Just seconds ago, you were walking across the city street. You headed to the ramen shop for a quick bite. You open your eyes, delirious and confused, and find yourself collapsed in the middle of the crosswalk. People are walking right past you as you reach out for help. No one can see you. In your pocket you find a black pin with an ornate skull and crossbones design.
In 2007, co-developers Square Enix and Jupiter released The World Ends With You for the Nintendo DS, an inventive Japanese role-playing game unlike anything that came before it. The story takes place in a sort of Limbo version of Shibuya, Japan, an alternate dimension in between life and death where you compete with other players in the Reaper’s Game—a chance at redemption, a second chance at life.

A second chance, in the game and in the real world
14 years later, Square Enix and new development partner, h.a.n.d., give gamers a second chance to enjoy the stylish, loud and ominous world of Shibuya in NEO: The World Ends With You. The sequel to the 2007 masterpiece follows a new cast of manga-esque characters as they fight for their lives or face permanent erasure.
NEO opens with our protagonists, best friends Rindo and Fret. The two find themselves in a Shibuya that feels… off. Their phones start sending them strange notifications about daily missions, and they meet eccentric characters that reveal sinister details about this alternate dimension. And perhaps the most bizarre are the monsters that roam this “other” Shibuya; animal-like creatures with limbs that resemble graffiti that’s been yanked out of the city’s dark alleys.
