NEO: The World Ends with You Reviews

absolute cinema

the power of friendship and a three days grace album saved the day

Actually so peak greatest game ever made I love you heart very rad game called neo the world ends with you

Amazing freaking game and combat. The story is well written with a whole bunch of twist and turns. With that being said, it does suffer a bit setting up the ending climax with floundering about. Something unfortantaly a trait of alot of Jrpgs. Once the last few days come tho, its like the story hits the gas and uses its main "gimick" power of the main characters in such an interesting way. Will say I suggest playing or brushing up on the lore of the first game, bc in the final act a whole cast of characters from that game return, including its og Deus Ex Machina, and I can see anyone not being familiar with the first game just being so confused on why this person has this much power, and is so important to the story. This story is deff made for fans of the original, and it shows with how the ending is kinda like an epilogue for the og cast.

[h1]NEO: The World Ends with You – A Familiar Yet Less Impactful Sequel[/h1] [quote] [b]Game Title:[/b] NEO: The World Ends with You [b]Release Year:[/b] 2021 [b]Related Title:[/b] The World Ends with You (TWEwY, 2008) a.k.a. It’s a Wonderful World (2007, Japan) [/quote] [hr] [table] [tr][th][b]Quick Summary[/b][/th][/tr] [tr][td]A stylized real-time, party-based action RPG set in the vibrant streets of present-day Shibuya. Builds on the original’s unique mechanics—pins, food buffs, and mind-reading—but struggles to meaningfully evolve beyond the 2007 cult classic.[/td][/tr] [/table] [h1]Description[/h1] [h2]Story[/h2] Both [i]NEO[/i] and [i]TWEwY[/i] feature an insomniac protagonist who awakens in the afterlife, on a parallel plane known as the [i]Underground[/i]. The protagonist must compete in the [i]Reaper’s Game[/i] for a chance to return to life. In both games, the hero starts off as a nihilistic loner who, over the course of the story, learns that survival demands stepping outside one’s comfort zone and connecting meaningfully with others. [h2]Art Direction[/h2] Both titles use a bold, colorful anime aesthetic and a memorable soundtrack blending pop, grunge, and hip-hop—design choices that serve the overall theme of celebrating individualism and diversity as an antidote to nihilism. Shibuya is populated by vibrant characters from all walks of life. Everyone wears designer clothes, underscoring their individuality and driving home the thesis that the world is more than a hostile grind; it’s a mosaic of fascinating, expressive people. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] [list] [*] [b]Mind Reading & Imprinting:[/b] The player can read the thoughts of people in the [i]Realground[/i] and imprint new ideas to achieve objectives. [*] [b]Combat vs. The Noise:[/b] Negative emotions in monster form, battled in real time. [*] [b]Pins:[/b] Enemies drop collectible pins that grant unique combat abilities. Pins can level up, evolve, and be swapped out. [*] [b]Food:[/b] Food purchases permanently increase stats but must be “digested” by winning fights. [/list] [hr] [h1]Comparison: NEO vs. TWEwY[/h1] [h2]Story[/h2] [i]NEO[/i] is set after [i]TWEwY[/i], featuring direct references and cameos from the original. Unfortunately, this can feel forced and unnecessary. [i]TWEwY[/i] was an abstract, almost dreamlike experience (canonically linked to a [i]Kingdom Hearts[/i] dream), serving primarily as a vehicle for thematic exploration rather than a story world that demanded strict continuity. [h2]Art Direction[/h2] [i]NEO[/i] carries over the bold urban style. Where [i]TWEwY[/i] was fully 2D, [i]NEO[/i] successfully transitions the traversal and combat to 3D, retaining much of the original aesthetic’s charm. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] [b]Time Travel:[/b] The new protagonist can rewind time to change outcomes. This mechanic affects both the main story and side-quest completion. In the main story, rewinding time is a scripted part of the linear progression; for side content, players can revisit previous chapters arbitrarily to catch up on missed quests. [b]Optional Challenges:[/b] Similar to [i]TWEwY[/i], you can raise the difficulty, lower your level, or chain battles for better loot. In principle, this is a cool way to tailor difficulty, but in practice, enemies just take longer to kill and deal more damage without smarter AI. Since food and equipment boosts are far more significant than your character’s level, lowering level barely affects your power. The large influx of loot also trivializes the economy, making the game feel too easy by mid-game. [b]Food Digestion vs. Time Travel:[/b] Because you can revisit earlier (easier) chapters at will, you can rapidly farm weak enemies to speed up digestion, allowing you to eat extremely often. A real-time calorie burn system might have alleviated this issue. [hr] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] When [i]TWEwY[/i] debuted in 2007, it was a breath of fresh air with its modern-day setting, daring art direction, real-time party combat, and existential themes. It became a cult classic partly due to how experimental it felt at the time. In 2008, small indie studios were less prominent, and a bold new JRPG could truly stand out. Now, [i]NEO[/i] faces stiffer competition: its novelty in style and theme isn’t nearly as striking. While [i]TWEwY[/i]’s existential insights still resonate, its somewhat simplistic “power of friendship” message feels more naïve today. The sequel rarely challenges or updates these core ideas, missing an opportunity to reinterpret them for modern audiences. Despite these flaws, [i]NEO[/i] is still enjoyable for fans of the original. The gameplay loop, pins, and high-octane combat remain fun. However, the derivative story, rehashed art direction, and underexplored themes leave it feeling more like a polished [i]TWEwY[/i] re-release than a fully realized sequel. [b]Verdict:[/b] A nostalgic but somewhat shallow follow-up, recommended primarily for fans of the first game.

