NEO: The World Ends With You - Review

Okay so how many of you are familiar with the 2007 game The World Ends With You on the DS?

… Okay, actually a few of you. Now- Who remembers the 2021 sequel NEO: TWEWY?

… Wow, that’s a severe drop off. Especially considering that NEO: TWEWY is a worthy successor.

Keep reading

The first TWEWY game was the best

I always tell people that I recommend this series to to play the original on the DS. Of course, they hardly listen to me, but I stand my ground on this.

The gameplay of the original TWEWY was built for the DS, unlike many DS titles that simply allowed for use of the touch screen. It has left-handed friendly controls, and multiple different play styles on several levels for players to play however they wish.

The story aside (it's amazing, but I don't want to spoil it), The gameplay is what draws me in every time I replay it. It's not easy, it provides a challenge no matter how you play, but it's so satisfying.

On the bottom screen, you control Neku and attack with pins you acquire throughout the game. Each pin has a different command associated with it (press and hold, swipe, tap empty space, this is even how you dodge attacks) and is mandatory to master to complete the game.

On the top screen, you control your partner, Shiki, using the ABXY or direction buttons next to the touch screen. This is optional, as you can set your partner to automatically attack on their own, but giving yourself the extra challenge pays off with better combos and higher defensive tactics.

I could go on and on about different mechanics, and I will admit, the first TWEWY had it's flaws. You could only eat so much food a day. You can unlock unlimited eating in the post-game. This is a problem my friends playing on the phone port have faced, but on the Switch or DS you can easily change the date and grind out your stats. Don't worry, the game doesn't even notice!

NEO: TWEWY is good. I enjoyed playing through it, but the gameplay just didn't have the same spark. I felt like I was just mashing buttons the whole time. The atmosphere felt more like I was running through the scramble crossing, eating across Dogonzaka, but the battle mechanics just didn't feel quite as satisfying.

The series as a whole? I love it with my whole being, but nothing can beat the Experience of the original on the DS.

It's easy to pirate the DS version, hell, I only got to play it because I received a pirated copy. I'd recommend getting an R4 if you intend on mass piracy, but used copies go for less if your not ready to sail the high seas. I shilled out for the squeakual after I fell in love with the first.

I played them back to back today, and I can say with certainty that the second made be feel worse after remembering my love for the first.

But yeah PLAY TWEWY IT"S SO GOOOOOD.

Personally speaking, I find myself enjoying NEO’s combat a lot more. Like KH2, NEO’s pretty deceptive with its depth. Both can be played on easy/normal and the player can get through just mashing attacks the whole time. If you choose a harder difficulty, the game will push you, and you'll have to actually learn how to play. There's a very low skill floor and a very high skill ceiling. I remember how KH2 was criticized for being a step down from KH1 in gameplay because it was just mash X and Triangle to win. There was no Critical mode at the time, so nobody was pushed to see exactly how great the combat really was. NEO is going through something similar right now since most people just finish the story and call it a day.

KH2's combat is defined by its generous enemy knockback/juggle potential and Sora's aerial mobility with a lot of attack magnetization, but most important is the self-supporting flow of drives, limits, and spells. Spells cost mana, which doesn't regen until you've used all of it but certain abilities only activate during MP recharge. Limits send you directly to MP recharge but give generous i-frames on top of decent damage. Drives cost drive gauge (if the form ends before you enter a cutscene, return to the gummi ship, or have your party forcibly changed) but fully restore HP/MP. If you chain them well, you're constantly able to use your most powerful tools because each one facilitates the next, and those tools each have a variety of uses and interplay with other systems.

