13 years ago, gaming was in a very different place to what players are used to today, an age when Nintendo was king of the gaming scene and the Nintendo DS was arguably it's crown jewel. Well back in that golden age of gaming, Kingdom Hearts developer, Square Enix, released The World Ends with You - an action RPG title in a unique anime art style set in a shopping district of modern day Tokyo. The title put the player into the shoes of Neku Sakuraba and his allies, as they must participate in the Reaper's Game to decide their fate.
Years have since passed with few developments on this IP since its original release in 2007, beside the release of ports to mobile devices in 2012, and an enhanced Nintendo Switch upgrade in 2018. Finally, things have started to heat up as this year saw the announcement of an anime adaptation of the game - The World Ends with You: The Animation - set to begin in April 2021, and it seems plenty more is on the way from this universe...
NEWS
A sequel is finally in the works! Square Enix have announced a sequel titled: NEO: The World Ends with You , which will arrive in mid-2021 and is set to launch on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. The newly announced title will return to the district of Shibuya with a totally new set of faces experiencing Reaper's Game, but this time in 3D. The characters in the upcoming sequel will be designed by Tetsuya Nomura, who famously worked on the original title and a sizable chunk of the long running Final Fantasy saga.
Square Enix followed up with an announcement trailer to give players their first look at the long-awaited sequel:
WHAT THIS MEANS
This comes as a huge surprise to see Square Enix suddenly diving into a 13-year-old, largely untouched IP. Recent years have clearly shown The World Ends with You is a title both Square Enix and partner Nintendo are clearly very passionate about, as they have continued to port the original title to updated hardware in both English and its native Japanese language. The announcement of an anime series, also set for next year, is clearly no coincidence and Square Enix is obviously looking to franchise The World Ends with You in a bigger way.
Seeing talent from the original title returning to work on the sequel will prove to be a relief to many who were worried about losing a part of what made the title special to so many.
This announcement has been built up for over a week now, as Square Enix launched a Twitter profile to count down to the trailers release, complete with a logo from the DS classic, making it clear something big was coming!
For those looking for a refresher, The World Ends with You is available now on Nintendo DS, Android and iOS. And for those looking to take that experience to the next level, the enhanced edition - The World Ends with You: Final Remix - is available on Nintendo Switch.