Lucca Comics & Games has unveiled details around its 2025 celebration, including honouring France, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Pokémon, Stranger Things and more!
Starting with France, Lucca will be honouring the country at this year’s festival due to its deep impact on the art world—in every form, “Liberté, Créativité, Diversité are the three values of the Institut Français based on the great principles of the French Revolution, which perfectly match the five values of Lucca Comics & Games: Community, Inclusion, Discovery, Respect, Gratitude.”
The theme this year is “French Kiss,” and their first poster by French illustrator Rébecca Dautremer puts that on full display, with the festival describing a kiss as “a narrative and emotional detonator.” Their official release goes on to explain that we will see “a werewolf, a warrior, a vampire countess, a monster, a witch, and the ‘Lukawa,’ a Lucca-inspired manga creature—in suspended moments before transformative kisses.” Lucca will feature Dautremer’s work in a new exhibition space, the Palazzo Guinighi, and she will debut her new graphic novel, Ruby Rose, ahead of its 2026 release in France.
Lucca Comics & Games is going big with video games in 2025, with the Death Stranding 2: On The Beach World Tour making Lucca its final stop. That means Hideo Kojima himself will be present at Lucca this year. Sticking with visionaries, Silent Hill and Slitterhead developer Keiichiro Toyama will speak about his career and new studio, Bokeh Games. And a perfect fit for Lucca, Luca Galante, the creator of Vampire Survivors, will be taking part in demos, panels and hands-on opportunities across the event. In Piazza Colonna Mozza, Pokémon will have their largest space yet and “fans will be able to discover wonders from across the world of Pokémon.”
As always, streaming at Lucca Comics & Games will be front and center with Netflix. Stranger Things will have a presence, and according to the release, “On October 31, the festival will host a unique and unmissable event anticipating the final chapter of one of the most beloved series of all time,” regarding the series before its three-part release.
Of course, Lucca Comics & Games 2025 will feature a ton of events, activations and more across various fandoms. LEGO Italia will feature a 300m² space between its pop-up store and play area. Red Bull Unforeseen is bringing a Tetris playground and the national Tetris final on November 1st. Other participants include Asmodee Italia, The Gundam Card Game, Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan, creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black, and creator of Shadowhunters, Cassandra Clare.
On the comic front, the creator of Fist of the North Star, Sensei Tetsuo Hara, the creators of Gachiakuta, Kei Urana and Hideyoshi Andou, and Italian creators, Zerocalcare, Milo Manara, Leo Ortolani, and Fumettibrutti, will return.
Lucca Comics & Games takes place from October 29 to November 2 in the city of Lucca, Italy. Stay tuned to CGMagazine for all things Lucca Comics & Games.
