The World Ends With You (NDS, 2007)

Rating: 9/10
The World Ends With You is a game that’s been in my radar for years. I never owned a DS, but back in 2015/2016 I finally played it due to emulation. I never did get far or finished it back then, so my heart has been aching to return to this unique DS title. Now I have an ordered backlog and neat little blog to give my thoughts on. Now it’s 2020, TWEWY has been ported to mobile devices, and the Nintendo Switch, but there’s something compelling to me about the original gameplay. The two screen mechanic is just interesting and more unique than what Square did with the other versions.

TWEWY is an RPG that takes place in Japan’s Shibuya ward. Quite an interesting setting. The real Shibuya is full of trends and youth culture, which actually makes it into the game. The plot is centered around an introvert protagonist, Neku Sakuraba, as he is thrown into the Reaper’s Game without any memories of his past. The Reaper’s Game involves completing daily missions; usually in a “do X or face erasure” format. The player must have have a partner in order to survive. The game spans to three weeks, in each there’s a new partner. Week 1 has Shiki, Week 2 has Joshua, and Week 3 has Beat. The main enemies in the game are Noise, creatures that are summoned by the Reapers.

As I said before, the gameplay utilizes the DS’ two screens. In battle, you use the bottom screen to control Neku, and the top screen to control your partner. Neku uses pins to fight. The pins are used with taps, drags, etc on the touchscreen, while the D-pad (or face buttons if you’re a lefty) controls the partner. This involves a lot of multitasking, which can be tedious at times. There’s an auto mode for the partner, and the AI is pretty good.

Pros:

+ The characters are creative and unique
+ The soundtrack is amazing and memorable
+ Tin Pin is fun, but isn’t mandatory
+ Good partner AI

Cons:
- The plot can be predictable at times
- Lots of customization that no one would really use


Final Thoughts:
TWEWY is full of creativity and care from the developers. TWEWY isn’t without it’s flaws. If you’re like me, you probably wouldn’t shop very often. Because of this, certain items can be lost. I actually had to Google how to get the last two pin slots. This is less of a flaw and more of a complaint, but the final boss is practically impossible to defeat if you don’t have the right pins. If you reach the final boss like I did, got your ass handed to you several times, and decide to change your loadout, you have to go a few battles back. Please beat the boss on easy.

Even with those problems, it was a great game and I highly recommend it. The characters definitely stood out to me. For example, I saw a lot of myself in Neku. Please give this game a try if you can. As biased as it might sound, please play the DS version. I wasn’t a fan of the mobile version, and I can’t speak for the Switch version, but play the game like it was intended, if possible.