The World Ends With You: Final Remix Reviews
The World Ends With You Remix is always surprising, always challenging and always willing to ask the player to think outside of JRPG conventions they might have grown accustomed to. Granted, the art direction, once considered groundbreaking in 2007, now feels cliched, but the human voice added to the writing pushed aside any doubts I had about getting stuck in.
The World Ends With You is the kind of unique, quirky game that I enjoy and it surprisingly holds up well a little over a decade after its original release. While I liked its touchy-feely, nontraditional take on the action RPG genre, however, its finicky controls — particularly during docked mode — take away some of the fun. If you’re looking for a an action RPG that’s different from the norm, however, this one’s worth taking a swipe at.
I had the feeling while playing through The World Ends With You: Final Remix that with some more time, Square Enix might have made a combat system that utilized those darn buttons that the Switch has while still fitting everything on a single screen, which is wider and clearer than the DS button screen. Final Remix eventually became a physically exhausting chore to play—just try to find a comfortable position for long, extended sessions. The graphics and sound made the hassle all worth it, but by not taking full advantage of the Switch, the beauty of Final Remix runs the risk of only being viewed through YouTube walkthroughs.
The World Ends With You: Final Remix is a solid port of a classic, but it's far from the definitive edition we were promised.
The infectious variety in its visuals and aesthetic no doubt prevails once more with the Switch rendition of this beloved cult classic.
Simple updates – like the ability to use Joy-Con controls in handheld mode, or more new additions besides re-skinned areas – could have easily made this the definitive version of the game. But as it stands, Final Remix feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.
A mediocre remaster of a great game, it is critically important to recognise that Final Remix is in no way whatsoever the definitive release of The World Ends with You. Presentation wise, the Switch remaster both looks and sounds great, improving upon the original mobile remaster wherever it can, but the gameplay is severely neutered when compared to the original Nintendo DS release. Combat will never be as smooth with the Joy-Con setup as it is with touch controls, and the modifications made to the partner system in order to make gameplay work on one single screen remove a great deal of the original battle system's charm. Final Remix is a good game as it is still, at its core, The World Ends with You, but it is a deeply flawed, deeply disappointing reimagining of the DS classic.
The DS cult classic makes it's way to the Switch, though your millage will vary, depending on how you play it
My opinion of The World Ends With You: Final Remix is one of indifference. All the consideration that went into making the original a compound piece of craftsmanship, inseparable from the device on which you played it, is absent.
Now on Nintendo Switch, The Worlds Ends with You Final Remix is still a good and enjoyable game, but the port is lazy. Everything comes from Solo Remix, a mobile version from 2014, and the added gameplay system, with one Joy-Con that is used as a wiimote is not as efficient as it should be.
Review in French | Read full review
The World Ends With You: Final Remix is a decent enough ARPG and is probably a genre that the Switch really needs more of, but the fantastic soundtrack alone isn’t enough to warrant the new release price tag the game currently carries.
On paper, The World Ends With You would have been perfect for a Switch adaptation, and it still could be. There hasn't been any indication of post-launch updates to fix the controls, but in a less cynical view we can be glad they're not selling Another 7 Days as a separate expansion. But Final Remix is something rare: the Switch port of a classic game that would have been better served happening on 3DS if they wanted to replicate the original experience.
Well done, Square Enix, another lazy mobile port to the big platform. But this isn't the main problem – Switch version also suffers from dumb and unresponsive motion and touchscreen control schemes. They blatantly ruin all the fun this game can provide. The worst version of TWEWY to date.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The World Ends With You: Final Remix offers some fun story beats, unique gameplay mechanics, and a brilliant aesthetic that never quite live up to their potential.
The World Ends With You is a brilliant action RPG that is worth your time if you own a Switch. Despite the inherant flaws that come with its control scheme, it tells a compelling story with complex and well-developed characters that keep you engaged for hours on end. It’s a unique experience that deserves the praise it receives from so many, and it’s made even better through the capabilities of the Switch. If you’re a fan of the genre and can look past its minor shortcomings, I can’t recommend this title enough.
The Nintendo DS masterpiece is squeezed onto a single screen, with the improvements just about outweighing the compromises.
Through those Joy-Con controls, the Switch version also offers a surprisingly refreshing and altogether more interesting mode of playing through the game: co-op. Instead of your partner being relegated to pin duty, a second player with a second Joy-Con can command them, using a small assortment of base pins to do different moves. This way of playing is not only intuitive and easy to pick up, but it adds a new layer to the game. Now, you have to coordinate your pin assaults with your roommate, significant other, or random stranger on the plane sitting next to you. Instead of splitting your brain in twain, you're now coordinating with someone else, only getting a good cross combo if you can figure out how to make your pin attacks work in unison. It's a fun way to replay The World Ends With You, and even feels a bit more thematic to the game's message.
There's plenty of you with 3DSes collecting dust somewhere in a drawer, like mine is. If that's you, go figure out where to grab a copy of the DS version of this game. It really is worth it, and if you're at the same place where I was when I first played this game, it might just change your life.