Like KH2, NEO TWEWY has systems that flow into each other, juggle-heavy combat, and a lot of attack magnetization. You can mash, and that'll get you through normal difficulty fine, but the game rewards you for timing your attacks carefully to earn groove and juggle enemies, especially since the beat drop timing is usually the sweetspot for when you'd want to hit the opponent anyways (attacks that pop up monsters reward you for striking at the apex of the launch, attacks that inflict status reward you for striking when the enemy has just been afflicted). You're heavily incentivized to use your resources carefully, but if you do so with the proper sequencing and timing you can often end up with more tools than you started with after a combo string. What also helps is that the Mashups all have unique properties into them and can be comboed into in order to gain Groove. Off the top of my head:

-Gravity is basically a more powered up version of KH2’s Magnet that attracts all small/mid-sized Noise and certain bosses and is also great for interrupts. It also has similar properties to the Magnet/Trinity Limit tech in KH2 in that if you trigger the Noise's revenge value before activating the Mashup, they’ll still be able to move around inside the gravity well, which allows you to get Beatdrop prompts on attacks that wouldn't have produced them if they were completely stuck like Massive Hit or Piercing Pillar

-You can not only freeze enemies on contact with Ice but also bounce them around on the spikes for additional damage with moves such as Poltergeist and Massive Hit

-Water can not only be used for juggling but also for defense since you can bait enemies into running into the geysers

-Time has unique applications for both the ground and air such as Frozen Fatality (ability tied to certain Swift Strike and Drift Tackle pins that increases damage when used on an enemy that is immobilized) and enemies being susceptible to launcher pin Beatdrop prompts in the air if you launch them before unleashing the Mashup

And so on and so forth. Compared to the original, I also found the overall pin variety of NEO to be leaps and bounds above it, with far more pins with unique uses and mechanics attached to them (collision mechanics from knockback pins, time bombs setting each other when they’re in range from one another, shockwave pins having psuedo finishers to make enemies flinch beforehand, Omokage having two Beatdrop conditions depending on your setup, Patrol Round pins being able to be influenced by lock-on to catch multiple enemies at once, Assassin Strike also using lock-on to be able to catch multiple enemies, Massive Hit pins causing enemies to ricochet off of one another), that can lead to unique combat routes and scenarios. By contrast, I feel that the original had far too many worthless psychs and pins for its own good (Rock Bind, Freeze, Psychokinesis in the later portions of Week 3, Black Hole, Frostbite, Earthquake, Holy Light, etc.) and too many copies of one another.

Something I always find funny when it comes to TWEWY discussion is how people tend to take Hanekoma’s words at face-value when it comes to the TWEWY mythos and his opinions on the Shinjuku games’ structure and take everything he says as fact when the games show, subtly or not, that he’s a heavily biased source who will outright LIE in the Secret Reports and that he’s not always the right moral viewpoint.

And that’s what I honestly love about his character because like any well-written character, he is often fraught with his own subjectivity.

I think an important thing to note is that in the Secret Reports, there is a small mistranslation that shapes a lot of what Hanekoma has to say regarding the events that takes place within the story; namely, Rindo DOESN’T have a high Imagination. It’s actually rather low or mediocre and his Replay power mainly comes from his pin, with Nagi and Fret being the real powerhouses.

(Shout-outs to my friend GC for this great document!)

In the original ENG translation, the report went "For better or for worse, he is able to maintain abnormally high levels of Imagination, thereby increasing the accuracy of each Replay."

When in actuality, it’s "The higher [the] levels of Imagination he is able to maintain, [the] increas[ed] accuracy of each Replay." Which basically means that Replay relies on him maintaining the focus of his Imagination, rather than how much Imagination he has in general. It also fits in well what we know about Rindo and how he contrasts his team. Nagi is a huge otaku with a passion for her favorite gacha game, Fret is a fashionista that’s caught up on the latest trends, Shoka has her entire thing with Gatto Nero and Neku and Beat are winners of the last Reaper’s Game, with the former already having high amounts of Imagination even before he got sucked into the game due to a combination of his love for urban culture and the arts and Hanekoma’s graffiti subconsciously raising his Imagination levels even higher. Meanwhile, all Rindo has is the words of a social media guru that he mindlessly parrots and a mobile game that he casually plays. Not exactly grounds for cultivating a high level of Imagination, no? That said, Rindo is still able to function as a potent user of Replay due to his ability to hold a LOT of information in his head at one time, giving him a holistic view of the situation that makes him be able to piece together character relationships and bits of information in a way that he can use to his advantage to turn a bad situation around to his favor. W1D5, W2D2, W3D3, and the final day are especially great examples of this.

