Same streets, same crowds too. Yeah, Shibuya hasn’t changed a bit. But still, I don’t think I can forgive you yet. You don’t see it, but... those few weeks were very hard for me. Learning to trust people, having that trust broken... Finding out the town I pegged as small, and stifling, and empty... wasn’t any of those things. I’m glad I met you guys. You made me... pick up on things I probably would’ve just gone on ignoring. "Trust your partner." And I do. I can’t forgive you...but I trust you.
Shibuya is a sprawling district in the city of Tokyo, where life, subcultures and people of many different types gather. Unbeknownst to them however, is a world that exists just parallel to their own. In the Underground or UG, special games are conducted for an unclear purpose on specially selected individuals. In the game, players have 7 days to accomplish a set number of tasks or face erasure by the hands of reapers. A player, Neku Sakuraba, wakes up to find that he’s become a part of the game without remembering how he got there, or anything else about himself at all. In order to avoid being erased he partners up with another player, Shiki Misaki, and braves through the remaining days of the game in order to understand more about himself, his partner and the world around him.
Out of the seemingly endless library of games for the Nintendo DS, none other is as well beloved as Square-Enix’s The World Ends With You. It’s not often that a game of such small scale and comparatively little fanfare develops a strong, cult-like following of fans that dedicate themselves to the appreciation of a work that its creator almost consistently neglects. However, to anyone who plays this game, the appeal and excellence of the game is almost immediately apparent. The World Ends With you composes a harmonic balance of aesthetics, themes and engagement, taking its console to what is argued to be its full potential, with nothing since being quite able to replicate it.
The very unique kind of aesthetic that the game builds is deeply rooted in its desire for expression. Separating itself from many titles, both classic and contemporary, The World Ends With You introduces a setting that is very small and personal, presented with a mix of authenticity and idealism. The aesthetic of the game can be perceived within Shibuya itself, which holds the key to the game's themes, style and appeal because the setting is all of those elements by itself. The game has a desire to look into and represent its society through its art and culture, which is an aspect that by merit of its intent, can easily separate it from anything since.
The urban nature of Shibuya is an important part of The World Ends With You, and an important part of why its presentation works so well. The abundance of urban subcultures, styles and forms of expression make it easy for the game to present its setting without leaving anything lost in translation. Before it can represent the lifestyle of Shibuya, the game is able to relate with our abstract and idyllic perceptions of the urban lifestyles, represented greatly by the game's art direction and soundtrack, which take cues from Urban Pop Culture to represent environments, fashion and music genres that create a very specific atmosphere that makes the setting come to live.
However, even despite presenting its atmosphere in an abstract way, The World Ends With You doesn't try to represent Shibuya as anything but authentic, at least in spirit. The Shibuya of the game takes advantage of its roots in reality to provide a location for the game that feels well rounded and believable. Even with the artistic differences it takes from the real thing, its incorporation of plentiful detail, layout, art design, soundtrack and narrative themes make the setting appear authentic to anyone who plays the game. While other games may incorporate larger, more recognizable settings of our own world, none other does it quite as well as The World Ends With You, because this game tries to represent a world that's tangible first, before making it recognizable.
Its art direction, for instance, is one of the means through which the game is able to add to its setting. The artwork, taking cues from pop art and other urban styles, often breaks rules and conventions, thus presenting a highly abstract look for its locations and backgrounds. Backgrounds are presented in a very painterly manner, often bearing little detail other than the shapes of each object with noticeable brush strokes and paint. Besides that, throughout the game, perspective is almost always given some enhancement or exaggeration in order to create a surreal abstraction that contrast with the cool and realistic color palette with plenty of greys and blues, portraying the contrasting backgrounds of urban architecture against its lively subcultures. Other than that, of course, it gives the game a rebellious sense of aesthetic appeal, wanting to represent its simple or normal landmarks in a way that breaks apart from traditional rules. Continuing with the urban look, the game's user interface and Pin designs have a distinctive punk graffiti or pop art look that expands upon the overabundance of culture in the game.
This sense of rebellion carries over to the game's character artwork. Characters are portrayed with odd proportions, often being unnaturally thin with larger heads, feet and hands. The women in particular have uncanny thin waists and wide hips, creating an oddly exaggerated ratio of proportions that adds to this unique style. The shading of characters is rough, with hard shadows being used to shade the characters over rough, thick and uneven lineart. The elements of their design also stand out in the same way without losing its sense of believability. Characters have a distinctive sense of fashion that is unique to each one of them, yet their natural features hold some kind of exaggeration such as long, spiky hairstyles that are accentuated by the art style. All these create a youthful and urban look for the characters in the world that is consistent with the rest of the art.
