Much of what made the original game work is still here: the art is beautiful; the music, both the remixed and original soundtrack, is wonderful; the characters are still endearing; the humor is charming and funny; the story is engaging. In many ways, it’s very similar to the original DS release. But it isn’t really the same game.

"What drew me into The World Ends With You was its characters. They’re all fun, interesting people with desires, hopes, fears, and damage, and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with them."

The World Ends With You is set in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, a part of Japan known for its fashion, culture, and shopping. The story follows Neku Sakuraba, a spiky-haired, misanthropic teenager who generally doesn’t like other people and thinks he’s better off on his own. Unfortunately for Neku, he’s stuck in the UG version of Shibuya. See, the world of The World Ends With You is split into two parts: the RG (Real Ground) and the UG (Underground). The RG is basically the world we exist in: it’s a real, tangible place with stuff you can interact with. The UG operates on a different plane of existence and is run by the Reapers. The Reapers pull unwilling participants from the RG, strip them of what they value most as an “entry fee,” and force them to play a week-long game in which they must complete different “missions” within a set time or be permanently erased from existence.

Neku isn’t happy to be in Shibuya in the first place, but he’s really unhappy to find himself in possession of a pin that allows him to read minds and even more upset when he’s attacked by monsters known as Noise. He’s saved at the last moment by a girl named Shiki. The Reapers’ Game requires Players to partner up to survive, so Neku and Shiki form an uneasy alliance. They spend a week together, learning more about the Game, the UG, and each other, before, well… I don’t want to spoil too much for those who haven’t played the game. Suffice it to say, this is not going to go the way you think.

What drew me into The World Ends With You was its characters. They’re all fun, interesting people with desires, hopes, fears, and damage, and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with them. Even Neku, who initially comes off as a joyless jerk, has redeeming qualities, and the characters around him make him change. It’s the little moments – the acts of kindness and understanding between characters, the jokes, the quick dialogue exchanges – that make the game’s characters work as well as they do and provide a large part of the game’s appeal. I could hang out with The World Ends With You’s cast for a long time.

"Final Remix features both the original soundtrack and the remixed tunes, and you can switch between them at any time. TWEWY’s soundtrack is diverse, featuring a mix of hip-hop and electronica, some vocalized, some not, and the entire soundtrack is wonderful, no matter which version you decide to run with."

Then there’s the music. Final Remix features both the original soundtrack and the remixed tunes, and you can switch between them at any time. TWEWY’s soundtrack is diverse, featuring a mix of hip-hop and electronica, some vocalized, some not, and the entire soundtrack is wonderful, no matter which version you decide to run with. I personally preferred the remixed soundtrack, but both are worth a listen to figure out which you prefer. The voice acting is good, too, and the art is absorbing and unique.

What isn’t the same is the gameplay, which is likely what will frustrate fans of the DS original. See, Final Remix isn’t so much an expanded port of the DS game as it is an expanded port of the mobile port of the DS game and the gameplay changes reflect that. To be effective in the original game’s combat system, you had to make Neku and his partner work together. That meant controlling both of them at the same time. You’d command Neku via the stylus on the DS’s bottom screen, while using the face buttons (or the D-Pad) to control his partner on the top screen. If you got the timing right, you could pass a glowing puck back and forth between the characters that charged up a powerful special move. It was complicated, yeah, but it got one of the game’s key themes – work together with others and don’t cut yourself off from the rest of the world – across through gameplay.

That system is gone completely in the remake. Instead, you have two control options: the touch screen, or the motion detectors on a single Joy-Con. The game simply won’t allow it to be played another way. See, attacking in this game requires you to make different gestures on the screen. Some require you to repeatedly click an enemy or an empty area of the screen, while others might have you make a quick slashing motion to attack up close or move your finger across an enemy, an object, or empty space. Controlling Neku often works the same way, requiring you to make quick slashes or slow movements to have him dash or run across the screen, respectively.

"The touchscreen controls are burdened by delay, which means that certain motions that certain pins require you to make don’t work very well, if at all. The Joy-Con controls are better, because you get to press buttons for certain things – clicking on something, running, etc – but you still have to hold the Joy-Con up to the screen almost constantly, and you’ll often have to reset the pointer to have any kind of accuracy."