This is an important distinction to make because Hanekoma actually dismisses Rindo multiple times due to his low Imagination, in contrast to how supportive he was of Neku in the first game. Hanekoma's prioritization of Imagination is him believing that it is a necessary foundation for people to have in order to face adversity; to interpret their world; to grow, self-analyze, and to properly contribute to society. With that in mind, Rindo not having a good level of Imagination to him is indicative of a kid whose potential to do all these things is not as impressive and therefore would probably fail the Shinjuku Reaper’s Game. And to some extent, he’s right since Rindo does fuck up at times and stagnate when people he believes to be more capable show up to potentially solve his problems for him; taking away his responsibilities from him.

However, Rindo does grow from his mistakes, which ultimately culminates into him rejecting the offer for Haz to solve everything for him in favor of striving for a better future for both him and the people he cares about and the Shinjuku Game’s ruleset does make him come out of his shell as a leader, which was what ultimately saved all of them in the end, not his Imagination levels. It’s important to note that unlike the others, Rindo doesn’t actively participate in Operation Awakening: he’s the guy who gets the pieces to go where they need to go in order to have the operation go by smoothly and navigates them to do their job correctly. Operation Awakening ultimately succeeds due to Rindo’s skill as a leader, which Hanekoma did not view as something to make ado about. Hanekoma's vibe was that imagination, and by proxy, the things it provides a person to do, is something that is predisposed..but Rindo proved that you don't have to be predisposed to imagination to do really amazing things or affect change on a grand scale; you can learn how to do it through your experiences. There’s a reason why World is Yours, which is basically Rindo’s theme, has the phrase "Making mistakes is proof that you’re challenged. The World is Yours."

This is also a pretty big contrast when you consider how the Shibuya Game operated, which was heavily biased towards high Imagination people to excel further while pushing low Imagination people out of the running. I mean think about it: out of a normal week in the original game (Week 1), only Neku and Shiki survived legitimately (Beat only got by due to Hanekoma’s intervention in order to make him a wild card later on). But because they have high Imagination, Hanekoma is fine with such a low survival rate for the others. If someone only cares about supporting the already "gifted", then it makes sense that Hanekoma would only focus on a model that promotes Imagination gain and self-reflection for those he deems worthy, i.e. already have good Imagination.

That’s not even getting into how the nature of psychs and pins already predisposes low Imagination people to be weeded out in the original game. And of course, there’s also this Report from the original to consider.

"So, what happens to those who survive the week? Those whose Imagination is less than outstanding are broken down into Soul, while those with excellent Imagination become Reapers. The most talented of these may travel to the next plane, inhabited by Us Angels."

Remember Sota and Nao? By Hanekoma’s and the Shibuya Game’s logic, those two deserved to be absorbed into Soul by account of them not being able to survive but it’s because how the Game operates, that’s just how it has to be, even though the circumstances were out of their control and they are shown to be genuinely good people. From Hanekoma's view, he sees the act of facilitating Imagination as the means to progress evolution; a way to improve the health of world's laws. And why wouldn't he, right? By focusing on Imagination, you are promoting people to think better, to build self-awareness, to grow and change into better people; to reflect. Hanekoma finds this to be ideal, but maybe doesn't consider the vast ways with which people could achieve high Imagination. Hanekoma essentially viewed the lack of focus on Imagination specifically in the Shinjuku Games as precluding the capacity to grow and change, but failed to account for ways in which the team system could allow for growth and self-reflection in other ways even without an entry fee, and arguably more so because of it. The great thing about Hanekoma as a character is that while he has good intentions, he still falls under the Higher Plane mentality of "the ends justify the means" and this leads to a heavily biased perspective from his end. Just take a look these excerpts from the original game’s secret reports:

"My art is widely accepted in Shibuya."

"This proves that those with Imaginations sufficient to create the future are gathering in the area. Shibuya's future is looking very bright."

"I imbue my art with two command codes. The first is "Enjoy the moment more". This strengthens the Imagination. The proxy received this signal loud and clear, though past trauma precluded him from responding accordingly."

"The second code, "Gather", calls to those with strong Imaginations. Hence the inevitability: why wouldn't the Composer find his worthy proxy standing in front of my graffiti?"

