Shu Takumi's Greatest Soldier

I think the best place to start us off is at the game's best: the gameplay. When I originally saw the trailer and saw that the game was in 3D, I was both amazed by how well they kept the artstyle of the original TWEWY and also worried. Worried because the last experience I had with TWEWY was playing Final Remix and I had some severe gripes with the gameplay, mainly in that in touchscreen mode, the aspect of having to multitask between Neku and his partner were such an integral part to why the combat was so fun and also tied very greatly into the narrative. As you play the game more, the better you get at juggling between the two and passing the puck, and the more the partners get acquainted with each other. It was wholly unique to the game and was genuinely one of the best uses of a console's gimmicks I've ever seen in gaming. But with Final Remix's touchscreen mode (I haven't yet tried dual joycon, I might do that for a lvl 1 run someday), your partner gets reduced to basically a pin. No shared HP, no passing the puck (instead, you just have to alternate hits which is fun in its own way but not worth the tradeoff), no unique mechanics/interactions between the two screens. I even remember jokingly saying that Final Remix would've went crazy on the Wii U. But that aside, the whole point with Final Remix was that they failed to translate the feeling of coordination required for the Reaper's Game, and that worry carried over to my anticipation for NEO TWEWY. But by the time I had finished the first week of the game, I knew that this game's combat brought back the vital essence of TWEWY. And doing so by turning.... everyone into a pin? Wait a minute that doesn't make sense. But honestly, it really does when you think about it. Final Remix's main problem was that the partner felt latched on, and pretty insignificant in the moment-to-moment gameplay, but with NEO TWEWY, every member is contributing to the party equally. And it makes sense narrative too, considering nobody in the team would be as insane at psych usage as Neku would've been. But genuinely, the game feels like it managed to perfectly translate the essence of TWEWY's combat flawlessly into a 3D arena. Everyone's on the battle, you can use multiple pins at once to get sick combos, and get benefited for chaining each pins' combos into each other by giving you some Groove meter (essentially this game's puck system). There's a really great feeling of risk/reward with trying to time between your mashing pins, your charging pins, your hold pins, etc etc and trying to maneuver the noise's vastly improved movesets from the original. The game puts so much more emphasis on the movement aspect of the combat and honestly while it has a bit of a learning curve, once you get it. You Fucking Get it. And especially seeing some of the combo videos people have made after I finished the game, this game just seems limitless with its potential for player expression, and I love it. So combat overall, I absolutely adore it.

Also, can we talk about the game's whole aesthetic real quick? TWEWY originally was a game that was defined by the time that it came out and it showed by just how much style and street culture that game oozed from every facet. From the bangin' hip hop and rock music, to the graffiti used in any and all menus and the crazy forced perspective on every street, to even the importance of brands and how you style your clothes being a big aspect to the game. TWEWY is a game that SCREAMS underground/street culture, and honestly I think NEO TWEWY carries that spirit in stride. Now I'm not the most knowledgable about what's trending in Japan, particularly Shibuya, but I can tell just how much focus the developers put into putting as much style into the game as they can. Everyone's dressing mad fashionable, the music is still extremely bangin', but with a couple new genres to fit the now better, memes are now replaced with essentially signal boosts and sending each other Squeenix stickers on your smartphone, and the absolute STYLE in the menu continues to shine. And honestly seeing the forced perspective of the map come back so elegantly in 3D and not just a trailer footage thing was just. Man, it felt unreal. Also like, kinda side tangent but it's actually really great to see just how accurate they mapped Shibuya in the games. Like down to the streets and the stores, it actually felt kinda unreal visiting in real life and seeing just how accurate everything was. I know it's a bit of a nerdy thing to do but it was just really great to see how much attention the devs gave to recreating the streets of Shibuya.

Now as for the story, honestly I'm not going to go into spoiler territory because a) I don't think I'm smart enough to make any great revelations or deep analysis about the story, and b) I'm still trying to connect everything together. It definitely seems like this game is one of those types that require a replay to get it all together (along with the secret reports, of course). But overall, I really liked the story. At first I was confused as to how this game was going, partially because TWEWY originally was EXTREMELY blatant with its messaging from minute one and this game was, not so much lol. But it really started to become clear around the end of week 1 and I think the main themes and messaging was handled pretty damn well. The World Ends With You and allat. Altho I'll say, the game does have a bit of a pacing issue, in that some plot points/character dynamics aren't given enough time to develop, which also makes the issue with week 2 feeling like it drags with not much happening all the harsher lol. But nothing too drastic. The characters themselves are also really fantastic. I don't think the cast of NEO TWEWY hits the highs of the original TWEWY cast, but that's such a high bar already and the new cast do a really great job already. The game also brought a lot of the original cast back, because of course they would be involved in this, but honestly I think it was handled pretty tactfully. They were very much meant to be secondary characters and only there to both give a bit of fanservice but also support the main cast. It never really felt like the main gang was overshadowed. Hell, even Grim Heaper Minanimoto felt more like a new character from NEO TWEWY than a returning character. As for the new members, most of the main ones were really great, altho I will say in particular the game kinda fumbled for Ayano, Tsugumi, Hishima, and Motoi. But the rest of the cast was honestly all ranged from pretty damn good to fantastic. In particular, I REALLY love the main 3 members of the party: Rindo, Fret, and Nagi. Their developments and issues honestly felt fitting for a game that came out many years after the original. Just like how TWEWY struck me like a bitch back in middle school with its themes of having to expand your horizons and going out of your way to make connections with the people around you, college me is now feeling the same feelings all over again but with having to deal with trying to be authentic to my own feelings and thoughts, and trying to figure out what the fuck I am doing and want to be in life. It didn't strike me too hard at first, but it hits harder every time I think back on the story. And even now, I'm trying to follow through on both of the games and trying to turn my life around in terms of trying to avoid falling victim to my basest habits and trying to explore the world more.