This might work well for a mobile game, but it’s something of a minor disaster on the Switch. The touchscreen controls are burdened by delay, which means that certain motions that certain pins require you to make don’t work very well, if at all. The Joy-Con controls are better, because you get to press buttons for certain things – clicking on something, running, etc – but you still have to hold the Joy-Con up to the screen almost constantly, and you’ll often have to reset the pointer to have any kind of accuracy. This isn’t a gamebreaker, but it is an annoyance that doesn’t have to be here.

These changes to the control scheme mean that there is no longer any way to control your partner. Instead, they become a pin. Like any other pin, they are activated a certain way – tapping, swiping, or dragging – once they are off cooldown, and when their time is up, they disappear until they can be used again. Using your partner’s pin builds up a synchronization meter, which can then be spent on a special attack that does enormous damage to everything on-screen.

It isn’t a bad system, really, as combat is still fun, but these changes do combine to make everything very, very easy. So easy, in fact, that there’s often no point in moving your character at all. It’s much more efficient do just sit there and do the motions for your attacks, rather than try to dodge and avoid taking damage. The one upside to the new systems is that you can now play the game in co-op with another person. This not only makes battles more fun, but gets back to the spirit of the original game and forces you to communicate to get combos and actually avoid enemy attacks since you share a health bar. This is only available with the Joy-Con controls, but that’s a minor qualm when those controls are better. The only weakness of the co-op mode is that, unlike Neku, his companion characters can’t change their pins – what they have is what they get, and that’s it.

"Shibuya is a fashion hotbed, so the gear you wear and the pins you wear matter. See, each pin and piece of gear is part of one of thirteen brands, and the popularity of each brand varies between Shibuya’s district. Being on-trend is important, because it actually affects how well you do in combat."

Managing your gear – this is an RPG, after all – and your pins is actually a big part of TWEWY but the game adds a twist to the whole thing by tasking you with keeping up with Shibuya’s trends. The area is a fashion hotbed, so the gear you wear and the pins you wear matter. See, each pin and piece of gear is part of one of thirteen brands, and the popularity of each brand varies between Shibuya’s district. Being on-trend is important, because it actually affects how well you do in combat. Rock items that represent one of the district’s most popular brands will get you an attack boost, while being out of style will actually decrease your damage.

You can win items in combat, but you can also buy them from the shops scattered around Shibuya. Thing is, you’ll have to befriend the various shopkeepers before they’ll sell you certain items, or unlock a piece of gear’s specific abilities. Befriending shopkeeps is as easy as spending money at their stores, but it’s an interesting system that adds depth to gearing up and supports the game’s world, to boot.

The game handles leveling in an interesting way, too. Pins gain PP (pin points. Yes, I’m serious) when you use them in combat, but you also earn PP when the game is turned off. In addition, you can switch the game’s difficulty level on the fly, and even lower Neku’s level. The benefits of the former are obvious, but using the latter to handicap yourself makes enemies more likely to drop good pins and items. It’s a nice system, and I wish more RPGs would do something like it.

"The World Ends With You: Final Remix isn’t a bad game. But the game is being billed as the definitive edition of a modern classic and… it just isn’t. It’s still good, mind; TWEWY is too good a game to be ruined by flawed control schemes and a neutered combat system, but it’s not the version we deserve, nor the one we were promised."

The other big change to Final Remix is the addition of A New Day, a new storyline that adds a new plot, new characters, and some interesting battle mechanics. You might be asked to defeat a series of enemies quickly, for instance, or have to deal with a fight that constantly saps your health. This new content is solid, but it’s not anything special, and it’s hard to imagine it appealing to anyone outside of the hardest of the hardcore of TWEWY’s fan.

Perhaps that’s the real issue with Final Remix: it’s inconsistent. A lot of what’s here – the remixed soundtrack, the co-op mode – is good, and much of the presentation aspects are a step up from the DS version. But there’s a lot of bad, too. A New Day is just all right and the changes to the battle system are, in many ways, a step down from the original game. Controlling the game with the Joy-Con works fine, but the touch controls are absolutely horrendous, and it’s frankly a wonder that the developer didn’t simply remaster the DS version rather than port a version designed for mobile devices.

Don’t get me wrong: The World Ends With You: Final Remix isn’t a bad game. But the game is being billed as the definitive edition of a modern classic and… it just isn’t. It’s still good, mind; TWEWY is too good a game to be ruined by flawed control schemes and a neutered combat system, but it’s not the version we deserve, nor the one we were promised. If this is the only way you can play the game, it’s more than adequate, but it loses much of what made the DS game special in its transition to the Switch. The developer should do better by their classic games, and we should expect them to. Right now, this version is just good and it could have been much more than that. Because The World Ends With You wasn’t just good; it was great, and Neku and Shibuya deserve better.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.

