lot of layers to the characters I got to meet, and I look forward to meeting even more (lonely) cute animal dudes when the full game launches later this year on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.