Games I Beat in the Year 2025: Neo: The World Ends With You (Switch)

Games I Beat in the Year 2025: Neo: The World Ends With You (Switch)

Overview:

On my mission to tackle my mountainous backlog of video games, the first game I beat this year was Neo: The World Ends With You on the Nintendo Switch. Neo is a stylish urban fantasy action JRPG, and the long-awaited sequel to The World Ends With You (2007) for the Nintendo DS

To preface: in high school, the original TWEWY on DS was probably my favorite game ever (this was before I played Persona 3). It hit me right at the start of my emo phase, and its characters and themes resonated with me. Fast forward to now I’m playing this sequel at twice the age I was then. When I saw they were making it 10+ years later, I was shocked, but I love when game companies take chances on really artsy but niche projects like this.

Story:

Neo throws a new group of high schoolers into Shibuya’s “Reaper’s Game”- a team-based battle royale match where losers are erased from existence and winners get their wish granted. Armed with pins and the power of friendship, you’ll battle Noise (what they call monsters), rival teams, and the clock to survive.

All this reaper and noise stuff is just a complicated backdrop to set up who to root for, who to beat up, and why. The main character, Rindo, is an indecisive introvert who can rewind time. The main character is Rindo; an indecisive introvert who can turn back time. He’s accompanied by the extrovert Fret who can make people remember stuff and other introvert Nagi who’s pretty much just dark-haired Futaba from Persona 5. I didn’t bond with the new crew the way I did with the DS characters, but maybe that’s just me being old and out of high school. I used to unironically end stuff with “yo” just like Beat did… yo.

Compared to the first game, Neo starts slower. Some days all throughout the game feel padded “The Reapers want you to do this” or “Let’s do everything, then rewind time so we don’t die.” But by mid-week two, the story finally clicked and became unputdownable through the power of “I need to know what happens next”

Also, this game also has Another Day, a bonus alternate-timeline parody full of fourth-wall breaks just like in the first game. I really adored this mode in both games; it’s humorous in a rewarding sense. Turns out Another Day in the first game influenced me more than I realized: in my unreleased visual novel (that I may or may not release), I had an Another Day-esque mode there… that was the only part of the game completed. Long story short, visual novels are annoying to write.

Gameplay:

I skipped the Switch remake of the first TWEWY, so I had no idea what combat changes to expect here. The DS originally made you play a rhythm game on the D-pad with one hand while giving your other hand arthritis with the stylus. Neo simplifies things: you assign pins to six buttons, and each button corresponds to a character’s attack. Pressing a button swaps control to that character where you can dodge and move freely while your teammates look busy in the background.

Controlling 6 characters might sound daunting at first, but it grows on you quickly. X and Y are your main attacks for combos; whereas the bumpers and triggers are for charge or hold attacks. You can chain moves: slice with a sword pin, launch an enemy, juggle them with bullets, then finish with a dropkick. Pull off enough well-timed combos and you’ll charge up a flashy SPECIAL ATTACK! Honestly, I think this 6 character system makes for very customizable gameplay; even more so than the first game.

You can do all sorts of whacky things with pins in this game as there are 300+ pins to collect. Some are pretty same-y like sword strikes that have different elements to them, but the game shines with some really unique ones like pins that let you slow time, summon black holes, or a pin that literally drops a bus on enemies. Evolving pins is mercifully easier now; you don’t have to mess with your system clock anymore.

And if you’re a completionist, then you’re in for a long game: four difficulty levels, a sphere grid, 300+ pins, food, clothes, post-game bosses, collectible graffiti… This game has the power to devour your free time.

Conclusion:

I really liked Neo: The World Ends With You. To me, it’s not as meaningful to me as the first game was - but that’s the nostalgia talking, not a knock on Neo. I loved revisiting Shibuya and seeing returning characters; and even without nostalgia, Neo stands tall thanks to its slick presentation and satisfying combat; you’ll just miss character interactions and story beats if you skipped the first game.

The game reviewed well but missed Square Enix’s sales projections and honestly, I don’t know what they were expecting. The first TWEWY was a cult classic, not a blockbuster. And they launched a sequel 10+ years later, still set in high school, when your original fans are now living adult lives? The second thought process was that Square tried to win over this new generation of gamers, but does it make sense to win them over with a sequel that leans heavily on characters and concepts from the first game? Are emo people still a thing? The fact that this game exists makes no sense to me and Square Enix needs to chill out on their expectations.

But hey, if they ever decide to make a sequel for Neo after 10+ years, count me in. I’m pretty sure I’m their main target demographic.

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