Neo: The World Ends With You

Genre: Action-RPG / Spectacle Fighter

Players: 1

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Review:

Neo: The World Ends With You is an Action-RPG with Spectacle Fighter elements released on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2021. This game is a sequel to the 2007 Nintendo DS game The World Ends With You and the 2021 anime series of the same name, with this entry in the franchise following a largely separate set of characters (with a few notable returning characters) facing a similar set of circumstances as the protagonist of the first game.

As with the first game, Neo’s protagonist Rindo and friend Fret are walking around Tokyo’s Shibuya district one day when they find themselves in a strange situation that has them unable to interact with the rest of the crowd, forced to fight strange monsters called Noise, and cryptically informed by mysterious people calling themselves Reapers that Rindo and Fret are “Players” in a macabre contest, already dead, and are being forced to compete for a chance to win a wish that can return them to life.

The story here is conveyed to the player in bits and pieces as they play, in a way that will be particularly hard to follow for anyone who isn’t already steeped in this series’ lore. It doesn’t help that the characters in this game speak and act in ways that are pretty unrealistic, even in a franchise with as bizarre a concept as this one. Rindo and Fret only seem mildly concerned about their odd situation, and other characters they encounter act just as bizarre.

However, while the story here is frequently nonsensical, the rest of the presentation here is absolutely fantastic, with nice, stylish, detailed cel-shaded 3D visuals and story cutscenes with heavily stylized anime-style art that does a fantastic job of mimicking the look of the original game while bringing it into the realm of 3D. This is accompanied by the return of series composer Takeharu Ishimoto bringing a bouncy soundtrack of punk, hip-hop, and J-pop songs that once again set this series apart from just about everything else out there with some really expressive beats like Incongruous, Your Ocean, Shibuya Survivor, Unpainted, and Last Call. This is a game that absolutely exudes style.

Of course, the big question here is how this game handles the gameplay, since the original game was heavily built around the dual screens and touchscreen interface of the Nintendo DS, so much that attempts to port the game to other platforms met with only moderate success, even on the Nintendo Switch. Perhaps wisely, the sequel ditches touchscreen controls entirely, focusing instead on an interpretation of the first game’s battle system where each character in your party is assigned a button on your controller, which simplifies things into combat that feels like a Spectacle Fighter where the attacks are split up among your party, making successful combat result in your party attacking in turn to power up a special attack. This works pretty well and is really enjoyable, but it can feel a tad button-mashy.

Still, while the combat may not be quite up to par with other Spectacle Fighters, it’s still mostly really good. Most of the problem here comes in the form of the game’s RPG elements, which are extremely linear, much as with the first game. The game takes place over seven in-game “days”, with different missions for each day, each having the player search limited sections of Shibuya and fighting some enemies. However, the sort of exploration and puzzle-solving that tends to drive most RPGs isn’t really present here beyond what amounts to a glorified Easter egg hunt.

Still, while Neo: The World Ends With You may not quite succeed in everything it tries to do, it manages to absolutely nail the three things it most needed to do – it creates a fun new combat system that reinterprets the Nintendo DS-focused quirks of the original game for a console using gamepad inputs, it has an absolutely stellar presentation with a modern look that retains the style of the original game, and overall this feels like a good progression of the world and concepts of the original game. It’s odd quirks and underwhelming RPG elements may mean it won’t be for everyone, but this game is likely to please fans of Action-RPGs who lean more toward the action side of things, fans of Spectacle Fighters, and especially fans of the original game.

tl;dr – Neo: The World Ends With You is a sequel to the Nintendo DS classic Action-RPG following new characters playing through a deadly game in a strange version of Tokyo’s Shibuya district. This sequel does a fantastic job of bringing the stylish anime-style presentation from the original game into the realm of 3D, and the new Spectacle Fighter-style combat system feels great while still maintaining elements of the original. The story is odd and confusing, and the RPG elements leave something to be desired, but overall this is a solid sequel that should be sure to please fans of the original.

Grade: B

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