Level 5’s Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is here and we recently got the chance to analyze the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions of the game. The very first thing you will notice as soon as you load up the game is its fantastic art style. Unfortunately, Studio Ghibli isn’t involved this time around but the team at Level -5 have managed to outdo the fantastic animation work we saw in the original. The animations are extremely fluid and bring along new levels of emotions whilst building upon the work done on the original game.
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom may not seem like a technically demanding game but the intricately detailed animations surely took a lot of effort and time and that is something that cannot be ignored. Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is a technical marvel in its own distinct way, its environments are gorgeous and varied, the art style is immaculate and the characters are extremely interesting.
The game also employs a kind of an open level design while traversing between locations but it isn’t an open world game by any means. Its strength lies in its varied linearity, fantastic particle effects during combat and the fluidity of the on-screen action…all of this comes together to create one of the best experiences of the year.
On the technical front, Ni no Kuni 2 features impressive options on the PS4 Pro. You can toggle between two options and you don’t need to restart the game as the effect takes place on the fly. 1080p TV owners can enjoy 1080p resolution along with 60fps support, which is our preferred way of playing the game. The frame rate seems to be running at a rock solid 60fps most of the time with minimal drops. The other mode is for 4K TV owners allowing the game to run in dynamic 4K with an unlocked frame rate. We are not big fans of unlocked frame rates so we recommend playing the game on the 1080p/60fps option. On the base PS4 front we have the game running at 1080p but features a few compromises compared to the PS4 Pro. First, shadow quality and ambient occlusion is much better on the PS4 Pro. Image quality is tremendously improved on the PS4 Pro should you decide to play it on 4K TV. Other than these differences there isn’t much to choose here. But overall, the PS4 Pro, as expected comes out on top.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to test the PC version but both the console versions provide a pretty good experience. Regardless of whatever platform you chose to play the game on, Ni no Kuni 2 won’t disappoint you.
