Review for Death end re; Quest. Game for PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 01/03/2018 The version for PC came out on 16/05/2019
Death end re; Quest is the latest Compile Heart title, available on PlayStation 4. If you are familiar with this company it is surely thanks to the niche Neptunia JRPG series. This time, however, Compile Heart changes the cards on the table and produces a turn-based JRPG with a different atmosphere and modus operandi than usual.
Let's find out together in this review.
Struggles between real and virtual life
The first huge difference we find between Death end re; Quest and the multitude of Compile Heart titles is the initial impact, between crude and macabre cutscenes that can easily displace the player. Maybe a nightmare, or maybe not, is what pervades Shiina Ninomiya, heroine of the title: there has been no news of this young woman for months and Arata Mizunashi, protagonist and close friend of Shiina, is not at peace. The two are experienced video game programmers and colleagues at the same video game company, which is based in Tokyo.
Shiina is the mastermind behind World's Odyssey, an augmented reality MMORPG to which Arata and other colleagues greatly contributed to make it.. However, shortly after Shiina's disappearance, World's Odyssey began showing several bugs, all of which significantly altered the game's AI and, for some reason, also affected players in the real world. Here begins the investigation of Arata and his companions, in search of the true mystery that lies behind the World's Odyssey Bugs and the search for Shiina.
Death end re; quest alternates the storyline between the two protagonists, involved between real and virtual life. If on the one hand Arata Mizunashi investigates Tokyo to locate the problem, on the other Shiina will find herself facing hordes of enemies and bugs inside World's Odyssey, hoping to be able to trigger the True Ending. These two different battles with a common purpose differ greatly from a gameplay point of view. In the role of Arata the player will be mostly immersed in a visual novel, with large portions of text and a considerable frequency of choices which can lead to several bad endings or some optional endings to unlock.
In the role of Shiina, however, we focus on a real virtual adventure within World Odyssey, where real turn-based battles come to life. Contrary to the Neptunia series, this title focuses much less on fan service, bringing out an intriguing plot with different twists, constipated by mysterious and even a little disturbing atmospheres.
Challenging and strategic battles
Shiina will meet several characters during her adventure in World's Odyssey and there will be countless battles she will have to face. The combat system of Death end re; quest is presented in a similar way to that of the various Compile Heart titles: turn-based battles, in a limited area within which you can move your party. However, the area is littered with several bugs in the ground which, when stepped on by our protagonists, affect the character's parameters and Glitch indicator. When a party member exceeds 80% of that indicator, they will turn into an enhanced version of themselves with the help of bugs.
An interesting gem of the battle system is the intervention of Arata, through his notebook in the real world, on the battlefield. As explained above, Arata is in the real world, however he will be able to help Shiina and his companions thanks to his skills as a programmer. Arata will be able to alter the nature of the bugs depending on the player's choice, summon different creatures that will accompany the party for a certain number of turns or even change the type of the video game, temporarily transforming it into a shooter, a fighting game and several other genres. All of this will make this turn-based JRPG much more strategic than it appears, and it will also be noticed due to the longevity of the battles.
Fluctuating chart sector
Compile Heart unfortunately fails to stand out in this area. Once again we find ourselves in front of recycled settings and not very lively and expressive animations. Fans of the Neptunia series will surely notice several similarities, as well as some overly similar explorable areas, such as the different Wastelands that Shiina will have to travel in the course of her adventure.
On the other hand, there is nothing to complain about the sound sector which, although it is able to embody the different horror yellow atmospheres present in the title, does not particularly stand out.
Death end re; Quest is a title that must be played for those who have knowledge of the works baked by Compile Heart, as this JRPG will represent a considerable surprise for those used to the usual parodies and fan service of the Neptunia series (saga that remains more than respectable). More generally speaking, Death end re; quest deserves a chance by those who are thirsty for a decent JRPG alternating with a Visual Novel, the spearhead of the title thanks to a storyline full of twists, intriguing and with a good cast of characters destined to cross in this fight on two fronts: virtual and real.
► Death end re; Quest is an Adventure-RPG type game developed and published by Compile Heart for PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 01/03/2018 The version for PC came out on 16/05/2019
