I love it when major companies include unexpected indie gems in their fancy showcases. A brand like Sony or Microsoft could easily depend on their vast slate of properties alone, but we saw a slew of wonderful surprises in both the Xbox Showcase and State of Play in past weeks, ranging from updates on much-anticipated releases or all-new reveals nobody could have seen coming. Vivarium was one such game, and it looks absolutely darling.
Developed by Serenity Forge, Vivarium immediately turned heads with its gorgeous lo-fi art style that feels like a loving homage to Studio Ghibli classics like My Neighbour Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. It’s like the aesthetic equivalent of a warm hug and a nice cup of hot chocolate in the middle of winter. You play as a young girl in a picturesque world filled with luscious forests and small towns populated by talking animal creatures who all seem to be living the most peaceful lives imaginable.
It’s all very mushy and saccharine as the narration touches on how you will be occupying this world as yet another denizen of comfort who spends their time watering crops, talking with new friends, and exploring this beautiful place you now call home. And while I have no doubt this will be a cosy game in the mechanical sense, there is definitely something much darker lurking in the story we have yet to see, though the trailer definitely hints at it.
Vivarium Is More Than Meets The Eye
Let’s start with the little sprout our main character finds at the beginning of the trailer as it begins to grow in the middle of a hollowed out tree. She informs residents of the town that it’s appeared, but they brush her off, almost as if they know what its growth might entail. A later scene has another resident — this time an adorable dog lady — say that the forest path always changes, but brushes off this paranoia as irrational.
We then cut to small moments where our protagonist laughs over a beer in the local bar, before zooming in on an old photo in which multiple faces are harshly scratched out. I’m especially curious to learn about the mannequin girl sitting by a pond in the forest who appears unable to stand up and move around as we strike up a friendship with her. Why is she a living doll, and will this factor into the story I’m piecing together in my head?
Much like the severely underrated Little Goody Two Shoes, a narrative-driven horror gem that launched back in 2023, it feels like Vivarium is going to settle into a place where it may continuously subvert our expectations about what a cosy life sim should be with a spooky story that dares us to question what is real and what isn’t. Is this place truly paradise? Will players be safe casually tending to their form, or is something waiting outside the woods waiting to strike?
The final shot of the trailer provides one of the greatest hints as to where this narrative may go, as it zooms out of the Vivarium the game takes place in to reveal it sits in the middle of an abandoned hut with rotten wooden floorboards and perpetual rain hitting the windows. I wonder if the sprout we discover at the beginning of the story will eventually burst forth and change this little-contained world forever.
If Vivarium can match the level of intrigue in its reveal in the full experience, it could be one hell of a ride. It’s set to launch next year for Xbox and PC, and judging by the social media accounts, has been in the works for a very long time.
Vivarium
- Released
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2027
- Developer(s)
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Studio Meadowflower
- Publisher(s)
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Serenity Forge
- Number of Players
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Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
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Unknown
