NEO The World Ends With You

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NEO: The World Ends With You – In 2007, The World Ends With You came out. With a unique graphics background, attractive context, gameplay that makes the most of Nintendo DS capabilities, and especially great music, the game quickly scored in the hearts of players and gained a loyal fan base.

However, Square Enix has been silent for many years, and players only have to play this game again, perhaps on all kinds of different systems from mobile phones to Nintendo Switch.

However, after 14 long years, what many fans have been waiting for, in a rather unexpected and quick way: a direct sequel called NEO: The World Ends With You.

To start the review, the writer would like to tell a little bit about his experience with The World Ends With You DS version and why NEO: The World Ends With You is a game I’ve been waiting for like that (probably only inferior to Final Fantasy VII Remake)

This game was released in 2007, but it was not until 2009 that the writer could experience it on his cousin’s DS in one gathering.

It must be said that the writer has experienced a lot of JRPG genres before, from popular game lines to games that almost no one knows, so playing one more JRPG game is nothing new.

However, The Worlds End With You opened up a whole new world for the writer, a new vision through the JRPG motif that the writer has looked at for a long time, with a vivid world, attractive gameplay, and a very unique graphics background.

The highlight that the writer will never forget is the music!

Unfortunately, the gathering time was not enough, so the writer, at that time, despite trying hard to “training day and night,” still could not accompany Neku to the end of the Game of Death.

Even so, for the next few months (and even now sometimes), the writer kept repeating “brain wave, main wave” from Twister or the battle song Transformation.

Although not a music game, the music in The World Ends With You is too impressive and has left an indelible “impressive” in the heart of the writer, and with such a monument, needless to say, hope for NEO: The World Ends With You seems too high and impossible.

However, NEO: The World Ends With You did not disappoint the writer!

Just watch the opening video, and you’ll be greeted with a soundtrack that makes your heart pound, blood rush to your brain as you get excited and eagerly look forward to the epic adventure that awaits you ahead.

The style of NEO: The World Ends With You is still the same, rock, a little metal, a little hip hop, a little… of everything, so each song has its substance, a soul of its own but still full of TWEWY’s identity, an indelible impression.

There is so much high-quality music in the game that the writer often turns on the game and stands still to listen to the music, then sometimes “switches” moving to another area with new music and stands listen to music.

After only 30 minutes of experience, the game convinced the writer to buy the digital OST immediately so that you can listen to it anywhere, whether at work or home. While writing this review, I listened to “Storm,” one of the best tracks I found in the game.

Not only that, players who have played through the first part also have a “cool ear” with remixes of the songs of the first part, such as Twister or The One Star.

In short, regardless of other aspects, only the music part, NEO: The World Ends With You, has won the writer’s heart and probably will not disappoint you.

Although it’s a direct sequel to The World Ends With You, NEO: The World Ends With You opens completely new, introducing new characters, new events in the first few chapters, and connections. With the predecessor version only being revealed from about the second half of the game, so new players are not too passive when playing this version for the first time.

where can you get a NEO The World Ends With You online

NEO: The World Ends with You – PlayStation 4: Buy it now

NEO: The World Ends with You Standard [Pre-Purchase] – Switch [Digital Code]: Buy it now

NEO: The World Ends With You – Nintendo Switch: Buy it now

The game follows Kanade Rindo and Furesawa Tosai (nicknamed Fret) as the two are suddenly transported to the Underground (UG) and must participate in the Death Game. A game for the dead in the real world to gain the right to come back to life (similar to Borderlands 2’s Second Wind mode).

In the death game, teams will have to fight each other, the first team will get a wish, and the last team will be erased from this world.

And so the two friends must overcome this difficult ordeal, with help from new friends, new allies, and even cute shinigami like Sakurane Shoka.

Said to be a new character with a new storyline; however, the connections to the first version are relatively dense, and there are key moments that may not bring as much meaning if the player does not understand the event of the first version. So the writer still advises you to experience the previous version (now available on Nintendo Switch as The World Ends With You: Final Remix).

The writer will not analyze the plot to avoid revealing the content but only say the storyline. Although the beginning seems relatively slow, the more you play, the more attractive it becomes, and the closer it gets to the end, readers can feel it for themselves.

The character development routes in the game are also done at a reasonable pace, leaving almost no characters falling into the “show-off” scene.

The interactions between the characters are also relatively meticulously sketched, with a sense of humor that makes the game have a lot of entertaining moments.

However, there are moments when it feels like the game is stretched unnecessarily (and these moments are often no voiceover at all), they’re not too much anyway, and these moments are fine. It’s not like it didn’t bring a good laugh.

The transition from touchscreen-heavy gameplay on 2D monitors to handheld gameplay in a 3D world sounds daunting, but NEO: The World Ends With You doesn’t disappoint either in this regard.

The game still revolves around badges that players have to pick up and use their power in combat. Each player can use a badge, which is assigned a button on the handle, and in battle, you can use these buttons to control the character corresponding to that badge and use the badge’s moves.

These badges are extremely diverse in design and ability, so the player can choose the appropriate abilities to create combos arbitrarily.

When you attack enough times, a bar called Beatdrop will appear, and your task will be to attack the enemy with another badge while this bar appears.

If you do, you’ll deal extra damage to your enemies and increase the mana bar for performing the Mashup group move, with a variety of powers depending on the Mashup activation badge, from triple damage to Release a giant fireball that burns all enemies.

Each badge can only be used a few times; after that, you will have to wait for them to recharge, so you can’t “spam” messing up the buttons. That can damage enemies quickly but will leave a “dead space” when you don’t have enough badges to attack when the Beatdrop appears.

It’s like playing a piece of music, the badges are instruments, and the player needs a steady rhythm and harmony between them.

Although it may seem overwhelming at first, once you have mastered the basics, fighting in NEO: The World Ends With You becomes like “water flowing” without being constrained but depending on the situation into the player’s creativity with his badge set.

Players also can challenge themselves by unlocking Hard mode (through the in-game Social Network) or lowering their Level and increasing their ability to earn badges from monsters.

Not only that, but players can also hit multiple enemies at once through the “Chaining” mechanism. Although the difficulty will increase gradually after each opponent is “chained,” the number of badge drops will also increase accordingly.

Thanks to many such options, players can completely choose the difficulty that is right for them, combined with the ability to customize badges, making fighting in NEO: The World Ends With You fascinating from beginning to end, both challenging and engaging.

Putting this part in “you’ll hate” seems a bit heavy-handed; there should be an “intermediate” part because, indeed, Shibuya in the game is beautifully sketched, detailed with various tones.

Although it has been converted to 3D format, the game still captures the soul of the previous version of Shibuya with a very unique and eye-catching graphic style, with a lively atmosphere, with rich inhabitants.

However, walking for a long time in Shibuya makes the player feel drunk because the buildings are twisted.

Perhaps the developer wants to show us what’s wrong with Shibuya, but looking at it for too long will make players feel a bit dizzy.

Some areas are difficult to move because one scene covers the other. Still, the user cannot rotate the camera freely but is locked at a camera angle (determined by the developer), resulting in the system being blocked. As a result, mobility is limited and can be uncomfortable.

Throughout the Game of Death, you will have to solve puzzles given by the Grim Reapers, but the game is too “relaxed” in this regard and mostly “hands-on” for the player. Some of the game’s puzzles are “easy” with answers for players; players have to go to the designated location.

Perhaps the developer’s intention did not place much emphasis on this puzzle. Still, it would be more reasonable to let players explore for a while, increasing the discovery and fun when experiencing.