Longtime listeners to a podcast we do here on The Outerhaven, Nintendo’s entertainment podcast, will know that I’m a huge fan of The world ends with you. I had it on the Nintendo DS at the time, then I had The world ends with you: final remix when it came out on Switch because I wanted a sequel to that game more than anything. And now we’re about a month away from the release of said sequel in NEO The world ends with you. To help people “get back to Shibuya”, they released a demo for it, and I have to say, it’s going to be pretty fun. So here we go guys, my NEO The World Ends With You Demo Prints for you all to enjoy!
So from the start NEO The world ends with youThe demo shows how different things are from the first game. For example, you play as a young teenager named Rindo, who hangs out with his best friend “Fret” when things start to go from weird to weird. to mortals, for finally… they are in the Reaper’s Game. But much like another franchise protagonist, HOW? ‘OR’ WHAT they got there is a bit… unclear. One of the many mysteries to come in this game without a doubt.
One of the first things that easily strikes me about NEO The World Ends With You is the visuals. The first game (and especially its remix) did its best with the 2D visuals of the DS and Switch, but NEO takes it to a whole new level. Mix 2D, 3D and particle effects in a way that makes it fresh and fun while still staying true to the origins of the game.
The image above is from one of the cutscenes in the opening section and honestly I didn’t notice a drop in frame rate or anything (and I’m still playing my Switch in portable mode), so we’re going to take some really fun photos when the going gets even crazier.
Plus, unlike the first game which had a bit of a ‘talking head syndrome’ at times with characters just staying on screen and ‘slipping’ for others, NEO takes it to a more spellbinding level by doing so. feel more like a comic book print by making things get bigger, smaller, chopping and cutting, etc. This makes each scene of the talking feel free and while the “talking heads” were still there, it wasn’t as bad due to the variety of styles they sometimes did.
Of course, for many, the big question is how much NEO The world ends with you is from the original. The answer is… different… but also an evolution. I’ll explain.
For example, many elements of the original game are here. From Reaper’s Game to Reapers, including the “You Have 7 Days” element, fighting noise, scans, doing puzzles, etc.
A good example is your “teams”. In the original game, you only had partners, which is why Neku had arcs with Shiki, Joshua, and Beat. Here you “teams”, and you were almost told that you NEED teams to survive. Rinoda and Fret are obviously part of the team. But a spoiled twist is that the original game’s former Minamimoto antagonist is “on your side.” And if you don’t know who it is… YOU ARE SO ZETTA SLOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So since you have more partners this time around, how is the fight going? In short, each member of your team has a badge (much like the original game with Neku) that they can use in battle. But this time you only have one badge per person, you press X, Y, R, ZL, etc. to activate the badge’s ability to strike noise. The goal is to work together without relying too much on a badge to win over noise.
Granted, it can get a bit chaotic in the 3D space you are in now. But, if you play it well and take your time through a few fights, you’ll figure it out quite easily and start strategies despite it. being only a demo.
Another thing that has evolved is the “scan” feature because apparently you and your teammates will have “latent abilities” that can help people do certain things. Rinoda appears to have a time travel feature while Freight can “remind” people of certain things that will help you on your daily missions. It’s a simple addition, but it really works here.
That brings us to… how long does the demo last? It’s surprisingly sturdy. We go through the “days” of the first day and we get a real idea of the breadth of the reach of NEO The world ends with you is. We have mystery teases with the Reapers, a mysterious person named “Swallow” who can somehow contact Rinoda although he cannot contact the others, a glimpse of the other “teams” we have. will face in the first 7 days of the game, and more.
I also want to take a break and salute the characters in the game and the quality of their writing. The original game played Neku Sakuraba a lot as an “amnesiac protagonist” mixed with an “emo personality” and Shiki (along with others) has to bring out his attracted nature and personality. Here with NEO, Rinoda and Fret have their own dynamic which is really fun to watch. And when you add that to some of the others you come across like Reaper Shoka, you already have a rich dynamic of what this game can be.
Another thing I want to praise is the way they describe Shibuya as a whole. The game has more or less a fixed camera style and it works here. But also, we see Shibuya in an exaggerated way that makes it feel like a mysterious place compared to another city you find yourself in. A little detail that I liked is the people you see in the “RG” whose thoughts you hear. . They are literally “faceless masses” and that really makes a difference to you here.
I have no doubt that I have only scratched the surface of NEO The world ends with you via this demo. But what I played is a lot of fun, I wish I didn’t have to wait until next month to see more. But if the game’s final trailer is any indication, once we start playing it’s going to be a rush from start to finish.
The demo is now available for Switch and PS4, and you can enjoy it until NEO The world ends with you released on July 27!
