VGTimes Interview with the Developer of Hanno: A Magical Tale — a Game About the Friendship Between a Boy and a Baby Elephant

Hanno: A Magical Tale is an adventure game following a teenage boy and a baby elephant. Players explore the tropical forests and ancient temples of Ashar, solve puzzles, and take part in battles. At gamescom 2026, we had the opportunity to speak with one of the developers of this indie game.

Our questions were answered by Francisco Vasconcelos, a programmer at One Way Eleven, the studio developing Hanno: A Magical Tale.

VGTimes: Tell us about your project, its key features, setting, characters, and gameplay. For example, can we play as the elephant?

Francisco Vasconcelos: Hanno: A Magical Tale is a single-player action-adventure game in which you play as a boy named Vimal. He finds a baby elephant and begins taking care of him. But demons and other monsters suddenly attack the teenager's home village, and nobody understands what is happening. Unfortunately, he is forced to leave his home with the animal. It later turns out that Hanno possesses magical abilities. During their journey, the boy and the elephant become true friends. The story will feature difficult decisions and touching moments.

Their bond is also reflected in the gameplay. Together, they will solve puzzles and fight enemies. Most of the time, you will play as Vimal, but there will also be moments when you control Hanno alone and must help the boy.

VGTimes: Will the elephant grow up over the course of the game, or will he remain small?

Francisco Vasconcelos: He might grow up. But I cannot talk about that yet.

VGTimes: What engine are you using to develop the game?

Francisco Vasconcelos: Unreal Engine 5.7. We always update to the latest version of the engine.

VGTimes: Can you tell us about some of the subtler but important details that will appear in the game? For example, will there be any sweet moments involving the main characters?

Francisco Vasconcelos: We have many narrative-driven and cinematic moments centered on the interactions between Vimal and Hanno. We drew inspiration from Asian cultures while creating the game, and the island itself features beautiful flooded grasslands.

VGTimes: When will the game be released?

Francisco Vasconcelos: We have not set a release date yet. We are aiming for next year, but if the project is not ready, we will take a little more time to polish it and bring it up to the standard we want.

VGTimes: Thank you very much for the interview!

Francisco Vasconcelos: Thank you!

Hanno: A Magical Tale will likely appeal to fans of heartfelt adventure games such as Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and The Last Guardian. The baby elephant is already undeniably adorable, and it is difficult not to grow attached to him. However, fans of puzzle-heavy adventure games and action titles will probably find the gameplay a little too simple.

VGTimes has been operating since 2011 and over that time has attended dozens of exhibitions and festivals, where our journalists have gathered a wealth of exclusive material. For example, in 2019 we attended a closed showing of Cyberpunk 2077 at gamescom, in 2017 we prepared a photo report from WG Fest, in 2020 we were at the largest gaming event in Central Asia — CAGS, and we have visited IgroMir several times, where we met Hideo Kojima and other famous developers. In 2024 we traveled to the Land of the Rising Sun for TGS 2024, where we were amazed by the scale of the Tokyo event. In 2025 we witnessed one of Asia's premier gaming exhibitions — ChinaJoy in Shanghai. We also made it to the Thai edition of gamescom 2025 in Bangkok, and at the start of this year attended CES 2026 in Las Vegas and later Computex 2026 in Taipei.