First brought to prominence by .Hack and later popularized by Sword Art Online, getting trapped in a video game (either being physically transported or having consciousness trapped) is a fairly old trope that has been used over the decades. It’s something that most gamers think about, “What would I do if I was trapped inside a game?”. But what about what’s happening outside the game? Have people outside noticed what’s going on? Have they even tried to help players escape? Players trapped in the game don’t really know what’s going on in the real world until they are freed from their virtual prison since there’s no way for people on the outside to communicate with the players inside the game. Death end re;Quest by Idea Factory sets to show how two programmers, one in the game and one outside, work together to get the other out and solve the mystery that surrounds the game both inside and out.
Death end re;Quest is a JRPG with visual novel elements that has players take on the roles of two game programers Shina Ninomiya and Arata Mizunashi who both work for the game developer Enigma Games. Together they were working on “World’s Odyssey” a VRMMORPG that emmerses the player fully in a virtual world through the use of VR and a proprietary AI engine called the Alice Engine. However due to a ton of game breaking bugs and glitches that couldn’t be patched/fixed, the game was shelved, canceled and the two were reassigned to a different project. After the restructure, Shina mysteriously disappeared without a trace. As others gave up searching for Shina and moved on, Arata continued to search for her. Then one day, about a year later, he notices that the servers for World’s Odyssey have been turned back on and someone was accessing them. He takes a look and discovers the one who is in the game is Shina herself. During all of this, Shina wakes up and finds herself in a cottage in the woods, not being able to remember a thing. She ventures out to the closest town to try to figure out what’s going on as the world has been corrupted by strange monsters. After a couple of close encounters and almost having a mental breakdown Arata finds Shina and she a a bit relieved. Now the two must work together, Shina inside the game, Arata in the real world, and figure out what is going on in the real world and in the game and find Shina’s body. That’s about as much as I can say about the story without spoiling it. What I can say is that I am very much enjoying discovering what’s going on, learning more about both Shina and Arata and how the Alice Engine is tied to all of this. And also the occult is involved somehow.
Gameplay for Death end re;Quest is split into two sections: the RPG segments with Shina and the visual novel segments with Arata. Let’s start with the VN segments first. In these segments you take on the role of Arata who is outside in the real world, providing support to Shina and piecing together clues that could lead to finding Shina’s real body, figuring out how she ended up in the game and why is this happening. It is in these segments where the overall arching story is presented. During these segments Arata is able to travel to various locations in the real world researching and looking for clues to how Shina ended up in World’s Odyssey and how strange occult occurrences are connected. He can also talk to several other NPCs that also have been dragged into this mystery for help and insight. And in true VN fashion, there are choices that Arata can make that can either progress the story further or come to a visceral and bloody bad end. As Arata finds clues to help Shina in escaping the game, he will also find bits of code that he can use to alter the game and help her progress.
In the RPG segments and where the majority of the game gameplay is, you take on the role of Shina, trapped in World’s Odyssey trying to figure a way to get out. The game is your standard turn-based RPG fair with a couple of twists. First you are able to move freely around the battlefield, putting your party members in prime positions. This matters because there is a knock back mechanic. Depending if you use a skill that has knock back or use the basic attack three consecutive times you will knock the enemy back dealing more damage. What’s really fun about this mechanic is that when you knock back an enemy you are able to bank them off of other enemies or off the borders of the battlefield, making it feels like playing pool. Even better is the ability to knock back the enemy towards one of your party members and if the enemy is in range they will also perform a knockback on the enemy. My favorite thing to do is try to position my party members in a way that they are all able to perform knock backs to an enemy and pass it along to each other. Another twist to the game mechanics is cheats. Since Arata was the lead programer for World’s Odyssey, he is able to help Shina and friends through the use of cheats. In order to activate and use these cheats, there are areas of the battlefield that have been infected and must be cleared by either knocking enemies into these spots or using skills that also clear the infected areas. Once the battlefield has enough of the infected area cleared, then Arata can use the cheats. These range from changing the makeup of the battlefield and changing the genre of the game to summoning creatures to help fight. These mechanics really change up the typical formula that are usually found in most JRPGs and make combat a bit more fun. Since this is the Switch version of the game there are some extras that have been added in. When the game was first released on the PS4 after launch there was DLC ranging from costumes and weapons to items packs and an extra character to help kickstart your journey. In the Switch version all of the DLC that was released on the PS4 is packed into the game already and unlike most extra DLC you are able to switch them on or off, save for one or two pieces of DLC.
While the backgrounds/environments of Death end re;Quest aren’t the prettiest (at least for the Switch version) they are pretty unique and varied. When playing in handheld mode the graphics seem to be a bit on the blurry side, so playing in dock mode is highly recommended. What shines through is the character designs for the party members and their bug companions. Each of the party members are pretty cute looking and unique as each of them has a bug motif to their costumes. For example Shia has purple spider like legs coming out on the edges of her dress, while Lily’s arm canon has the look and shape of a bee’s stinger. And its not a JRPG without some sort of fanservice and the fanservice in Death end re;Quest is pretty mild, ie party members tripping up on something or each other, the customary swim suit alt costumes and in this game’s case Glitch Mode forms which has them showing even more skin.
Death end re;Quest is one of the more unique JRPGs that I’ve played. I enjoyed the mix between visual novel and RPG elements and how the story is told using both in combination. The knockback and cheat mechanics really enhance the battles. If they weren’t in the game, then battles would just be the normal typical battles that are in every JRPG. The character art is really cute though backgrounds are a bit bland and looks a bit blurry when playing in handheld mode. Overall Death end re;Quest is a pretty decent JRPG that does a lot to be different from other JRPGs. Plus with the Switch version the additional DLC is already in the game. If you’re looking for a uqniue story that has you going between the real world and the in game world, I’d suggest giving Death end re;Quest a shot.
