You’ve Got Some Pretty Big Shoes to Fill Here in Shibuya
It’s April 9th and new information has been published about NEO: The World Ends With You, the long-awaited sequel to one of our favorite cult classic JRPGs. The new trailer doesn’t just confirm NEO: TWEWY’s place in the series timeline–it also features a glimpse at some character interactions, shows off some of the updated style mechanics, and reveals that despite Sho Minamimoto having died at least twice, stolen an Organization XIII cloak, and been resurrected as a Player, he still has his megaphone and he’s not afraid to yell math terms at you. The video also shows off Kariya and Uzuki, two fan-favorite antagonists, one of whom is now wearing a smart suit and talking big and the other of whom has not changed at all. By far the most surprising twist, however, is the appearance of Neku Sakuraba, the protagonist of the first game.
Didn’t he win the Reaper’s Game already? What’s he doing back here? The answer lies in A New Day (not to be confused with Another Day), the epilogue added in Final Remix. In this extra day, Neku is shot and killed–again–by mysterious Reaper Coco Atarashi, who declares that she needs him for something… and then resurrects Minamimoto to assist him. From the moment we saw that Minamimoto had returned, we were keeping our eyes peeled for Neku, and it paid off. But we do have to wonder what kind of plot has kept Neku occupied and in the UG for three whole years… and why he’s being hunted.
It also looks like the Reaper’s Game has gone PVP, with teams of Players being pitted against each other rather than being forced to fulfill quest objectives. To get another chance at life, your team of dead kids will have to be ranked number one. There’s no way things could get out of hand!
NEO: The World Ends with You will release on July 27th, 2021, for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. A PC port will be available on the Epic Games Store this summer.
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