It was just another seemingly ordinary day in Shibuya, but not for Rindo. He could tell something about the city felt different. A girl with an ominous aura appears before him, identifying herself as a so-called Reaper. Rindo decides to play along with this Reapers’ Game with some trepidation, but something is weird… Welcome to NEO: The World Ends With You!
The game takes place in a recreated and stylized version of the Shibuya district in Tokyo. Unlike the first game’s depiction of Shibuya, Tower Records and Parco keep their names instead of using different ones such as Towa Records and Molco. As with the anime (more on that later), some of the elements of the game had been modernized for the sequel, such as the use of smartphones rather than earlier flip-style cell phones, and the appearance of the game’s 104 building matches the current appearance of the real-life Shibuya 109 building.
Since the game is a sequel to the highly popular DS title, The World Ends With You, I’ll give you a little background before diving into (get it? You will, but you have to trust me) this title. For those with a Switch, it’s also available on the Nintendo Switch as the Final Remix Version.
The World Ends With You;
The game’s story follows Neku over the course of the three weeks that he plays the Game, paired with partners Shiki, Joshua, and Beat for each week, respectively. Neku is confused at first, lacking knowledge of how he died or how he arrived at the UG. However, as he develops friendships with his partners, he starts to understand the game’s rules. After the first week, only Shiki is allowed to return to the living, and she promises to meet Neku at the statue of Hachiko. I won’t give you more details since that will spoil the game too much.
NEO: The World Ends With You;
The main protagonist and playable character is Rindo (‘Rindude’) Kanade, a high school student and a Player in the Reapers’ Game. He is partnered with his friend and classmate Tosai Furesawa (nicknamed “Fret”) and a gaming otaku college student named Nagi Usui. They make up Players called the Wicked Twisters, with Rindo as the de facto leader. Each character has a unique ability in the Reapers’ Game that comes into play during gameplay: Rindo can change the past with “Replay,” Fret can remind people of things they’ve forgotten with “Remind” and Nagi can go into people’s minds with “Dive.” The team is also joined by the returning former Reaper/antagonist from the first game, Sho Minamimoto. Rindo is also supported by Swallow, his online friend, and a mysterious individual that he communicates with through a social media game and text messages.
Rindo and his friends compete against rival teams who are the Ruinbringers, the top team in the Reapers’ Game which includes Kaichi Susuki (nicknamed “Susukichi” and Tsugumi Matsunae. Then there is the Deep Rivers Society, a group of river enthusiasts led by Fuya Kawahara, the Variabeauties, a group of super stylists led by Kanon Tachibana, and the Purehearts, a group of savvy social media influencers led by Motoi Anazawa.
They also fight against the Reapers, split into two distinct groups: the Shibuya Reapers, which first appeared in the original game, and Shinjuku Reapers. Shinjuku Reapers include Shiba Miyakaze, the Game Master in the Reapers’ Game, Tanzo Kubo, Ayano Kamachi, Kaie Ono, Hishima Sazakuchi, and Shoka Sakurane; Shibuya Reapers returning from the first game are antagonists Koki Kariya, Uzuki Yashiro, and Coco Atarashi.
Gameplay;
Rindo and the gang can unleash all kinds of psychs depending on the pins they have equipped. Press the button corresponding to a given pin, and the character it’s equipped to will instantly perform an attack. Time your button presses to attack consecutively or all at once. String together combos or perform simultaneous attacks any way you prefer. Try switching them up a lot since there are a lot of interesting combos out there.
Combat will begin shortly after coming into contact with a Noise symbol (the enemies in NEO: The World Ends With You). Still, you can string together several encounters by touching multiple symbols in short succession. The more battles there are in a chain, the higher the item drop rate, which will earn you more pins. Beware, though: the longer the chain, the stronger enemies’ attacks will become as you proceed. Dupe pins can be sold at high prices, so squeezing out a few more Noise battles is never a bad idea.
Increase the party’s Groove by coordinating the team’s attacks, then unleash a Mashup and inflict huge damage on the enemy. If you hit an enemy under the right conditions, a circular Beatdrop gauge will appear. Striking while the gauge is shown will initiate a Beatdrop combo, and the Groove displayed at the top of the screen will increase. Once your Groove reaches 100% or more, you can unleash a Mashup—a super psych with impressive range and power—to erase your foes in one fell swoop! As you progress through the game, the maximum Groove will increase to 300%, and you’ll be able to unleash team attacks that are even stronger than Mashups.
Next to beating Noise and completing errands, you get to play some more serious missions. One kind of these missions assigned in the Reapers’ Game is the Scramble Slam, citywide turf war with teams vying for control of various areas around town. Erase all the orange Turf Noise or take down the rival team members in an area to claim that location as your own. In Scramble Slams, the fun lies in gaining control of an area and defeating swarms of enemies to earn even more Scramble Points and exchange them for even better rewards. Chain together battles with regular Noise to max out your point-earning potential. And the rewards are pretty neat – even though the points total looks a bit out of whack.
