![]() ![]() The original was ported to Switch in 2018 as The World Ends With You: Final Remix Following its closure, Forever 21 first took over the empty store as a symbol of the growing popularity of foreign-produced fast fashion. This was an in-game replacement for the flagship HMV megastore that once stood in Shibuya in the mid-2000s, yet closed shortly after the financial crash in 2010. One reason NEO needed to evolve its interpretation of Shibuya is obvious: many of the original game’s most memorable locales no longer exist today. The game had to evolve along with its environment, mechanically as well as aesthetically, if it wanted to represent its ever-changing city in flux. Shibuya has evolved, and NEO: The World Ends With You couldn’t succeed through replication. The Shibuya of today is still a blend of art, fashion, and culture driven by the ideals of those born and raised on its streets, but while it remains a place where you can catch the birth of new musicians finding their voice or fashion trends soon to sweep the nation, it’s not the Shibuya that existed in the original game. In-game influencer The Prince is an approximation of the ubiquity and appeal of celebrities like GACKT who aren’t the same as the Japanese celebrities of today, and even the in-game band Def Märch were styled after the likes of Asian Kung-Fu Generation, The Gazette and The Blue Hearts. But a huge part of the appeal is the game’s accurate recreation of Shibuya at the time of its release, which now feels like a retro relic peppered with flip phones and edgy teens. The World Ends With You has a good premise, in which the dead compete in the Reapers' Game, a competition to win the chance to return to life or ascend to a higher form. Making a sequel to a game so defined by its real-life setting is easier said than done. Shibuya itself has changed a lot in the intervening years and it's fascinating to see how NEO's setting and its gameplay mechanics have evolved alongside it. Now, NEO: The World Ends With You has arrived, but this long-awaited sequel is far from a simple retread of what the first game did 15 years ago. Your drip gave you strength, your armor made you a trendsetter, and the music and energy of the city were translated into a story about coming-of-age, self-worth and finding strength in yourself and your friends by embracing the things that make you unique. Yet what made this game really memorable was how it transformed the fashion and pop-cultural power of Shibuya into its own JRPG battle system. The original The World Ends With You impressed audiences on Nintendo DS as much for the game’s stylish Tokyo setting as it did for a unique battle system that saw players control multiple characters on multiple screens simultaneously. NEO: The World Ends With You is out on PC today (via the Epic Games Store), and marks the grand return of a franchise that, despite a rabid fanbase and numerous re-releases, is only receiving its first sequel after 15 years.
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