Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom Prince’s Edition - Review

There isn’t always all the time in the world to get into the 40+ hour RPGs, so the Switch has been a godsend, no longer bound to a TV, I can sink in those hours more easily. Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom Prince’s Edition is one of those kinds of games I’ve been hoping to see show up. Is this port fit for a king or just a poor pauper?

Ni No Kuni 2 starts with a bang, literally! In the ‘real world’ Roland, The President (of an unnamed country) is being transported in his car, when suddenly a missile flies past and a massive explosion hits nearby. Roland is miraculously teleported away and awakens in a new, yet familiar world. Roland finds himself in the middle of a coup, as the young cat-eared king Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum is being betrayed. After being saved by Roland, Evan, the king without a home, decides to build a new kingdom to unite everyone to live in peace.

A grand adventure unfolds as Evan and Roland travel across the world trying to bring everyone together. The journey will take you all over the place, the usual variety of JRPG locations. With a mixture of Level-5 designs, the game benefits from former Studio Ghibli staff for designs and it shows. It may not have that same Studio Ghibli feel as the original game had with their more direct involvement, but the charm remains. This is likely helped by having Ghibli regular Joe Hisaishi providing the music, who never fails to impress. 

When I first played Ni No Kuni 2, I hadn’t played the original until the remaster. Now coming back to the sequel, it feels as though they are very different games even though they share the same world and feel. Whereas Oliver’s (the protagonist of the first game) story is very much tied to the two worlds, Roland just kinda gets dumped into this other world. He has a role to play, but it’s really Evan’s story.  For all their differences the sequel is exactly that, a follow up and more time within the other world. 

Instead of the turn-based combat from the first Ni No Kuni, the sequel is more an action RPG like the “Tales of” series. It will come down to personal tastes, I do prefer the more active combat in this game. You will have a few weapons that can be swapped between in battle as you build up a ‘Zing’ meter to increase the damage you do. Either letting you manage your blades or automatically swapping to what’s best if you want it more streamlined. 

You can also use ranged attacks without needing to lose the blade weapons, casting spells or firing arrows between melee attacks. I enjoyed knowing that when I get into fights there’s enough options for taking on whatever comes your way. Then you have the higgledies who join you in battle, cute little Ghibli-esque elemental creatures that will help out. Throughout the world you’ll find named higgledies to join the party to lead the small group. It’s worth utilising them, especially in the tougher battles.

Now because you’re starting your own kingdom you’re starting from scratch, which means you have a lot of building to do. When you do choose something to build in your town it will take time for construction to be complete. This is a bit easier to manage on the Switch than the PS4, for buildings that take longer you can leave the game in sleep mode and come back later with the clock still considered to be ticking.

Running a kingdom isn’t all peaceful, well not yet. Evan is going to have to use his troops to fight in skirmishes. This combat is different and has you entering the battlefield with your troops surrounding Evan as you utilise a weapon triangle. It’s not something you have to do often, but it’s still worth investing some time as you won’t want to wind up in trouble when you have to do them. 

Part of the Prince’s Edition includes the DLC content that came out after the game. Your mileage will vary on whether you’ll want to play through any more after the many hours of the main story. It feels pretty standard for season pass/DLC; arena fights, floor after floor worth of combat, and a bit of story. If you’re still keen to keep the game going and get to know more about the characters, it’s all included.

It's been 4 years since the original came out. On the Switch it still looks good, but there is definitely a downgrade. Just like the PS4 version, the framerate as you traverse the overworld is noticeably lower than the rest of the game. It wasn’t until I returned to this game the memories came flooding back, the original PS4 game had it too. It was a little jarring then, it’s more noticeable now. If you’re expecting a comparable performance to the PlayStation 4 version you’ll be disappointed. By now you should know better, there are always concessions that need to be made to bring it over to Switch. Overall the game isn’t worse off, it’s still just as playable as it ever was.

Something else I forgot was that there is a lot less voiced dialogue than I remembered. It’s a shame because the text still has noticeable regional accents and it’s mostly just text.

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom Prince’s Edition is a welcome sight, and it’s even better to see it has essentially remained intact. While it may not have the same magic spark the original had, it’s still jam-packed with charm and character. If you’re looking for a good action RPG with a nice story about a young King trying to unite the world in peace, then this is your game. 

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Namco Bandai

The Pros

+The Ni No Kuni series still has plenty of charm

+The complete package finally on the Switch

The Cons

-It's a shame there's not more voice acting throughout the game

-Skirmishes add little to the game