Ni No Kuni II : Revenant Kingdom Review

Published by Bandai Namco Entertainment
Developed by Level-5
Reviewed on PlayStation 4 ( Also available on PC Microsoft Windows)

 

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a third person open world role playing game. It takes place hundreds of years after the events of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch and players start off the adventure as a human named Roland who is mysteriously teleported from present day Earth to the kingdom of Ding Dong Dell. The story of Revenant Kingdom is set around Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum who is named King after his father’s mysterious death. Evan’s father’s adviser Mausinger then sets forth a coup to take over Ding Dong Dell. Evan runs into Roland who helps him escape his once beloved kingdom. Together they seek to uncover what has happened and win Roland’s kingdom back.

Ni No Kuni II

The world of Ni No Kuni II looks a lot like its predecessor with its gorgeous backgrounds. Although The Revenant Kingdom isn’t officially affiliated with Studio Ghibli, it is still full of their influence as many of the staffers helped on this title. As you walk through the beautiful world of Ni No Kuni II, you feel as if you are in an anime as the vivid back drops and beautiful scenery feel alive. Evan and all the characters look amazing in the cell shaded form and their animations are very wonderful to behold. There were many times I would wander through the towns and gaze at all the different things going on, like serene waterfalls and fireflies dancing along the plants.

Ni No Kuni II

The biggest thing Ni No Kuni II changed from its previous title was its combat system. You have full control of your characters in combat and there are many different attacks you will master. You can control of Evan or you can play as any of the characters that join you on your adventure; you just have to switch them into the first character slot. There is a light attack and heavy attack that you will use most of time to help build your weapons attack meter. Each weapon has an attack meter that once filled will enable you to use a special attack that you will learn as you progress through the story. The character you play as can hold up to three weapons that you can either switch out on the fly to use your special. You can also set it to auto as if you don’t wish to worry about planning.

You will also learn magic abilities which can only be used if you have your special powered up, so essentially keep attacking to do so. What sets Revenant Kingdom apart from its predecessor are siege battles. Not all fights are done with your character in one on one combat. In siege battles you choose squads comprised of different types of soldiers to fight for you. You will meet many people who will join you and eventually become a specific type of soldier, like archers, swords users, and pistoliers.  I found these fights quite fun and leveling up your squads for the harder fights can be a little meticulous but still enjoyable.

Ni No Kuni II

As the game progresses Evan sets to build a new kingdom. Ni No Kuni II then turns into a kingdom builder, where you must build up your factories, such as armories, weapon smiths, magic, and all different types of resources that you can gather. My only gripe with Revenant Kingdom is that towards the end of the game you are forced to level up your kingdom to the third stage, which is quite a lot especially if you are one to not focus on doing the numerous side quests. I was pretty much sitting and waiting for money to accumulate. When it was all done it took a total of 4 hours to be able to move on.

The most amazing part of Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is the music scored by composer Joe Hisaishi, who returned to do this sequel. The score to Revenant Kingdom is superb, nothing else can touch it. The music in Hydropolis is so beautifully tranquil that I found myself just listening and not playing half the time. Throughout the game you come across songbooks that are hidden in treasures or drops from monsters. When your kingdom is far enough along you can build a symphony theater. From here you can listen to those songbooks which contain music from different areas of the game which I found really cool.

Ni No Kuni II

All in all Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is an excellent game with a enjoyable story, beautiful soundtrack, gorgeous animation, and comes in at about 45 hours of gameplay.