Following news about digital sales for Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and the drop in physical sales for the UK, it’s interesting to see Gfk Chart-Track’s sales chart for the week ending October 13th. Even with lower physical sales than its predecessor Call of Duty: WW2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 still managed to debut in first place before the week closed.

FIFA 19 is in second place, while Assassin’s Creed Odyssey dropped to third, the former seeing a 54 percent week-on-week drop in sales. WWE 2K19 also made its debut in the charts at a respectable fourth place. However, it also suffered a 37.5 percent year-on-year drop in physical sales compared to its predecessor.

Forza Horizon 4, which was celebrated recently as the fastest selling title in the UK for the franchise, dropped to fifth place. Sales were down 67 percent week-on-week. Spider-Man is in sixth place followed by Super Mario Party dropping to seventh place with a 45 percent drop in sales. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe rounded out the top ten.

The only other new debut title was The World Ends With You: Final Remix for the Nintendo Switch. It came in at 21st place.

WWE 2K19

Another year, yet another WWE 2K title from Yuke’s and Visual Concepts. Don’t get us wrong – there’s a lot to look forward to in WWE 2K19. Showcase Mode returns, this time focusing on Daniel Bryan’s journey from humble newcomer to Wrestlemania main eventer. MyPlayer Towers allows for daily, weekly and pay per view challenges with, and MyCareer mode will also return to provide a more linear story for your custom created wrestler. With stars like AJ Styles and pre-order bonuses like Rey Mysterio and Ronda Rousey, will WWE 2K19 regain some semblance of glory when it releases on October 9th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC? Time will tell.

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game

Creating a proper video game experience centred around H.P. Lovecraft’s horrifying creations is tough. Nevertheless, we’re incredibly hyped for Cyanide’s Call of Cthulhu. Players assume the role of investigator Edward Pierce as he heads out to Darkwater Island near Boston to solve the death of a family. Focusing more on investigation and conversations, Call of Cthulhu will also see Pierce struggling to maintain his sanity in the face of hallucinations and cult-like figures. Will he make it out alive? We’ll find out on October 30th when the game launches Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

LEGO DC Super-Villains

Why should good guys have all the fun? Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO DC Super-Villains is turning the tables by allowing us to control a variety of famous villains. Of course, while gameplay is similar to previous LEGO titles, complete with two-player co-op, it’s now possible to have a fully customizable character that’s integrated into the story. If battling heroes as the Joker sounds appealing – that too from the lens of LEGO humour – then LEGO DC Super-Villains might be worth checking out when it launches on October 16th for North America and October 19th worldwide for Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Super Mario Party

Before the latest Smash and much before anything that could potentially keep your friendships together, the first Mario Party for Switch will be releasing on October 5th. Super Mario Party, as the name implies, brings new mini-games, the ability to play on a single Switch and even linking multiple platforms together for certain activities like Toad’s Rec Room. The jury is out on whether the gameplay actually improves on predecessors. Just try to stay friends after extended play sessions.

Mega Man 11

No, this isn’t a new Mega Man X title but Mega Man 11 looks pretty darn good with its sumptuous visuals. The same platformer shooting action that fans know and love is still here with eight Robot Masters to fight across eight stages. However, the new Double Gear system has us more intrigued. Mega Man can now activate the Power Gear system to fire a powerful shot or slow down time with the Speed Gear. At low health, a super powerful blast can be activated using both gears. Time Trials, Missions, leaderboards and more are included with the base story. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long as Mega Man 11 releases on October 2nd for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Treyarch’s latest Black Ops breaks away from an established Call of Duty tradition by having no single-player campaign. Nevertheless, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will have multiplayer, three Zombies maps instead of one (each with their own stories) and the Battle Royale mode Blackout. Blackout has already impressed many with its level of polish and well-crafted world design. Zombies will bring mutations and challenges to keep PvE players occupied. Will the entire package hold up over a long period of time? We’ll find out when Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launches on October 12th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Soulcalibur 6

