Level-5"s Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom originally released on PS4 back in March 2018 lớn pretty much unanimous critical praise, và playing it now in this latest Switch iteration, it"s really not too hard to see why. This is a wonderfully well-crafted adventure that hits the ground running, nails pretty much every single gameplay mechanic it introduces across its 50-hour core campaign and, we"re happy to lớn report, lands on Nintendo"s hybrid console in truly excellent condition.

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Set some 100 years after the events of Wrath of the white Witch, this sequel kicks off with an explosion in an unnamed, US-like đô thị that knocks President Roland Crane unconscious, during which time he"s magically transported to lớn the colourful kingdom of Ding Dong Dell. Struggling to understand what"s just occurred, Roland is dragged immediately into an ongoing coup, taking up arms alongside House of Tildrum"s teenage king (and walking hair disaster) Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum as he attempts to escape the clutches of the evil Mausinger and his armed thugs.

After a few brief skirmishes that teach you the basic ins and outs of the game"s excellent real-time combat — during which Evan and Roland also learn the true extent of Mausinger"s treachery và lose a treasured companion — Evan announces that he"s going to strike out and build his own kingdom, a kingdom in which everyone can be truly happy và at peace. Và with that our adventure begins in earnest.

As far as the narrative goes here, it definitely doesn"t rise lớn the same cấp độ of delightfully Ghibli-esque weirdness or carry the same raw emotion as its predecessor and, especially early on, we found ourselves having a tough time caring for the rather brattish Evan and his troubled little rich boy plight. However, as the story begins to lớn find its feet, as our heroes join forces with a motley crew of friends và adventure out across the many regions that hóa trang the world map here, there"s joy to lớn be found in how this boy king begins lớn learn, grow, và discover himself through the actions và deeds of the brave people and creatures he meets along the way.

That joy is bolstered further in Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom by an opening twelve hours that never takes its foot off the gas as it barrels you from place to place, layering on combat mechanics, introducing large scale skirmishes, flinging you into puzzle chambers, and pitting you against a host of excellent quái thú battles. Và the battles here, especially in comparison to lớn the turn-based affairs found in Wrath of the trắng Witch, are a real revelation. The new real-time kích hoạt you"ll engage in as you take on the many wonderfully named enemies found across this world is immediately engaging stuff; fast, flashy & easy to get your head around.

Evan & his ever-growing tiệc nhỏ of pals have light và heavy attacks, magic-based skills and ranged attacks as the base of their offensive powers. These are then enhanced by a bevvy of neat wrinkles that keep you on your toes as you dance around your foes. As you bash away at enemies here you"ll fill up a Zing meter on each of your weapons as you use them, đứng top it out and it"ll enhance your attacks, as well as enabling you lớn pull off some special charged manoeuvres. For players who just want lớn bash away & not engage with this stuff, there are semi and fully automatic modes available that switch your weapons around for you as your Zing meter fills, giving players of every ability the chance lớn just enjoy smashing baddies.

Once you"ve got your head around the basics, you"ll then be introduced khổng lồ the game"s amazing little Higgledies, collectible element-based sprites who follow you into battles & have their own tweakable abilities & skills, including firing off large cannons, blasting foes with powerful dark energy, wind, fire and water attacks, as well as providing healing for your party. The Higgledies are an excellent replacement for Wrath of the white Witch"s Familiars and how they"re worked into the mechanics here, how you can find & collect new types, fiddle with how they factor into skirmishes and so on, make them a delight to engage with.

But then pretty much every new mechanic in this game is a delight lớn engage with, no matter how off-putting it may initially seem it"s going khổng lồ be. We were well aware going into this one that it introduces a fully fledged kingdom building element a little further into the story and, at round the 12-hour mark when it finally made its appearance, we were genuinely concerned it was going to lớn ruin the excellent flow of the adventure up until that point.

However, beyond the introduction of some side missions that see a little backtracking & fetch questing, the kingdom building here is just another brilliant layer of fun added to lớn Evan"s adventure & is also extremely easy lớn get stuck right into. As you take on side & mainline quests around the world maps you"ll recruit citizens to lớn come live in Evermore, Evan"s brand new kingdom. Some of these citizens specialise in certain tasks, others just ảo diệu the numbers. These recruits are then used to populate the various buildings that you"ll plop down on pre-assigned spots, giving you a steady flow of staff khổng lồ enable the researching of new technology & upgrades for your fledgling town.