Other than the art, the soundtrack by Takeharu Ishimoto is another important aspect of Shibuya's design. His use of guest artists to contribute lyrics and vocals to his tracks helps give the game a greater sense of authenticity, as it combines a multitude of different contemporary musical genres into the experience to further contribute to the tone of the game. The game's attempts at representing popular genres like Rap, Pop, Rock or even Psychedelic are thus successful, and the authenticity of the setting is kept intact. All of that aside, the soundtrack is so enjoyable that its worth listening to both inside and outside the game.
A major advantage of The World Ends With You's setting is its small scale, as it allows the developers of the game to not only fully realize their setting within a system with modest capabilities, but also incorporate a great amount of details to further make their setting believable. When it comes to authenticity, the development team of the game made sure to incorporate as many landmarks as they could inside their small world to make it more accurate to the real world. The Scramble Crossing, Shibuya 109 and even the Statue of Hachiko are included in the game's overworld as important locations for the player to walk through.
Even when it comes to details that are completely up to the developers' artistic license, they do a good job of incorporating elements that make the setting feel tangible. In regards to characters the game does an excellent job at filling its world with a plentitude of memorable characters on every corner. Yet, the most impressive thing is that the characters that populate the world of this game aren't necessarily important to the story. In The World Ends With You, even minor shopkeepers are their own characters that the player can befriend, each with their own unique designs and basic personality. Minor or secondary characters also have their own subplots with character development that prevails over the course of the main story.
Even the developer's own fictional Shibuya has culture of its own, such as the Tin Pin minigame. Its presence in the plot is entirely to further add depth by incorporating urban past times and youth activities to the world without necessarily borrowing one from reality. Its established set of rules, fanbase and even the events that are partaken throughout the course of the game relating to Tin Pin help include that certain sense of liveliness to the setting. Besides that, Tin Pin serves as a fun minigame to distract the player from the main content of the game and provide more variety to the experience.
Tin Pin is not the only means by which the game reinforces its setting through gameplay, however, as most of the mechanics in the game have some correlation to world building. Even the most basic gameplay, like the pins the player uses to attack, exist to establish more of the game's culture, social interests and fashion. In the case of Pins, they are all given unique designs that either belong to a certain brand or simply feature unbranded designs, relating to the importance of fashion and art in the Shibuya of The World Ends With You.
Many other mechanics are set in place specifically to add that sense of immersion however. The trend system, where the attack power of specific pins either increase or decrease depending on what brand is popular on which area, the player's ability to read the minds of the crowds of people roaming the district, and the player's ability to gain affinity with certain shopkeepers by buying more from their stores are all mechanics that contribute to making a Shibuya that feels live and breathing, full of people and stories to tell as well as an active culture of people.
The important characters in the story share the same motif, being slightly more outstanding denizens of the district. Each of them comes from a different background or has a distinct position within either the game's fictional UG or our own Realground or RG. These characters on each of their individual arcs present a distinct or personal view of Shibuya, relaying their opinions and experiences with the town as well as their opinion on the cultural flow of the district. This gives a varied sense of perspective to the world, showing Shibuya as an ever-changing place where everyone has their own story to tell. The themes of the story benefit from this, as they relate a lot to the need to understand and enjoy the lives and perspectives of other.
But aside from simple relevance to the setting, the effectiveness of the characters of The World Ends With You lies entirely on their character traits and development through the story. The most important characters in the game are given enough time and enough dialogue to flesh out their point of view and their relevance to Neku's journey. Their character traits play off of each other's and also Neku's, often presenting scenarios that flesh them out and make them a memorable part of the experience. Aside from that, the game is full of quirky characters with absurd interests or very unique manners of speech. Through dialogue, each character can be distinguished from one another because of their very specific ways of speaking and interacting with others, which further makes them stand out throughout the experience.
And it's very important that their character and views stand out, because that's essentially what the story of The World Ends With You is about: empathy. Shibuya is a meeting of different people, cultures and values, all of which value themselves over the thoughts of others. The bustling and noise block out the thoughts of others, as well as any desire for understanding anyone else. Everyone lives inside their own worlds, all within this concentration of people. Yet, by choosing to understand others and their individual points of view, we can gain a better appreciation of the world around us and a stronger connection to life, art and society.