Yet another long-awaited sequel is Bandai Namco’s Soulcalibur 6. Classic characters like Mitsurugi, Sophitia and Kilik return along with a few new characters including Geralt from The Witcher 3 as the story revisits hidden events from the first game. Soulcalibur 6 won’t just feature the same weapon-based combat we’ve always loved – it will have special moves, special slow-mo sequences and the return of ring-outs. If that weren’t enough, along with the Soul Chronicle story mode, there’s Libra of Soul, a campaign for one’s custom character. Soulcalibur 6 is out on October 19th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Releasing just a year after Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey veers even further into RPG territory. The story this time around is set in Ancient Greece with two protagonists – Alexios and Kassandra. As a Spartan mercenary that travels away from home, you’re given the option of fighting in the Peloponnesian War for either Sparta or Athens. With more combat possibilities, an impactful dialogue and choice system, beasts like Medusa and an even larger world to explore, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey promises an even more epic adventure when it releases on October 5th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Forza Horizon 4

Perhaps the best open world racing title of this year – and several other years – Forza Horizon 4 heads to jolly old Britain for one’s Horizon shenanigans. Working one’s way up as a rookie to the Horizon roster, there are now four seasons to play through with their own respective events and Showcases that open up. Forza Horizon 4 also packs tons of vehicles, player housing, an improved progression system that constantly rewards the player, Forzathon live events, Seasonal championships and much, much more to race through. It’s out on October 2nd for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.

Red Dead Redemption 2

We’ve been waiting since 2010 for Rockstar to deliver a sequel to Red Dead Redemption and it’s almost here. Though the story takes place before the events of the first game, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a massive step forward in terms of visuals, world design and missions. Players will control Arthur Morgan, traveling with the Van der Linde gang, fraternizing with your comrades and picking up new activities in the process. You can partake in bank heists, build your relationship with an entire town, go hunting, fish and so much more. That’s not even including the online mode which launches in November. Red Dead Redemption 2 releases on October 26th for Xbox One and PS4.

Honorable Mentions:

• Starlink: Battle for Atlas
• Luigi’s Mansion
• Just Dance 2019
• Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise
• Warriors Orochi 4
• The World Ends with You: Final Remix
• Disgaea 1 Complete

With the launch of The World Ends With You: Final Remix, the upcoming Nintendo Switch port of the Nintendo DS game from over ten years ago, almost upon us, Nintendo and Square Enix have dropped a brand new trailer for the title on us. The trailer walks us through the game’s battle system.

The World Ends With You’s battle system has always been rather unique. The game was originally built specifically around the Nintendo DS hardware, including the presence of two screens and the touch screen. Of course, the Switch lacks a second screen, so compromises have been made in translating the game over to the platform. Nonetheless, the battle system still looks to be frenetic and fun, at least based on the demonstration for it that is given in this trailer.

It goes without saying, but we also get to see more gameplay footage for the title, and hear more of its great music. If you’re a fan of The World Ends With You, you don’t want to miss this Switch release— especially since series producer Tetsuya Nomura has previously suggested that it might bridge straight into a sequel.

The World Ends With You originally launched over a decade ago on the Nintendo DS. Next month, it launches on the Switch as The World Ends With You: Final Remix, which, according to producer Tetsuya Nomura, is his “final chance” to lay down the elements that he needs to to lead into a sequel.

“I’ve had a chance to attend various events in different countries during the 11 years following the release of The World Ends with You,” he said, speaking to Nintendo. “On many occasions, I have been interviewed by both the fans and the media, who have told me how much they want me to make a sequel for The World Ends with You. We’ve been looking for an opportunity, and there were a few times we tried to get it started, but time passed without it ever coming to realization.

“There are a number of implications behind this Final Remix version. In addition to my intention of making this my last time working with the original game, I think this is the final chance for creating a path to the next step, which I’ve had ideas about since the first launch 11 years ago. Many thanks to everyone for supporting ongoing efforts.”

The implication here seems to be more creative than anything— that Nomura wants to work on a sequel, and that this Switch version is his final chance to be able to include some elements into the game that he feels will be necessary to segue to a sequel. It’s a tactic he has used multiple times, such as with his Kingdom Hearts series.

For long-suffering fans of The World Ends With You, it’s probably heartening to hear that a sequel to the game is something that has even been considered at all. Maybe if the Switch version of the game is successful, then, more than 11 years after the launch of the game originally, a sequel can be greenlit, and fans can finally see a follow-up to this beloved game.

The World Ends With You: Final Remix launches on Nintendo Switch on October 12.

The World Ends With You: Final Remix launches in North America and Europe next month, but in Japan, it’s only a couple of weeks away. Which is why, ahead of the release of the enhanced version of the cult classic DS game, Square Enix has released a brand new trailer for it.