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Second Opinion

I played Ni No Kuni II on PlayStation 4, & loved a lot of things about it — Level-5"s localisation (and their commitment to lớn accents!) is always above and beyond, and the animation is absolutely top-notch. I agree with pretty much everything PJ says, actually, although I will say that the late-to-end game can get a little tediously grindy, especially in the Dreamer"s Door dungeons, which are a bit sparse và boring.

But god, there"s a lot lớn love about this trò chơi before you even get khổng lồ that point. A worthy sequel, và I"m glad it runs well on Switch.

Kate Gray

Staff Writer

Within minutes of being introduced to lớn all of this you"ll be creating weapon workshops, spellworks, outfitters, cookshops and general stores, all of which can be upgraded and expanded through several levels, giving you and your crew access khổng lồ tons of gear và goodies khổng lồ help you as you take on the Big Bad of the piece, who"s revealed at around about the same time you finally begin to lớn construct your new empire.

There"s just so much going on in Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom by this stage, so much creating, combat, exploring & discovering, that it"s genuinely quite remarkable that it holds itself together as well as it does. The rhythm of the core game play loops, venturing off to lớn discover amazing new areas, dungeon-crawling, fighting great big Kingmaker bosses, crafting, upgrading và so on... It"s endlessly enjoyable stuff that, for us, tops the gameplay found in its predecessor. Yes, the story might not measure up when all"s been said và done, but in terms of how the combat và adventuring has been evolved, this sequel is a real winner.

And in terms of presentation, too. Studio Ghibli may not be directly involved this time around but Yoshiyuke Momose returns, as does composer Joe Hisaishi, to lớn ensure this looks và sounds every bit as sumptuous as the original Ni No Kuni. On Switch, the graphical dials have undoubtedly been turned down a notch — it"s not quite as crisp & clear as on more powerful hardware — but the exquisite art style here ensures that this genuinely doesn"t matter. This is a tremendous-looking adventure, in both docked & handheld, và — more importantly — we didn"t encounter a single noticeable framerate wobble, no matter how screen-shaking a quái dị we were battering, across our entire playthrough. This new Prince"s Edition also arrives on Switch with all previously released DLC included, as well as some bonus dungeons và a few extra outfits. This is, in short, a fantastic & comprehensive port of a wonderful-looking action-RPG.

Do we have any negative things lớn say here? Well, yes, there are a few things if we"re being picky. The side quests can be a little repetitive and, as we mentioned, they do introduce a little backtracking which we"re not particularly massive fans of. The voice-acting, too, although what"s included is excellent, just doesn"t factor as much as it really should. There are some fantastic characters khổng lồ get lớn know on your adventure, especially the likes of Lofty, the tiny little Welsh Kingmaker, và a whole host of sky pirates, merfolk và others who should be providing lots more humour than they do along the way, but they"re hamstrung by a real lack of recorded dialogue. It"s a shame, & something that takes away from a story that was already struggling somewhat when compared to that of its predecessor.

There"s also a slight issue with difficulty settings. The normal difficulty may prove to be just a tad too easy for some players — although we have khổng lồ admit we still really enjoyed the combat this way — và you"ll rarely find you need to lớn dip into your tactics tweaker & so on in order to lớn come out on top. Harder difficulties, which were added in a patch khổng lồ the original release, are also present và correct, although they can be a bit of a mixed bag, with the toughest setting making for some annoying one-shot kills that ignore armour stats and mess with the rhythm of things a little.

These issues aside, however, what"s here is still one of the very best action-JRPGs we"ve played in a long, long time. Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom really is just that good. The combat, the exploration, kingdom building, art style, soundtrack, characters and script all combine here lớn make for a truly wonderful adventure that you should absolutely dive right into with this excellent port on Switch.

Conclusion

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is an excellent action-RPG that"s arrived on Switch in a fantastic, feature-packed port. Evan và Roland"s antics across this game"s sprawling world are stuffed full of great characters, exciting combat and adventuring & a kingdom building mechanic that"s a delight to lớn get to lớn grips with. It looks và sounds every bit as good as its predecessor and, although the story might be a little more hit-and-miss here, we were completely hooked into this one from beginning to lớn end. This is a sumptuously crafted adventure you won"t regret diving into.

Wonderful art style and soundtrackMassively improved real-time combat is exciting, action-packed stuffWorld maps stuffed full of secrets, dungeons & amazing new areas khổng lồ exploreStrong cast of characters and excellent scriptWe"re in love with the HigglediesStory weak in places and lack of more voice-acting is a shameSome backtracking & repetition in side quests