Into the Wind: A Cozy Death Stranding With Ghibli Looks and Sky Pirates

Courier sims are having a moment, and Into the Wind wants a very different slice of that pie. The upcoming open-world game, listed on Steam by developer Bloom & Gloom Games, pairs visuals clearly inspired by Studio Ghibli anime with a gameplay loop built around hauling cargo across a world that actively works against you. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone – the first gameplay trailers quickly earned comments describing it as “a cozy version of Death Stranding”.

You inherit a delivery business, not just a bike

You play a young person who takes over a delivery company from their uncle. From there, the game splits your attention in two directions: you personally fly packages where they need to go, and you keep the business itself running and growing. So it is not only about one route after another – the company behind those routes matters too.

Your vehicle is the standout idea here: a motorcycle-plane hybrid that handles both ground travel and flight. That single machine ties the whole loop together, because every job turns into a question of how you want to get there.

Weight, shape and weather decide how your run goes

Cargo is not an abstract number. Into the Wind tracks the weight, size and shape of what you are carrying, and all three feed back into how the delivery plays out. Heavy loads are a real problem in the air – the bike struggles to take off when it is weighed down. The good news is that upgrades are in: you can improve your ride, which should give you the power to lift heavier shipments.

Then there is the world itself. Rain, lightning and landslides can stop a delivery in its tracks, so route planning and timing are part of the challenge rather than background flavor.

Porco Rosso-style aerial combat

The soft, cute art style hides something sharper. Into the Wind features aerial battles between your character and cargo pirates, and those dogfights look heavily inspired by the anime Porco Rosso. Combat sits right next to the delivery mechanics as a core pillar, so expect some of your jobs to turn into fights over your own freight.

A life sim layer on the island of Santa Rosa

Between the dangerous contracts, the game slows down. Deliveries unlock other parts of the experience, including life sim mechanics that have become standard for the cozy genre:

• decorating your home or your office
• exploring Santa Rosa, an island inspired by Italy
• meeting the locals who live there

These elements look secondary to the delivery and combat systems, but they are exactly the kind of thing that keeps a repetitive loop from wearing thin.

Release plans: early access first, playtest before that

Into the Wind is still in active development and has no release date at the time of writing. Bloom & Gloom Games has confirmed two concrete things, though. The game will launch into Steam Early Access before its full release, and a playtest will run ahead of that to make sure the fundamental systems hold up.

If you want in on the playtest, you can sign up through the game’s Steam page – just note that registering does not guarantee you a slot. Wishlisting is the safer way to catch the launch, and plenty of people have already done it: the developer says the game passed 50,000 wishlists in June 2026, shortly after it was announced.

What this means for you

If you liked the idea of Death Stranding more than its tone, this is the closest pitch yet to a friendlier take on the same core fantasy – plan a route, respect your load, survive the weather, come home. Add dogfights against pirates and a house to decorate, and you get a game that is harder to pin down than its art style suggests. We are tracking everything around the project, so keep an eye on our Into the Wind coverage for the playtest and early access dates as soon as they are confirmed.

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