The effectiveness of this theme comes as a result of the game's ever developing protagonist, Neku, who becomes a drastically different character by the end of the story as a result of the events that occur. Because of the people he meets, the things he has to sacrifice, and the trials he has to face, we can slowly see Neku's mindset evolve and change over time to suit his friends and to expand his horizons. We see his character grow from an unempathetic loner to a philosophical, contemplative hero. Through him, we can relate to the themes of the story and see an example of them taking place.
Essentially, Neku himself is a representation of the evolution of the themes of The World Ends With You. The events of the story affect him in such a way where the themes influence the character, and the player as a result. Each of Neku's three partners serve a purpose in his development, such as learning to open up to people, learning to trust others, learning to be tolerant, and learning to appreciate that which others do for him. This makes Neku's journey feel more tangible and related to the setting and characters, making the game a journey truly about Shibuya itself.
The way the game is structured is also somewhat effective, as it allows for short, somewhat episodic chapters to develop either a singular idea or plot point at a time without taking away too much of the player's time. This is important because it fleshes out the portable nature of the game, allowing the player to take in the story one step at a time. Besides that, it gives the writers leisure, as it allows them to develop their plot points with more precision and speed, pulling off the execution with simple dialogue and minimalistic scenes.
However, this episodic format is also the biggest problem with the game's narrative. Because it is so short and self-contained, any kind of long term depth or nuance that could be incorporated into the story is lost during a first playthrough, and the story moves too fast for any kind of meaningful development other than the basic execution of the story's plot points to occur. Days come and go quickly and the player reaches the game's finale before they even have a firm grasp on the world and characters; a rather hasty departure.
The game does not end with the credits, however, as there is still plenty more content after that. An element of the game that is not often given credit is its fully fleshed out postgame content, which fleshes out its simple, yet effective story into a more complex explanation of its world and the metaphorical representation of the themes. It helps add more depth to the game's characters and backstories while also providing answers to the game's most sought after questions. It’s a clever way to get the player to play through the game again and see everything they missed, as well as the great deal of foreshadowing and hidden detail that lies in the dialogue.
The Postgame of The World Ends With You gives the player a clear cut explanation of the UG's purpose in the story as a narrative way of representing the art world and movements of urban subcultures. It portrays a world where imagination, soul and spirit are the driving forces, while the most creative individuals gain the most powers and abilities. In it, individuals fight for the ability to gain an understanding of the world and people around them, while also using their abilities as a means to imprint others with their own thoughts. The influence of art in the world is shown through this world, and it further relates to the game's themes of empathy, as it applies them to a broader and relevant context.
Art, in and of itself, is a means to create empathy, as we can learn much from artists by looking at their art. In The World Ends With You, we see characters with dreams, talents and passions, all fighting to preserve their lives and use these talents to influence others. Each of their passions, philosophies and points of view helps inspire the other characters and help them continue onwards with their journey. With the information from postgame, we can then see that art is a means to expand your horizons and gain further understanding of the world, all by trying to read what the artist is thinking when performing his craft.
Empathy is not a design decision exclusive to story and themes, however. The World Ends WIth You takes its core theme of understanding another character and translates it into its core gameplay mechanics, by building its entire system around fighting alongside your partner at once. In the game, Neku is only capable of fighting with his assigned partner, which changes depending on what chapter of the story the player is in, and that partner has a different way of fighting enemies than Neku does. Each of the character's different playstyles emphasizes their distinct personalities and Neku's necessity to understand them for his own success.
The game's actual combat takes place across the Nintendo DS' two screens, with Neku's partner being on top while Neku stays on the bottom. Each screen is controlled in a different way: Neku's partner performs short combos left or right using either the directional pad or the four face buttons and Neku attacks using pins, which are activated using a great variety of touch screen gestures along the 2D plane. Both characters share the same health bar, and both have to depend on each other for damage, as the game introduced the pass puck, which travels between both screens and gives a damage increase for one combo to a single character and then travels to the next after the combo is over. Besides that, the touch screen cannot be ignored, because the combos that Neku's partner performs utilize a matching system that allows them to collect stars that will unlock a powerful attack that not only heals the player, but also delivers massive damage to the enemy.
