Neo The World Ends With You

How strange is the world of video games and how special this hobby is. After all these years, The World Ends With You fans held out hope for an additional game, but that didn’t happen and the wait continued. Well, Neo The World Ends With You is the new version of this series that returns again and after all these years we return to “Shibuya” in Japan with our new heroes to play the deadly game of death once again. Was the adventure worth the effort? this waiting? You can find the answer in the review.

One of the reasons we were so drawn to the Nintendo DS portable is the great innovation it offered in many games that tried to use touch capabilities and dual screens in innovative ways. Many of the series that have become our favorite works were born this year or gained fame with this device, and we cite them as examples. Not limited to: Ace Attorney, Zero Escape and Professor Layton. Square Enix was also involved in an action RPG game different from anything the company had developed before, titled The World Ends With You in Western markets.

We have always considered that The World Ends With You is a game that draws a lot of inspiration from the games of the Japanese company Atlus and seems closer to the Atlas games than to the Square Enix games, if only because they Events take place in a contemporary or realistic world instead of the past worlds that Square Enix is ​​known for. Or futuristic or cartoon characters based on the characteristics of Japanese anime series characters, but the game also presented its own character and unique character and was it not a clone or a repeat, and it is really one of the best Nintendo DS games and one of the most wonderful portable games. Bringing this series back was like visiting an old friend we hadn’t met in many years. We were filled with a mixture of caution, anticipation and hope. What will our meeting with this friend be like?

Well, we are happy to say that the return was pleasant and that this friend gave us a very warm welcome and made us feel like we were back home. The game developers never lost track. We will say right from the start that the experience in the first part was fresher and more innovative and the cast of characters in the first part was more attractive, but that’s the case with every series, isn’t it? NEO The World Ends With You always builds on the foundations of the first game. In our opinion, there are only two types of games at Square Enix: mass-produced games and games that are treated as if they were second-rate and of lower production value. The production value of NEO The World Ends With You is inevitably limited for a home console game.

Gameplay and Combat System

For example, most of the story text in the game is told through conversations, similar to comic magazines. The game world is relatively limited, and Square Enix makes up for this by trying to expand the content, increase side quests, and lengthen some quests in order to justify purchasing the game at full price. Without increasing the size of the game and thus maintaining medium or low production costs. The same applies to the company’s previous games of this type, such as Bravely Default 2 or Octopath Traveler. Is that a defect? Well… you can’t help but feel like a company like Square Enix could have done something edgier, but that doesn’t take away from the true level of the game.

Neo The World Ends With You is a truly excellent game that doesn’t fail in any respect; The story goes back to the deadly Reapers game in Shibuya, whose mysterious secrets we leave for you to discover for yourself. Suffice it to say that it is a story that is brilliantly constructed and cooked little by little on a slow fire. The game asks questions and at the same time gradually unravels knots. The narrative has excellent dynamics. Narration: Many teams compete to win the game and a large number of characters that Square Enix has put a lot of effort into developing. At the appropriate level that players like, even passers-by in Shibuya have a lot of entertaining side conversations in addition to messages on mobile phones and. .. Especially the one with the mysterious “swallow”. Yes, Neo The World Ends With You is a game that is really full of conversations and in this respect reminds us of the RPG games of the PlayStation 2 and that will definitely not appeal to everyone.

We can say that Neo The World Ends With You requires a special taste and is aimed primarily at fans of Japanese culture and anime culture in video games who do not mind reading the large number of conversations during the game, and This doesn’t mean that the gameplay has been neglected in any way, quite the opposite. Neo The World Ends With You has great gameplay as it is now fully 3D, although the graphics level is very average. The combat system in the game is very fun and addictive, and we see that it is an offensive system that relies heavily on eliminating enemies in the shortest possible time, rather than playing the game of attack and defense. As is usual in the series, there are a large number of pins, each of which causes the use of a different ability or skill, with some depending on physical abilities, others on items and much more, and the level of which can be increased if necessary in battles automatically used by the points the player receives. .

Rich and Varied Content

The design of the combat system follows a modern philosophy of action RPG design and assigns a button to each character. You can think of it as each character being used as a different weapon or ability in combat. The combination of skills depends entirely on the person’s style and the pins he will use and the results are truly wonderful. If you perform the attacks at the right time, you will have the opportunity to activate a special strike in battles, and some special strikes have very impressive and wonderful effects. That’s not all, the player can also improve the characters’ attributes (stats) by eating food, and there are also accessories that can be purchased in stores. The player can also fight multiple consecutive battles (chains) to get more rewards. This is a good way to fight in the game and the game is full of fights and battles.

Neo The World Ends With You is a game with rich and varied content. There are many main and side missions. To be fair, there is a feeling that the game is tedious at times, and there is a feeling that it slows down at every step in the game taking too long to make the game’s lifespan as long as possible. But before you get too bored, the events of the game will be renewed and will bring you more excitement and excitement and we believe that given the price, this type may be acceptable to extend the life of the game as players nowadays seem to are not willing to spend money if not. The content is satisfactory enough.

Graphics and Sound

Neo The World Ends With You has become a fully 3D game compared to the Nintendo DS game, but the graphics don’t look as good and it also suffers from a slight drop in frame rate from time to time (but not). The point that it affects the gaming experience), no. The camera can be moved, and that really bothered us, even though the game was designed around a fixed camera and it seems like Square Enix designed the game in anticipation of its future release on smartphones. In our opinion, the character design does not reach the splendor and originality of the designs of the first part, but that definitely remains a personal taste. As for the music, it was created by Takeharu Ishimoto and is full of lyric and vocal clips. He is one of our favorite composers and there is no doubt that he has made a wonderful album. In harmony with the game and its world.

14 years after the release of the first game, Neo The World Ends With You has not disappointed our expectations. This may be because we visited our friend with a certain amount of reserve and did not raise our expectations too much. It’s easy for hopes and it takes a long time to reach a mountain of dreams that no game can satisfy. Neo The World Ends With You has a slightly different flavor than the first game, and at times we feel in it a direct inspiration from games like Persona and Danganronpa, and we believe that fans of these games will have an exciting experience if they decide to play To try Neo The World Ends With You, just watch a summary of the first part and get to know its characters before you start playing because it will double your fun. Well, I’m sorry, my friend, our visit is over.

We reviewed the PlayStation 4 version after receiving it from the publisher