Which might not sound like news, but as a cultural exchange of base concepts and inspiration, knowing where a game's genesis comes from can help arm players with a sense of expectation, and also help promote research into said culture. The better we know, and all that.

The festival itself is one centred around honouring the dead and wishing them safe passage into the afterlife.

In the world of ONINAKI, the souls of the departed are reincarnated into a new life in the next world, and those that struggle to move on are left stranded as Fallen Souls. For that reason, the characters of ONINAKI pray for their loved ones to move on to the next life and celebrate the lives of those around them in a celebration known as the "Seven-Day Sending".

The development team at Tokyo RPG Factory were inspired by the beautiful images of sky lanterns (天灯) and real-world traditions such as Obon when visualising the look and themes of the celebration, and the developers aspire to make players consider what life and death mean for them in their own lives with the evocative and powerful imagery.

ONINAKI is a JRPG coming to PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch this August 22.

Watch a trailer for the game embedded below.