Review NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

Let’s find out together, with our more than verbose review, if the wait for the arrival of NEO The World Ends With You was worth it or not: let’s go back to Shibuya, a new Game of Demons awaits us

The Nintendo DS was one of the most prolific Nintendo consoles, with hundreds and hundreds of titles of certainly “variable” quality, but which hid large and small pearls of undoubted charm. This was the case, for example, of The World Ends With You, what at the time was a new IP of Square Enix, released in 2007 in Japan and the following year in the rest of the world. To give a temporal location to the title, just think that at the time the company also published Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions on PlayStation Portable. With the production and character design by Tetsuya Nomura and the direction of Kando, Hasegawa and Hosokawa, The World Ends With You broke the hearts of all JRPG fans with a flashy title, fun and captivating from every point of view.

Although there is no doubt that the best way to play “TWEWY” is to resume the original on the Nintendo DS, the game has been redone in two editions, one dedicated to mobile devices in 2012 and the last, in a period of time, of 2018 on Nintendo Switch, titled The World Ends with You: Final Remix. And it is precisely Final Remix our starting point for this article, more specifically the extra content, A New Day, which Square Enix added, suggesting the arrival of a sequel. We close with this introduction too full of information by welcoming you to our review of NEO The World Ends With You.

NEW GAME

Shibuya, Pedestrian Crossing. Fans of the first The World Ends With You will surely have felt at home just reading these words. And the first impact with the title, which we also told you about in our preview based on the demo released shortly before the launch by Square Enix, is exactly that of a welcome back home. If we replace the old clamshell phones of Neku and Shiki with the smartphones of Rindo and Fret and reinterpret the very populous district of Tokyo in a more modern and technological way, we are there: TWEWY is back.

The two protagonists of NEO, Kanade Rindo and Furesawa “Fret” Tosai, are great friends and teenagers who are passionate about the first of video games (specifically the FantaGO, the PokémonGo with Kyactus) and the second of any type of fashion. Two very normal guys who spend their days right in Shibuya, living the very normal lives characteristic of their age. That is until, passing by pure chance at the Shibuya Pedestrian Crossing, the two are attacked by a group of runaway beasts that, at first glance, seem to come from a film set, a jumble of special effects of some kind. It will take them very little to realize that they are in big trouble.

Recensione NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

Kill the Itch – Review NEO The World Ends With You

Rindo and Fret have in fact passed from the Real Plane to the Surreal Plane without realizing either the why or the how. A transition that took place quietly, even considering that the Shibuya that they find around is practically the same as always, were it not for the barriers that delimit the passages between the various areas, manned by the Demons, and for the fact that people do not seem to notice their presence. Between confusion and amazement, it will be there Demone Shoka to give some primary information to our two protagonists.

A new Game of Demons has officially begun, although this time it will be slightly different than the competition from the first chapter. In fact, the daily missions assigned by the Game Master are back, the desire to be expressed at the end of each game week returns, but in NEO the Game will take place as a dispute between teams, and no longer between pairs, of players. The team that will be positioned first at the end of the various weeks will have the right to express any wish, while the last one will be canceled. Simple rules, however ruthless.

Recensione NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

Wander Around Shibuya – Review NEO The World Ends With You

During their daring adventure, Rindo and Fret will be accompanied gradually by always different companions, some of which are taken directly from the first chapter. The new co-stars are all discreetly characterized, with perhaps a few clichés too many. However, they manage to be appreciated, especially in the interlude and more reflective scenes, with which it is possible to deepen their outline and character. Same thing we can not say unfortunately for the antagonists which, with some exceptions, due to the reduced screen-time will always give the impression of being mere extras, put there to extend the game by a week.

The return of some of the characters from the first chapter will also please all those who have played and appreciated it. However, we must admit that the interactions, dialogues and events themselves that take place on the screen, as the hours of play go on, will be gradually less and less understandable to those who have not at least finished the first chapter. A condition that will be essential in the advanced stages of the game, when by now the tutorials and introductions will be a distant memory and we will be in the thick of the action.