When you break it down, he’s essentially saying "My art is so good that it is propelling Shibuya into a better future. Just ignore how I implant my own codes within it to specifically cultivate Imagination." Sounds just a bit egotistical, doesn’t it?

Shibuya is a hub of youth culture and is where new trends are born. Of course the UG of it would value individuality and creativity -> influencing others through art and passion. Shinjuku is both a business district but also has a very expansive night culture. It’s considered "adult" in comparison so of course the UG would value having to work with many, many different kinds of people -> being able to navigate and work with people to your advantage. This also helps to explain why the concept of entry fees aren’t a thing because the team set-up is the challenge in and of itself. Obviously Shiba’s version of the game is an anomaly so huge teams like that probably wouldn’t exist in a "normal" version of the game.

But being a leader in and of itself puts that individual in the best position to ascend and gain power within the UG, but then the leader is burdened with being in charge of the individuals under them. Meaning they have to learn to balance the two and work with their team. Likewise, just joining a team means you end up at the mercy of just following along with what your leader says, meaning without the ability to actually challenge or discuss things openly, you will also fail as an individual within that team.

Let’s compare Fuya and Kanon’s teams for this example: Fuya is explicitly noted to have a high Imagination but that didn’t stop him or his team from repeatedly coming into second-to-last place and the mental breakdown he’s currently having while Kanon doesn’t have a whole lot yet she has her head on her shoulders and the social skills needed to be an effective leader, hence why she and her team are able to survive relatively comfortably in the middle. Just having high Imagination or high qualities won’t be enough on its own if you’re unable to work together and balance out your respective strengths The Wicked Twisters end up being the best example of this ideal since they’re able to work together and clash thoughtfully as a team and support one another in times of needs, with the final day in particular running entirely on this concept. If just a single piece was out of place, the entire thing would’ve fallen apart.

Ultimately, Rindo’s growth is a response to OG TWEWY in that you don’t need high Imagination or some other equivalent to be able to enact change and that there are other methods to do so, especially if you use your own unique strengths for them.

Then we must compare how the respective Games are operated. The Shibuya Reaper missions (other than the one assigned by Kitaniji) tended to be pretty simple: go here, defeat Noise, etc. The other stuff such as the need to fix 777’s lighting seemed less about intentionally giving a mission and more incidental. They additionally have harrier Reapers, who more or less fit as the game’s RNG element with their job being to actively hunt down Players like animals. With this and giving the Players simple missions with little structure to go on but letting them have to figure out any resultant complications, the Shibuya Game is a lot more chaotic. By contrast, the Shinjuku Reapers are a lot more involved and administrative, which is fitting considering their business aesthetic. You have them being around to answer questions (unless you’re Shoka but she’s had to do this repeating structure for ages without a shake-up of things so it makes sense that she would be sick of it), preventing unfair interference, providing help, and generally ‘administering’ the missions. You have ordered events like the Scramble Slams, with the commentator actively, well, commentating, more involved missions like decals being set up ahead of time, spot-the-difference missions, a pig treasure hunt, etc…

Of course, there are certainly chaotic elements as well (bribing Reapers for more points, having to act on the whims of the Game Masters, teams forming alliances with one another, etc) but for the most part, it’s a much more controlled structure and it really fits in well when you consider the individuality vs sociality mindset of Shibuya and Shinjuku respectively and shows why Hanekoma, an Angel infatuated with Shibuya, would look down on the Shinjuku games in comparison. In his mind, Shibuya’s more emergent mechanics and interactions allow for more Imagination to be cultivated and to him, Imagination is the sole important thing to focus on. But Rindo’s growth disproves that mentality quite a bit and shows that, like many things, there’s room for compromise between both sides. It may also reflect the devs' changing opinions as culture has changed. In 2007 Nomura and company may have focused more on individual talent under the idea of the spirited sole artist, but by 2018, they realized that leadership and followership, and the ability to work in teams, also really fucking matters. Individuality is still important at the end of the day, hence why Rindo needed to get his shit together and not just become a follower like he was before in order to achieve better things for himself and others, but accepting and learning to balance different viewpoints in order to achieve a desired solution is also extremely important.

