Behind the Frame is chill anime-inspired puzzle with strong Ghibli vibes

There's something about the trailer for Behind the Frame that just calms you down immediately. It begins with a painter dropping her brush, and instead of immediately picking it up, she stretches leisurely. You can see her sun-dappled apartment, paintings on the walls, lush greenery on a table, and the atmosphere is set.

Developer Silver Lining Studio describes Behind the Frame as a "story-oriented puzzle game", and from the looks of the trailer, the gameplay seems to be a relaxed affair, too. You discover scraps of an old painting and put those together. You paint your grumpy neighbour from across the road and his cat. You make a good cup of coffee.  Gameplay takes place in first-person perspective, letting you interact with certain items in the room, which stand out simply thanks to being rendered as 2D cell-shaded objects. Sometimes the gameplay is broken up by simple cutscenes.

The thing I really enjoy about Behind the Frames is the style. Everything from character design to its bright cutscenes reminds me of Studio Ghibli films such as Kiki's Delivery Service, and I think we can never have enough games like that. If you agree, you can wishlist Behind the Frame on Steam now. There's no release date yet.

Read more
Is This Seat Taken? screenshots
Is This Seat Taken? is an upcoming adorable puzzle game all about dealing with stinky triangles and snotty squares, and just trying to make everyone happy
Two characters sitting on a bench talking
Wanderstop review
Journey - a hooded character stand sin the desert
The 20 best cozy games on PC that aren't farm sims
Spirit Swap
Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To is a chill haven where problems melt away
Tiny Garden - A digital spherical capsule toy with a crank that has a small garden inside
Tiny Garden is an adorable Polly Pocket-sized farm sim where you crank a handle to grow crops
Tempopo singing flowers with protagonist
The Unpacking developer's next game finally has a release date, but if you can't wait until then, you can check out the free demo now
Latest in Puzzle
A sign reads "HATRED IS POWER"
A demo for a lost videogame based on George Orwell's 1984 has emerged from the memory hole
London Bridge during snowfall
This is the coolest pricing gimmick I've ever seen: the temperature in London determines the price of this videogame
Wordle today puzzle on a smartphone
Today's Wordle answer for Thursday, March 13
Wordle today puzzle on a smartphone
Today's Wordle answer for Wednesday, March 12
Today's Wordle being played on a phone
Today's Wordle answer for Tuesday, March 11
Wordle answers
Today's Wordle answer for Monday, March 10
Latest in News
Titus in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 reveal promo image
Praise be to the Omnissiah! Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 is officially in development
Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., speaks while holding the company's new GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards and a Thor Blackwell robotics processor during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. Huang announced a raft of new chips, software and services, aiming to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence computing. Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Group allegedly trying to smuggle Nvidia Blackwell chips stare down bail set at over $1 million
New art of Harry and Kim from Disco Elysium, with Harry holding a lit molotov cocktail.
Despite Disco Elysium Mobile aiming to 'captivate the TikTok user,' it looks surprisingly decent—but it's still insulting to Disco's ousted creators
Flag of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia buys Pokémon GO maker for $3.5 billion with a 'B'
Vice President, Games at Netflix Mike Verdu speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 on October 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California
4 short months after saying 'We'll have to adapt and change', Netflix's AI games VP adapts and changes into a person who isn't working there anymore
Performers acting as zombies are seen on a train coach during the "Train to Apocalypse" event as part of the Pandora Box Artmire Festival 2024 held to attract commuters to ride the city's rapid transit system LRT (light rapid transit), in Jakarta on July 11, 2024. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP) (Photo by BAY ISMOYO/AFP via Getty Images)
Venerable browser-based MMO Urban Dead is closing this week after a 20-year run, not with a bang but with a whimper