The world ends with you Nintendo Switch Reviews

When the original Nintendo DS was at the peak of its popularity, some of its most interesting games were, well, incredibly strange. There was a musical toy that turned a jellyfish into a touch screen pianos (Électroplancton), a story about a secret government agency that solved problems by singing (Agents of elite beat), and an epic battle where giant tanks were piloted by pretty blue blobs (Dragon Quest Heroes: Slime Rocket). One of the best examples of this exciting period of games is The world ends with you.

Released for the first time on the DS in 2008, the Japanese role-playing game comes from Square Enix, the company behind the biggest names in the genre, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. But The world ends with you is a unique and energetic experience that combines the elegant youth culture of Shibuya District with a dark and disturbing story about death and friendship. Ten years later, there is still no such thing.

But if you missed TWEWY the first time you're lucky: an improved version is available on the Nintendo Switch, and it's just as good as it was when it was released.

The game puts you in the role of Neku, an amnesiac loner who is in a strange version of Shibuya, in an alternative reality, where supernatural beings, called mowers, perform various missions. If they fail, they are erased from existence forever. Despite the fact that he seems to hate everyone, Neku is forced to associate with another player, a girl named Shiki. The two men work together to solve missions, fight enemies called noise and determine exactly what is happening in this strange world.

The story can sometimes be very confusing – the game of reapers is full of complex and arbitrary rules – but it also becomes fascinating and surprisingly emotional as you deepen. Neku may be a cliché, a protagonist of JRPG at first, but forced to literally fight for his life, he changes and grows naturally, as he begins to understand that you need the help of others to succeed.

You can not talk about The world ends with you not to mention his appearance. It's not just a game that takes place in Shibuya; it's a game where neighborhood fashion is at the center of the experience. The game was piloted by Tetsuya Nomura, known for his strange character designs for Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. Manga-inspired visuals can sometimes be too much of a reality – at one point, Neku wants to have more zippers, a Nomura staple – but they're also grounded in reality. and characters. Tokyo's iconic buildings twist and stretch as you run through crowded streets.

As in most RPGs, you equip new equipment to improve your abilities, but there is a touch of style; each region has its own trends and you get bonuses by wearing the right brands in the right places.

Photo of Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

This vibrant world is beautiful on the Switch screen or on a big TV, but this new version has compromises. The version of Switch seems to be based on the mobile port of the game released in 2012, which makes sense. The DS offered a unique two-screen battle in which you control two different characters on each screen. It is impossible to reproduce on the switch.

Instead, the fight has been simplified so that you exchange between different attacks of Neku and his partner. But Square Enix has made some curious control decisions. In portable mode, your only option is the touch screen, which is good because the fight works really well in this mode. You can sweep enemies to attack or slide your finger to create dangerous fire trails. It's usually pretty intuitive.

But when you want to play on your TV, the game does not use the standard switch controller. Instead, you use a single Joy-Con with motion controls simulating a touch screen. You navigate the menus by dragging a pointer on the screen and make attacks by shaking your hand. This can be embarrassing, and in fierce battles it is not as responsive as it should be. The world ends with you the display and sound are bright on a big screen, but you'll probably want to play most of them with a good headphone, tapping the switch screen.

If you have never played the game before, it is worthwhile to make some minor inconveniences with the controls. The world ends with you still playing as well today as it was ten years ago and, more importantly, it reminds us of a time when weird games were normal, and a story powered by J-pop about an oversized teenager with an oversized helmet Super Mario and Pokémon releases as a bestseller.

The world ends with you: Final Remix is available today on the Nintendo switch.