Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Review

As a fan of Studio Ghibli's work, the first Ni no Kuni was a delight. It's been a long time, but Level-5 is finally back with the sequel. This time, Studio Ghibli isn't officially involved, yet their influence is felt deeply everywhere. Joe Hisaishi does return for another magnificent score.

Revenant Kingdom attempts to tell an ambitious, epic tale of a young King who goes on an adventure across the entire world to regain peace and stability. The "world" is thus represented by an overworld, where your party travels between different regions, encountering obstacle and foes. Then, when you reach a traversable location, you enter into a third person view. There are skirmishes, there are ships, and even an airship. When you enter your palace, there's even an city and resource management sim. Ni no Kuni II is a vast game, with a vast cornucopia of systems and mechanics. You're jumping in and out of what almost feels like different games. All put together, it's basically a kingdom simulator, and it does offer an intriguing illusion of something grand - hinted by the narrative. Still, at the end of the day, each of it feels "gamey" enough to never quite do said grand narrative complete justice.

The visuals are a thing of beauty, as expected. Current gen graphics tech brings Ni no Kuni closer than ever to mimicking Studio Ghibli's signature style. As the multifarious mechanics and game modes will suggest, so there are an equally large variety of types of visuals. The overworld, battles and other isometric views look pretty barren and basic, and sometimes, even ugly. On the other hand, the third person view in designed areas looks great, and cutscenes are breathtaking. The sound does seem slightly under-designed, though it's more than made up for by the excellent score as mentioned before. Joe Hisaishi continues to be a legend.

At the heart of Ni no Kuni is the grand narrative. It's a familiar Studio Ghibli inspired tale, full of heart and passion, as well as mystery and enigma. It's clear that story is the main priority, and likely written first, with the various gameplay systems built around it. The gameplay doesn't always live up to the grandiose anticipated by the narrative, but as an overall experience, it's a stirring yarn worthy of Studio Ghibli themselves. The world building hints at something brilliant, but there's not much environmental storytelling or exploration to do it all justice. Obviously, this was not a priority - and much of the game remains being told through cutscenes and missions instead.

Without going into potentially spoilery details, there are a fair few grind walls in the game. Some of them require doing side quests. Most are fairly simply fetch-quest or kill-some type affair, though there are a few which have interesting characters and twists. More cumbersome are those that require you to go into the various game modes. I was particularly not as interested in the skirmish mode, and didn't appreciate being forced to level up there. When in regular third person view, the gameplay is typical JRPG combat fare. It's pretty well done, and does reward thinking on your feet. While some of the regular enemies are standard fare, there's a large variety of pretty cool boss fights.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a wonderful game, and a must play for all fans of Studio Ghibli. It does sometimes get lost in its myriad of systems, and it can end up being a grindy affair at times. Get over those, and you have an expansive yarn told with beautiful visuals and music.