Toei Animation — the studio behind popular anime series like Dragon Ball and One Piece — has just revealed the first trailer for an upcoming multiplayer horror game inspired by the Gegege no Kitaro manga series.
NOROI KAGO: the Grudged Domain is a multiplayer indie horror game coming to PC via Steam, developed by Tokyo-based studio Toydium and published by Toei. Up to four players will team up to try to escape a haunted house before they're cursed to become half-demon — a mix of Phasmaphobia and Japan's Dead by Daylight.
Toei Animation Reveals First Trailer for Indie Horror Film 'Noroi Kago: The Grudged Domain'
In order to escape the haunted house, players must find four items and perform a ritual to break the barrier surrounding the house. The items are placed in randomly selected locations, and the house is filled with yokai — monsters from Japanese folklore. Players can also find items to ward off yokai or revive fallen teammates. The game is expected to launch sometime in 2024, with the first demo being shown at the Tokyo Game Show from September 26 to 29, 2024.
Noroi Kago will be much scarier than Gegege no Kitaro
Noroi Kago is based on Shigeru Mizuku's Gegege no Kitaro series. The long-running and frequently rebooted series was first published from 1960-1969 in Weekly Shonen Magazine, with Toei Animation producing the most recent adaptation in 2018. While the original series featured a lighter depiction of yokai, Noroi Kago has a much darker, more somber atmosphere and aesthetic, more reminiscent of Mizuku's other non-shounen works.
The game comes after a revival of the Gegege no Kitaro projects, which began in 2022 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mizuku's birth. Other projects include a Gegege no Kitaro film and a new adaptation of his other work, Akuma-kun, which was released late last year on Netflix.
Source: Toei Animation via YouTube