Recensione NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

DIVIDE – Review NEO The World Ends With You

Anyone who originally played The World Ends With You on Nintendo DS will remember very well how fun, engaging and adrenaline-pumping the gameplay was, albeit with an initial start-up phase. The two usable characters were given commands via the touch screen and with the front keys, allowing you to maintain control of the action in its entirety. A choice that was then discarded in the re-release on Nintendo Switch, eliminating the control of the second player (long live the RNG!) And turning towards the completely touch controls. In NEO The World Ends With You, Square Enix obviously had to reinvent everything again in view of the release on PlayStation 4 as well. And thank goodness, they didn’t get in the way of the touchpad.

Unlike Neku, who in the first chapter could use each pin to his liking, Rindo, Fret and the other protagonists will be able to use only one pin at a time. In total you will find some 333, each with its own characteristics, and their effects range from elemental powers to real physical assaults of various kinds (and by “various kinds” we mean from punches to the throwing of appliances of different nature). You can use up to a maximum of six players at the same time, to which commands will be given using the different keys of the controller, two front and four back.

Recensione NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

Your Ocean

The great variety of pins allows us to customize our team for the different situations they will face. Some Noises will in fact be weaker to one element than to another, and healing pins will also be of great help. Knowing how to manage your team and pin input is vital. In fact, just like in the first chapter, using the pins consumes its power and, once finished, you will have to wait for a cooldown period to be able to start attacking again. This feature will be disabling in the early stages of the game, when the characters available are few and you will often find yourself having to wander in the combat area waiting for the pins to reload. As well as for fiction, in short, the combat system will also give its best in the second half of the game.

Chaining the attacks of the various fighters at the right moment, called Beatdrop, will allow you to fill in the groove bar which, once reached 100%, will allow you to unleash a devastating attack of the same nature as the pin that triggered the Beatdrop last time. In the more advanced stages of the game, the Groove will become a really useful tool when it can exceed 200% and reach 300%, a threshold at which, once used, it will also restore the complete health of the team. fundamental skill when you are engaged in battles of 20 and more repetitions. A really important attack and defense tool to be able to master, in short, and which gives further depth to the game.

Recensione NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

Twister – Review NEO The World Ends With You

If you are worried that such a combat system could boil down to mere button smashing… You are absolutely right. On normal difficulty, NEO The World Ends With You will not give you any kind of problem and, just like in the first chapter, the difficulty level will be completely set down. You can complicate your life by using the difficulty options that Square Enix has made available also in this sequel. In addition to being able to change the strength of the Noises that you can face in the various clashes, also in NEO The World Ends With You you can lower the level of your team, decreasing the total Hit Points, but dramatically increasing the drop rate of the enemies.

Also in this sequel all the collateral and secondary activities present in the first chapter obviously return. So here it is again compulsive shopping in the many fashion shops scattered around Shibuya, which will allow you to buy various pieces of equipment for your fighters. And obviously i also return various restaurants and bars, in which you will be able to refresh the protagonists, granting them permanent increases to the various statistics. As in any good self-respecting sequel, however, some interesting new features have been added.

Recensione NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

Little Things – Review NEO The World Ends With You

First of all the skills of the characters that we will find ourselves in the team. To avoid spoilers in this review we have only talked about Rindo and Fret, but we assure you that there will be several fighters who will join our cause. Taking into consideration only the two protagonists, Rindo will have the power of Replay, which will enable him to go back in time and change the course of events to avert disasters. Fret, on the other hand, will discover that he has the power of the Remind which, after completing simple puzzles with the help of the analog sticks, will be able to send mental inputs to the people present in the various areas to allow them to remember certain events or people.

Also added the Social Network, a sort of network of relationships in which we will be able to spend the Friendship Points that we will accumulate by completing the various secondary missions scattered throughout the various chapters. Unlocking the various nodes will allow you to acquire new important skills and objects that cannot otherwise be attenuated, as well as new dishes in restaurants and other little completist goodies.

Recensione NEO The World Ends With You: Lullaby for You

Scramble – Review NEO The World Ends With You

The feeling of returning to TWEWY’s Shibuya is, as we have already said, that of a welcome return home. However, although the city is painted in the classic and eccentric way that Square Enix has accustomed us to, setting a game that takes more than 50 hours to be 100% completed in only 19 available zones is at least … asphyxiating. The…