At the end of the day, Rindo’s growth is a response to OG TWEWY in that you don’t need high Imagination or some other equivalent to be able to enact change and that there are other methods to do so, especially if you use your own unique strengths for them and even Hanekoma himself seems to realize this when he praises Rindo’s ultimate decision and the courage he had to have to make that choice and sincerely hopes to meet him someday.

Ultimately, Rindo’s growth is a response to OG TWEWY in that you don’t need high Imagination or some other equivalent to be able to enact change and that there are other methods to do so, especially if you use your own unique strengths for them. And even Hanekoma himself seems to realize this when he praises Rindo for this courage he had to make his final decision and that he sincerely hopes to meet him someday.

Ultimately, Rindo’s growth is a response to OG TWEWY in that you don’t need high Imagination or some other equivalent to be able to enact change and that there are other methods to do so, especially if you use your own unique strengths for them. It may also reflect the devs' changing opinions as culture has changed. In 2007 Nomura and company may have focused more on individual talent under the idea of the spirited sole artist, but by 2018, they realised that leadership and followership, and the ability to work in teams, also really fucking matters.

It always makes me sad whenever someone writes off Rindo as underdeveloped or a bland character.  Yeah, his development doesn’t go as hard or is as overt as Neku’s, but there’s no shame in that; Neku’s character arc is easily the best executed one I’ve seen in gaming.  I really wasn’t expecting rindo to surpass that.  

Rindo’s is still good, and honestly I appreciate that they took a different approach / subtler touch vs Neku, instead of simply trying to outdo /repeat themselves (though tbf different writers is probably more responsible for storytelling variances).

I honestly found Rindo to be more interesting and fluid in his character writing compared to Neku. He’s a good kid fundamentally at his core but he can also be whiny, hypocritical, passive-aggressive, and kind of insensitive at times. He has a tendency to be quite judgemental and harsh to the people around him while not acknowledging his own faults, like when he complains about Beat joining the team even though he saved their lives beforehand because he’s not Neku or when he gives Fret shit for fawning over Eiji Oji and Kanon while falling for Motoi’s BS. He legit feels like a real teenager and that’s honestly pretty impressive on the devs’ part.

Neku’s whole thing was about how the trauma that sprung from his friend’s death caused him to close himself off to others so he had to have the messages of the original game delivered to him in a blunt fashion so that he couldn’t mistake it for anything else like he did with CAT’s motto of “enjoy the moment.” Rindo’s a more well-rounded character from the onset so his struggles might not seem to be as much to some people but when you peek into his head, you can see how deep his anxiety runs.

Neku doesn’t take account of the subtleties and even misinterprets Mr. H’s message of "Enjoy every moment with all you've got" to be something self-serving when it’s actually the opposite. Meanwhile, in Rindo’s case, he thoughtlessly spouts an0ther’s meanings and tried to live by them only to find out that Motoi didn’t mean a damn thing he said and was just stealing other people’s content. However, instead of just brushing this aside, Rindo sees Motoi as a flawed human being instead of being purely irredeemable (which you can see in how he hesitates to take down a Plague Motoi) and even feels sympathy for him and chooses to take inspiration from his messages to apply them to his own life in a positive way by applying his own meaning to them.

Rindo is at his core a genuinely good kid but he's got human flaws that contrast with but make sense when paired with his strengths. Characters aren't interesting simply by switching between 2 different character traits. They're interesting when all those traits are being expressed at the same time for reasons that are consistent within their internal logic. You gotta be a good writer to pull that off and you gotta know when to show off these dimensions during your story to achieve proper dramatic effect when the time calls for it and NEO I feel does this pretty damn well. With Rindo, he doesn’t have his own equivalent of Mr. H to tell him the message of the game (hell, his Mr. H turned out to be a fake) so he has to learn those lessons by himself and ends up growing from them and becoming a more confident and self-assured leader.

I also found Replay to be a very interesting double-edged sword when it comes to Rindo’s growth. On the one hand, it does enable his indecisiveness because he can always go back and undo it, which is a mindset he falls into such as when he constantly rewinds to see what Motoi and Shoka were talking about and how he resigns himself to thinking he’ll have to rewind yet again when he gets a vision. But because he HAS to undo his previous indecisiveness, it also forces him to be decisive, because his life is on the line. He has to speak up, he has to think harder, he has to make decisions. It does initially let him get out of the consequences of being indecisive but only by giving him a chance to go back and be decisive.