The new trailer shows us gameplay for the game, including in portable mode with the rejigged touch controls (the game will support either touch controls, or Joycon controls; the Switch Pro controller is not supported). We also get to see some story cutscenes and footage, as well as some teasing for “A New Day”, the brand new story expansion that is included along with this version of the game. The World Ends With You veterans are probably most excited for this part of the package, since it will confirm whether or not the decade-plus teasing for a sequel will actually resolve into anything substantial.

You can check out the trailer below. The World Ends With You launches on October 12 for Nintendo Switch.

The World Ends With You launched on the Nintendo DS over a decade ago, and it was truly a game specifically built around the quirky hardware of Nintendo’s two screened handheld. The control scheme it used utilized everything the DS had, and was so specifically tailored for the DS that it’s hard to see it working for any other system ever (apart from maybe the 3DS).

Square managed to wrangle a compromised version of the control scheme on iOS devices, but questions about how they would get it to work in the upcoming Switch version abound; in handheld mode, we can see Square doing what they did with the iOS version, but what about console mode? We know they’re using Joycons for docked mode, but how will they get the control scheme working with the Switch Pro controller?

Answer- they won’t. USGamer reports that The World Ends With You: Final Remix on Nintendo Switch will simply not support the Switch Pro controller. You have to play with individual Joycons for aiming, or you don’t play it in docked mode at all. Given how eccentric the game’s control scheme is, this is understandable, though I am still bummed- in a way, this seems antithetical to the Switch’s whole “play anywhere, any time, any way you want” nature.

The World Ends With You: Final Remix launches on the Nintendo Switch on October 12.

The World Ends With You will launch on Nintendo Switch later this year as the Final Remix, and when it does, it will have a brand new chapter called “A New Day”. So far, we haven’t known much about what that will entail, but new information about the mode has been shared in Famitsu that sheds some light on what players can expect (translated by KH Insider).

“A New Day” has the game’s protagonist Neku be enlisted in a new game by the Reapers, called “Hard Mode”. It is set over 24 hours (instead of a full week, though that does not necessarily tell us anything about how long the scenario is), and features harder enemies, as well as missions that can trigger during battle. A new mini-game called Marble Slash can also be triggered via the use of badges.

All of which sounds good to me, although maybe it’s not what players are expecting after learning the game will cost $50. I think it will come down to how much story content there is here. The World Ends With You: Final Remix launches on the Switch on October 16.

The World Ends With You is finally getting its Switch release in the form of Final Remix on October 12. That said, even though it’s a beloved game, it’s a very old game- the title first came out on Nintendo DS in 2006 in Japan, with a 2007 release in the rest of the world. Surely the fact that so much time has passed would mean that it wouldn’t be full price, that it would be a bit cheaper, right?

Well… yes and no. The game certainly isn’t a full price title. However, it also might not be as cheap as many were hoping for. The game will cost $50 USD in the west- which stings, since the DS original launched at $40, and that was eleven years ago. Nonetheless, this port has been redone HD graphics, remapped controls, substantial new story content, and remixed music- so I do see where Square is coming from here as well.

The World Ends With You: Final Remix launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch on October 12.

The World Ends with You: Final Remix (Switch) MSRP seems to be $49.99 now, at GameStop https://t.co/HJmurxBekO

Price also changed at Amazon https://t.co/ibE9nH3X8V
and Best Buy https://t.co/7Wf0zVwyLp pic.twitter.com/eWgLUVc494

— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 8, 2018

The success of Octopath Traveler has reaffirmed to Square that its decision to support the Nintendo Switch, and especially to use it as a target platform to revive their mid-tier RPG efforts, which all but died out after the move to the HD era, is the right one.

In a new statement, translated by The Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki, Square Enix confirmed that they will continue making new games for Nintendo’s hybrid- and that Octopath has confirmed to them that the platform is well suited to their mid-range efforts.

They also said that more similar games will be coming from them for the Switch- which is fantastic news. That said, they didn’t actually confirm whether or not these games would be Switch exclusive, pointing out that while Octopath is in fact exclusive to the Nintendo system, for future games, Square will decide as appropriate.

As for now, the next mid-range effort hitting Switch from Square is The World Ends With You: Final Remix this October. May it do well, so that series can continue.

Square Enix on Octopath Traveler 3:
-(You still think Switch's a good platform for middle-range games?) Yes.
-(Can we expect more of similar games from you?) Yes
-(Platforms?) Octopath is Switch exclusive, where appropriate for forthcoming ones.

— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) August 7, 2018