Game Progression is cringe! I prefer to C O N S U M E Air in a Can for 99 years instead!!!

My head hurts after a couple days of trying to collect the remaining pins and ultimately sucking on ultimate difficulty, sadly my senile fossil hands and brains are not made for these types of tasks. That said, I still loved the most of NEO: TWEWY! - First of all, my favorite thing - the soundtrack! It is an absolute statement, unique tunes that range from poppy and rocky bops to hardcore-y bangers and ambient-y acid trips never failed to add tons of fun to the experience. - The exploration is very satisfying and really well-made. Different mobs have different drops on different difficulties, the difficulty can be adjusted in one click and further expands the variety of loot you can get. The pins, basically your skillset, can be leveled up to max or sometimes evolved at certain points with certain conditions. Which makes the game very grindy, but it's your choice whether or not to go into this rabbit hole. You can just enjoy the story and not bother with leveling shit up at all, basically. But I gotta say, it's all very pretty, shiny and satisfying - getting new stuff, seeing what it might evolve into... Very well made - The story is solid, my experience with the plot is overall very positive, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it Persona level masterpiece, for that I'd say I would need a bit more... density, i suppose? Cause again, - overall it was a whole and fulfilling story that I enjoyed, but as for me, the delivery didn't hit enough at times. I would've loved a little more dialogue lines to be voiced, a little more cutscenes. I just feel like this cool concept would be even nicer if experienced not in such "short and sweet" manner. But maybe I just shouldn't be expecting a hack&slash jrpg to have heavy visual novel chunks. Too used to, and spoiled by, Persona and the VN genre in general, i suppose :P - The combat can be hella challenging, but again, you can just CHOOSE not to be bothered with all that, and skip through everything. Had my fun with ultimate difficulty and finding strategies to farm money or finding ways to beat a certain enemy though. Didn't go as far as to collecting the last ~10 pins from bosses, cause the combat gets pretty extreme for my senile ass, and chaining 10-reduction battles for 1 drop has been painful and not fun, but still. The fact of the matter is - there are tons of stuff you can try and get even after the completion of the story, and as the game progresses you unlock more and more convenient features that allow you to achieve new heights more efficiently. S tier design. Fun times and good memories overall, o7 ♡

Hidden gem in Squenix list. Highly Recommended it! If you want a different play style on an JRPG. Story is good, New players will not get lost and old players will have a lot of fun because old characters returns and it's basically a continuation of the DS game.

Great game on it's own, but this game is made for the players who played through the original The World Ends with You. The game's translation to 3D has been fantastic. The combat is a quirky take on ARPG where you control all your party members at once. I will say though -- combat can feel repetitive BUT the good thing is, there's over 300+ pins! As a long term TWEWY fan, this game made me fall in love with the series all over again. Time to wait for the next game in 15+ years.

This wonderful soundtrack came with a game!! Nice In all seriousness, a truly underrated series as a whole. Playing the first game beforehand gives a better perspective of this game, but it is enjoyable on it's own. The soundtrack is also A1, a good amount of rock and pop tracks that keep you humming and bopping the whole way through. Honestly wished Square Enix pushed games like this as much as they do Final Fantasy.