Then that same indecisiveness comes to bite him in the ass spectacularly in the form of the Dissonance Noise. So while he does grow bit by bit thanks to the nature of Replay, his previous indecisiveness still comes back to haunt him, forcing him to ultimately confront his insecurities in the ending and work his ass off to achieve what he’s fighting for. It’s a genuinely interesting character journey and I appreciate how the devs took quite the supernatural concept and tied it to such a grounded character and his growth. I also find it legitimately impressive how the devs was able to make the time travel ability not destroy the story like a lot of other narratives do.

This is one of the saddest side quests in a while. We encountered this girl in an earlier quest and it would have been so easy to pass off the weird ghost moment with her as some weird Reaper soul powers or technology. But here she reappears to reveal that she’s literally a ghost that Shoka took pity on. A collection of feelings caused by the mass loss from Shinjuku’s inversion, focused on one little girl who doesn’t want to die.

Shoka’s power gets you to this quest, Shoka is the one to request we deal with the Noise that plague her. And Shoka’s clearly not as okay as she lets on with how things are for this poor girl. Given the girl’s name, I’m sure there’s no actual connection, but she does kinda look like Shoka too.

keep remaking two of twewy arts.

And some sketch&spoilers of neo twewy.

I need to get better at posting art but anyway. NTWEWY has me hyped cant wait til its released!!!

Guess which criminally underrated game I replayed recently?

Several interviews with the developers of NTWEWY have been released today and these are the following things we have learned:

Hey quick question - 

WHO GAVE YOU THE FUCKING RIGHT 

The pain never ends, Tumble. Also, on a separate note, I love how they have Neku actually take a hit from Higashizawa to protect Shiki.

Thank you very much for breaking our hearts like this. Thank you.

this game? 10/10

the absolutely Miserable expression in the lower left really makes this

twewy anime episode 2 giving me FEELS

NEO: The World Ends with You details Shoka, Kariya, and Uzuki, Replay and Pins systems, enemies, more

■ Story

It was just another seemingly ordinary day in Shibuya—but not for Rindo. He could tell something about the city felt different.

He soon finds himself caught in the telekinetic crossfire of a psychic battle unfolding in the Scramble Crossing. And before he can catch his breath, a girl with an ominous aura appears before him and welcomes him to the so-called “Reapers’ Game.”

With some trepidation, Rindo and his friend Fret play along, convincing themselves that a “Game” couldn’t have any serious consequences. It isn’t long, however, until they start having second thoughts.

Rindo’s instinct was right: something about this Shibuya is different. The boys’ confusion is compounded by fear when they learn the first rule of this Game: if you don’t win, you cease to exist altogether.

Dead set on returning home, they must now compete against other Players in a battle for survival in Shibuya’s Underground (or “UG”).

■ Characters (Updated)

Rindo (voiced by Paul Castro Jr. [ENG], Yuuma Uchida [JPN)

One of the newest Players in the Reapers’ Game, Rindo is a high schooler to whom searching for info on his phone is second nature. He prefers to go with the flow, and although he doesn’t go out of his way to interact with others, he won’t turn them away if they come to him first.

Thrust into the Game without even realizing it, he now serves as the de facto leader of the Wicked Twisters.

Fret (voiced by Griffin Burns [ENG], Chiharu Sawashiro [JPN])

Rindo’s happy-go-lucky classmate and fellow Player in the Reapers’ Game, Fret boasts the ability to get along with just about anyone. While he styles himself as a natural conversationalist, he prefers to keep things light, subconsciously avoiding subjects that are too serious. He enjoys walking around town with his buddy “Rindude.”

Nagi (voiced by Miranda Parkin [ENG], Mina Katahira [JPN])

Another Player in the Reapers’ Game, Nagi is a college student whose youthful appearance leads others to mistake her for a middle schooler. She is deeply passionate about her pastimes, devoting all of her time and energy to her favorite games. Highly perceptive, she is acutely aware of others’ emotions, and shows disdain toward those she deems superficial and disingenuous.