Though the learning curve of combat is quite steep, once the player learns all the mechanics, they are introduced to an addicting system that can only be possible in the Nintendo DS. The game's combat is built on multitasking between two combat systems that overlap each other, meaning that the effects of one will have repercussions over the other. The game's control scheme of combining buttons with the touch screen allows for this, as the player can comfortably perform commands without ever switching hand positions in the console. Further playing off of the DS's capabilities, the game creates an interesting dichotomy between combat that is purely based on the stylus and purely based on performing combos with the buttons, making the player think about one combat type with one control and another combat type with the other. The means by which the player controls each character are so different on both sides that no confusion is built on that aspect, so the player is constantly stimulated by the frenetic multitasking of combat.
The sound design of the game also makes combat much more exciting. Character voice lines and Sound Effects aside, it truly succeeds with the upbeat nature of the soundtrack itself, which is blaring and exciting to listen to during combat. Listening to the music is one of the driving incentives to not only fight, but also to perform well, as it is inspiring enough for the player to want to lay down their barrage of attacks in accordance to the intensity of the music.
The dichotomy between both sides is also balanced enough to not to be completely impossible for the player to manage. For once, the top screen is simple enough to manage, as it only involves repeating simple combos that the player can memorize and perform without even looking. On the other hand, the touch screen is the focus of most of the gameplay and offers more depth and variety of attacks to compensate for the simplicity of the top screen. As such, the player can alternate their focus between both screens according to the situation, creating a mutual engagement of both sides where the most effective form of play is one where none takes prevalence over the other.
The mechanics of the game are also built around rewarding utilization of both sides of the screen. The aforementioned pass puck rally makes sure that the player is alternating between both sides to deliver most damage, while the top screen's combos create an incentive for the player to use the top screen as it can provide them with an easy means to regain health without a specialized pin. The attack pins of the bottom screen also have a period of cooldown where the player can only concentrate on dodging and switch their focus over to the top screen.
Neku's own pins also bring an immense number of variety to the game's combat. Each pin type has its own means of attack using one touch screen gesture, and the player can organize their pins in such an order that these gestures don't overlap or cancel each other out, meaning that they can build combos using a vast number of combinations of each different pin type. Besides that, every pin is able to level up, while some other pins can evolve into more powerful, higher level pins, meaning that the player must always experiment with the pins they hold in their deck to use the bottom screen to its full potential. Neku's pins are also affected by the trends of each area, meaning that the player's pin deck is affected by what trend is popular at what time, adding to the interactivity and variety of the combat.
Another excellent thing the developers do with the balance of the game's difficulty is the player's ability to level down their character to increase item drops from enemies. It's an excellent way to trade off high risk for a high reward, allowing players to fully customize their challenge in order to obtain the best pins, materials or money that they can then use to further upgrade their character in the many shops in the game or in other places. It's also a good way to encourage high level play from early on in the game.
The World Ends With You's postgame content also encourages high level play by offering backstory and lore in return for certain objectives. These objectives mostly revolve around beating some of the game's bosses in high difficulty, making the player go back to earlier chapters and challenge themselves more to receive a better understanding of the story, lore and themes as a reward.
Sadly, the gameplay has a very disappointing finale with the game's final boss. The World Ends With You's final boss completely disregards the dual screen dichotomy that the game has taught the player through all the game and forces the player to depend entirely on the bottom screen for this fight and this fight only. It wouldn't be as frustrating if it didn't resort to using cheap tactics like an overabundance of bullet hell like attacks, high damaging attacks and immobilizing abilities that are difficult to dodge and come in abundance. Even besides all that, the fight comes directly after two fights before it, disallowing the player from modifying their pin decks in anticipation for it, and instead having to endure with an inadequate pin deck during the previous boss fights just to be able to deal with the final one.
This illustrates how the game as a whole suffers from a lack of highly effective telegraphs for enemy attacks so the player can properly predict and block enemy attacks. Most of the time, the player has to tank through damage on either top or bottom side of the screen because of an attack they didn't know one was going on the opposite side of the screen they were focusing on, and this can be severe in certain instances where these attacks have serious damage consequences. While the game does have visual telegraphs, it's almost impossible to telegraph them when the player has to divide their attention between two screens at the same time.
But even with that in mind, it’s a fair enough trade off to be had for such an inventive system that can exist in no other system, and easily tops any game from its own system. The World Ends With You is an excellent example of uniqueness, where the right talents come together to create something that is not unlike anything, and whole on its own. It’s a synthesis of a specific theme and idea, that is painstakingly represented through every aspect of its design, leaving the player with a cohesive experience that can compare to none other. In all its essence, The World Ends With You is a cathartic, satisfying experience that is worth playing for all its merits, and much more.