What do you get when you mix Zelda, Studio Ghibli, and Ni No Kuni? You get the best summer holiday of your life, of course, but you also get Baldo: The Guardian Owls, which we've been patiently waiting for since 2019.
Now we have just a month to wait, as the developers have announced a release date of August 27th, complete with a brand-new trailer.
We've bemoaned the loss of Level-5 in the West on quite a few occasions, so it's quite lovely to see someone picking up the artistic torch of games like Ni No Kuni and Fantasy Life; we also really like owls, so this is probably a day-one purchase for us.
Somewhat surprisingly for a very fleshed-out RPG, the game will also be coming to Apple Arcade, on top of a PC release, and the usual trifecta of Switch/PS4/Xbox One. It used to be a "timed exclusive" for Switch, but apparently that was scrapped after the game was delayed for a year.

What do you think of Baldo, then? Are you planning to pick it up on Switch? Are you disappointed that none of the characters are bald? Let us know in the comments!
[source youtube.com]
Comments 24
The name "Baldo" is not going to do this game any favours, at least amongst English-speaking audiences. It is just an incredibly unappealing word.
Looks kinda cool visually though.
Day one purchase. Hope it sells better than monster hunter rise
@EarthboundBenjy you're not wrong about that. However, let's watch and see where it goes from here. If the game is solid enough(gameplay wise) then the name may not matter all that much.
This looks utterly AMAZING!!! Been looking forward to this came for quite some time now, I'm happy it's gonna release so soon now! It looks just.. Cozy or something, yet adventurous. Lovely!
Looks like a better 3D Ghibli movie than what Ghibli themselves could make, that’s for sure! Will definitely look into it!
The art direction of this game has really got me interested. I completely forgot about it existing in the first place, so I'm glad to see it's still chugging along.
But like @EarthboundBenjy said, the name leaves a lot to be desired. It's something that can be overcome if it's as phenomenal as I hope it is. Otherwise, it'll just end up lumped in as another eShop game that pops up on sale every so often.
I'm not sure the game play will live up to the great art style. Open to being wrong. Waiting for review.
Thanks for the update.
Well, normally i would buy it day 1, then it would release on game pass, so i guess I'll wait & see, because i already pay for that, so it would essentially be free for me in that case.
I like that it's not turn-based like most indie RPGs seem to be. But the IGN preview just said it was around 50 hours long. I only really sink my time into long games maybe a couple of times a year and I just did that with Skyward Sword. Plus there's lots of stuff coming out at a similar time.
I'll try to remember to keep an eye on it in future sales though.
In much the same way that my hopes are fading for a Yokai Watch 4 western release I had almost given up hope for this title. Great news
The animation looks fantastic, hopefully the story and gameplay delivers as well. Will definitely check this out for Switch OLED and PC.
The game should be called "Where's Baldo" lol
...Not too sure how I feel about shirtless boobie grandma... 😅
But the game does look really charming so I hope it's indeed as good as it seems to be odd.
@EarthboundBenjy it’s fine, the world does not revolves around English speaking people thankfully .. Baldo is a cute name very Ghibli style and I’ll look forward to buy it
People are shallow about a games name, let me be shallow too — I hope they changed the Arial-based UI a bit because it was a big put off for me, as it looked very mobilegamey. I’m a bit worried they showed none of it in this particular trailer.
Also why do they always have to put creepy giant spiders?
I am so happy for this. Been waiting so long!
Definitely going to check out the reviews etc.
Interesting that the Switch’s timed exclsusiveness timed out - was that linked to a specific calendar period that is now in the past? Or did they do a deal to scrap that?
Simultaneously coming to mobile platforms (via Apple Arcade) isn’t exactly a dealbreaker for me but at least raises warnings about the potential complexity
Yesss! Been waiting for this for a long time! Day one!
I've had my eye on this for 1,5 years. Does someone know if they will publish it physically in Europe? 🙏
Wasn't sure about this game at first but the artwork is super cute, I'll definitely give this one a go.
Got to own this game.
No info whom is selling it...that doesn't help those looking
We've been waiting all this time and there's no physical release? I guess I'll continue waiting
@Schizor88 If you find a place doing this, please tag me as I also want a physical copy
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