Last month we had the chance to test the first two hours of NEO: The World Ends With You , the continuation of this acclaimed Square Enix saga that left us feeling generally good. Without a doubt it is one of the most anticipated titles that will arrive this month after the good reviews that the original game received.

The latter, The World Ends With You , was released 14 years ago on Nintendo DS and left us with an action RPG that perhaps did not reach the level of other such popular franchises of the company, such as Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. However, it was quite successful, enough to make the leap to other systems, in addition to having its own anime, manga and, finally, a second part .

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So, after having thoroughly played this sequel, we are going to tell you what we found in the following analysis that we invite you to read.

A different game with a linear plot and that catches you instantly: Analysis of NEO: The World Ends With You, participating again in the Game of Reapers with the long-awaited sequel to Square Enix’s RPG

NEO: The World Ends With You takes place three years after the first part. This time the protagonist is Rindo Kanade, a young man who, along with his friend Fret, will be involved in the Shibuya Reapers Game , which is a macabre game in which people who have died have the opportunity to come back to life, but only if they wish if their team is in first place after a week of competition. To achieve this precious first place, teams must compete against each other to meet the objectives that the game master sets each day of the week, although sometimes these tasks can lead to direct confrontation between teams.

In this sense, there are two major differences with respect to the Reapers Game of the first part: the first is that now the teams are not limited to two people nor is it necessary to make a pact to use the latent psychopowers of each person that we will explain later . As for the second, there is no time limit to carry out the daily mission, since when competing against other teams, the first to get it will be the one who gets the points.

However, these changes are still purely argumentative, since, as in the previous adventure, there was no real time limit. Only in history, this continuation continues in the same vein, since regardless of how well we do, the winner of each day is already predetermined by the argument. That does not mean that we have to fulfill the mission, of course, or that we do not have to make an effort to do it well, but it is true that the game takes us by the hand almost all the time . And not only at the plot level, but in many missions the game will tell us where we should go, although even when this is not the case, the puzzles that we must solve are relatively simple.

In spite of everything, the truth is that this linearity of the story makes us get into it more and we can enjoy its characters and plot twists. The good thing about the team system in this part is that we will meet more characters , such as our teammates who will vary as the story progresses for various reasons, but also the leaders of the rival teams, who will not necessarily be our enemies. Of course, like any good story, things are not as they seem at first, and the game holds many surprises for us.

On the other hand, an important detail to highlight is that it is not necessary to have played the first part to enjoy or understand the story because the protagonists are new, so all the details of the Game of Reapers will be explained, although it is It is true that those who have played the first part will enjoy the connections and the return of certain characters more.

On the other hand, one thing that does remain the same is that the game takes place in Shibuya , which is divided into several areas with the aim of defining where we can move according to the mission of each day. Sometimes we will even have to pass a test if we want to change the area. However, despite the fact that the action focuses on one area or another depending on the day, the truth is that we will find ourselves passing through the same places many times because we must recognize that the city is not too big.

What is more varied are the missions and how to face them . There are days when we will have to defeat a certain enemy, but there will be other days when we will have to solve puzzles or guess how to get to a certain point in the city. Many times to achieve this we will have to use the special psychopowers of each member of our team, which will allow us to enter people’s minds or even go back in time, although like everything else we will always have the precise powers in our hands for each moment and we will be told which one we should use.

Unleashing our powers: Analysis of NEO: The World Ends With You, participating again in the Game of Reapers with the long-awaited sequel to Square Enix’s RPG

The battle system that has been chosen in this second part has certain similarities with that of its predecessor . The most important thing of all is that before engaging in combat we will need to equip our characters with pins, which are the gadgets that will give them special powers. Therefore, depending on the pin each character is equipped with, they will perform a different attack, be it a series of long or short distance hits, an area hit, setting traps or even healing the team, which never hurts.

The difference is that in the other game we only controlled one character, but here we can control two or more , so each character can only have one pin equipped, while the number of skills that we can use in battle will depend on the number of members of our team. Likewise, each type of attack will correspond to a different button on the controller, and the character that we control will be the one that corresponds to the last pin we have used.

The truth is that the freedom that history lacks is completely opposite to the combat system, since there are countless combinations of pins that we can choose at will, although it is true that there are some better than others. It is also true that by having more members in our team we will have more freedom to combine pins.

Even so, that some combinations are better than others are not only because of the damage or the effects of the pins themselves, but because of how well they allow us to link attacks so that a rhythm bar is filled that will allow us to execute special group attacks that they will wipe out groups of enemies with one stroke of the pen. It will be useless to have a group of strong attacks, for example, if later we have to wait for them to recharge to continue attacking, which not only would not load the rhythm bar, but would make the battles slower.

Another freedom of the combat system is that, removing the encounters with the mission objectives or others that are marked by history, we can choose against which enemies to fight and against how many at the same time . Of course there will be the possibility of focusing solely on the story and not fighting at all except when necessary, but if we want to improve our team it is a good idea to link battles, which will face groups of enemies one after another with a difficulty each higher time. This means that the higher the risk, the greater the prize we receive, which will serve to get more pins than normal and even more rare and powerful.

In addition, another way to get more loot is to increase the difficulty or reduce our level , which would leave us with less life points. Something to keep in mind is that in this game leveling up only serves to have more life points, the statistics of the characters can only be increased by eating in the various restaurants in the city, although apart from money to do this we will need them to characters make you want to eat by engaging in combat.

Extras to give and take

And there will not be everything, because there is splendid news for those who like to complete a game 100% . More than anything because, apart from getting all the pins, there is also a kind of encyclopedia where all the objects, music and tracks of the game are collected. In turn, we will have a relationship tree with all the characters that we will get to know that will provide us with data on each one and will also allow us to obtain passive skills if we meet certain requirements, such as fulfilling a secondary mission.

Indeed, there are also secondary missions that are usually quite simple, although there are some that require fighting and may have a higher difficulty, but we can always go back and play the day we want to complete it when we have more power.

VidaExtra’s opinion

Regarding NEO: The World Ends With You, it should be noted that in the visual section, despite going from 2D to 3D both in Shibuya and in the fighting, the same style of the original game is maintained. The scenes are narrated in manga plan with a very characteristic style, and the characters maintain the same style.

For its part, the battles are very showy, especially when we have many different abilities, although in no case are they chaotic and we will always know what is happening around us. But if there is something negative in this section, it is that, as happened to us in our first impressions, in certain corners of the city the camera does not make it very clear where we can go or where our character is.

What is a real treat for the ears is the sound section, with very lively and rhythmic themes at all times . Although there is not much variety, the songs are so good that you won’t mind listening to them over and over again. However, something that has not convinced us is that when entering and exiting the menu the music of the city changes, although this can also be used to make our favorite music sound.

In short, NEO: The World Ends With You is a game that has a story that grabs you from start to finish. It is indisputable that in general it is quite linear and that the city is quite small, but the plot twists and the freedom of the battle system make the game develop very smoothly and be the most entertaining at all times. Analysis of NEO: The World Ends With You, participating again in the Game of Reapers with the long-awaited sequel to Square Enix’s RPG