Food & Fashion
Food and fashion are an important part of every Tokyoite’s life, and this group of misfits is no different. Just like the real Shibuya, you’ll find plenty of restaurants to visit. In addition, eating different foods can boost the various stats of your party. However, you can’t pig out and max your stats out after you eat, you’ll have to work up an appetite again before you can have another meal, and the more you fight, the more you’ll need to replenish your energy. Just remember: Eat > Fight > Rep EAT (Ha.). I recommend visiting restaurants whenever your party is hungry to make sure they stay in tip-top shape for battle. Eating is also an important way to raise your Style stat, which is useful in getting the most out of the clothes; you can pick them up at the shops throughout town, find the delicacies that increase this and unlock those special abilities.
Another elegant feature is the Social Network. The Social Network menu holds information on just about everyone Rindo meets. Fulfilling certain criteria for each character will unlock rewards, including helpful items and abilities that give Rindo and the gang a leg up in the Game. Of course, which rewards you unlock are all up to you, but I recommend completing the sidequests each day and buying items from the shops you visit whenever you can.
Artwork & Design Choices
The original The World Ends with You (TWEWY) had been developed by common team members and released around the same time as the Kingdom Hearts series. While the latter had more sales and recognition, there had been a strong cult following that still appreciated TWEWY and a project of interest by creative producer and character designer Tetsuya Nomura and director Tatsuya Kando. However, much of the TWEWY team were too involved in subsequent Kingdom Hearts games to focus on a new TWEWY game; Kando said, “We were also busy handling Kingdom Hearts, so we didn’t really have time to allocate to this series previously”. TWEWY remained of significant interest within Square Enix, which led to a high-definition port for mobile devices via Solo Remix in 2012 and another port to the Nintendo Switch, Final Remix, in 2018 included a new chapter, “A New Day” with new characters. Final Remix was directed by Hiroyuki Itou and produced by Tomohiko Hirano, who reprise their roles for Neo. According to Hirano, while the ideas for a sequel had been on their minds for some time, “we needed to secure an environment where we could focus on this game, so that’s why it took a little bit of time for us to deliver it to you.”
Kando stated that while Neo is a sequel, they did not want to call it The World Ends with You 2, as there were many significantly new ideas in both the narrative and gameplay, and we’re introducing new characters. However, Kando did state they wanted to address the loose ends from the original game and the “A New Day” chapter in Final Remix, but present it from characters completely new to the Reapers Game. Part of this includes the major shift from the dual-screen battle system used in the Nintendo DS game to a single-screen system. According to Itou, they wanted to make sure to retain the focus of teamwork of the DS battle system and developed the new 3D-based battle system so that the player has control of all four members of the party at the same time, a concept that was explored during the development of Solo Remix.
Nomura returned to design the character art. For the lead character of Rindo, he was looking to provide some type of iconic item of clothing that would make him stand out and represent his isolated personality, similar to Neku’s headphones in TWEWY. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, he had seen that face masks had become a popular fashion accessory for the youth of Japan and opted for that; he did not imagine that face masks would become a normal occurrence in the world by the time the game launched.
Anime Adaption;
The Animation plot is based on the video game, although with some minor occasional story changes. It focuses on an antisocial teenage boy named Neku Sakuraba who mysteriously awakens in the middle of Shibuya’s bustling Scramble Crossing with no memory of how he got there. He soon discovers he is trapped in an alternate plane known as the Underground (UG). Now an unwilling participant in the mysterious Reapers’ Game, Neku must partner up with a girl named Shiki Misaki to survive its seven days. Together, they complete daily missions and defeat monsters known as Noise as they gradually uncover the true nature of this twisted game. I’m currently working my way through the anime (halfway) on Wakanim, and I enjoy it – Like most adaptions, it’s hard to press an RPG into a 12-episode anime. I had the same with Ace Attorney, to be honest. Still, the artwork is on point, and I love the total outlook. If you haven’t played the first game or need quick refreshers (like I did), this will do fine; otherwise, play the first entry again.
Conclusion
To me, NEO: The World Ends With You is the perfect sequel to a game that changed my childhood. I’m currently debating myself to pick up the remake on the Switch, replay that one first and then continue my journey through NEO to see all the little nudges and winks I’m missing now. I love the art style, the mission, and the whole vibe the game deals with. It offers a fresh take on the whole RPG scene and reminds me a lot of Kingdom Hearts (not that strange) but with a darker theme. It can be a bit repetitive at times but rewards the players with a great story, memorable characters, and much more. Square shows once again that they are more than just a ‘Final Fantasy’ company.