Minamimoto (voiced by Andy Hirsch [ENG], Takayuki Fujimoto [JPN])

A fellow Player in the Reapers’ Game, Minamimoto puts his impressive psychic powers to use when he saves Rindo and the gang from a tight spot early on, then forces himself onto their team.

He calculates every possible future using his own unique formulas and acts in accordance with the values he discovers, but he remains a mystery to all around him. He seems to have his sights set on something greater than Rindo and the gang.

Shiba (voiced by Shaun Conde [ENG], Daiki Hamano [JPN])

Shiba currently ranks number one among the Reapers in the Shibuya UG, having worked his way to the top within a year of his arrival. He also serves as the Game’s Master, arbiter of its rules, and encourages its Players to keep things hot.

His psychic powers far surpass those of his fellow Reapers, ensuring that none dare disobey him.

Shoka (voiced by Bailey Gambertoglio [ENG], Akari Kitou [JPN)

One of the Reapers in charge of managing the Game, Shoka is less than enthused with her job of monitoring the Players. Having grown bored of the Game in its current state, she not-so-secretly hopes someone will come along and shake things up, showing open disdain toward Players who are slow to learn the rules.

The hoodie she wears is a signature piece from Gatto Nero, a new brand that has recently taken Shibuya by storm.

Kariya (voiced by Andrew Kishino [ENG], Anri Katsu [JPN])

Despite his veteran status among the Shibuya Reapers, Kariya has no career aspirations, content with working among the rank-and-file Reapers. Though he used to work alongside Uzuki, the two operate separately at present. Never seen without one of his trademark lollipops.

Uzuki (voiced by Kate Higgins [ENG], Satomi Arai in [JPN])

Although her mind was once solely focused on getting ahead, Uzuki seems to have outgrown her previous ambition for some reason or another—but her short temper hasn’t changed a bit. She used to work with Kariya, but currently she operates alone.

■ Locations (Updated)

NEO: The World Ends with You takes place in Shibuya, Tokyo. You may recognize some of the landmarks, but the city itself is depicted with an artistic touch unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Explore this wonderfully unique version of Shibuya!

—Spain Hill

—104 Building

■ Music

The game’s vibrant soundtrack is provided by Takeharu Ishimoto, who composed music for the previous game.

Not only has he written a slew of new songs, but he has also rearranged familiar tracks from The World Ends with You, including “Twister” and “Calling”!

■ Key Item: Reaper Pin – The Key to the Reapers’ Game

Reaper Pins serve as proof that one has been approved to take part in the Reapers’ Game.

Not only do these pins grant Players the ability to telepathically Scan their surroundings, but they also educe some of the wielders’ own latent psychic powers.

—Upon obtaining Reaper Pins of their own, Rindo and the gang are swept into a battle for their lives.

■ Game System: Replay – Replay the Past to Change Your Fate

Each member of the Wicked Twisters possesses their own unique psychic powers.

Rindo boasts the ability to turn back time within a given day, allowing him to alter some of his earlier actions in hopes of bringing about a better final outcome.

This Replay power proves indispensable in Rindo’s efforts to survive the Reapers’ Game.

■ Pins

Azamaru

A pin bearing the “Shockwave” psych. Slash at enemies with a flaming sword, then leap into the air before delivering one final hit.

Angelic Kick

Activate the powerful “Massive Hit” psych to unleash a swift aerial kick. Fully charge the attack to send your foes flying as well!

Glacial Getaway

The “Piercing Pillar” psych conjures an enormous icicle beneath your foes, sometimes sending them skyward.

■ Enemies

Players in the Reapers’ Game will face off against enemies known as Noise that come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from herds of smaller beasts to singular fiends that tower over your entire team.

Avoiding them literally won’t get you anywhere, as many missions require Players to erase Noise in order to proceed. Felling these foes will also provide you with powerful new pins, so rest assured that your efforts won’t go unrewarded!

—Some truly ferocious Boss Noise will stand in your way!

NEO: The World Ends with You is due out for PlayStation 4 and Switch on July 27 worldwide, followed by PC via the Epic Games Store later this summer.