Level-5 and Netmarble released a lengthy teaser tour hyping their newest mobile RPG, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds at the Tokyo Game Show 2020's online Special Meeting. The premise revolves around the main character being transported from their world into a fantasy world via a VR simulation, hence the title. Cross Worlds is an MMO that can be enjoyed with friends.
The Ni no Kuni series began with Level-5's collaboration with Studio Ghibli and Joe Hisaishi, who's responsible for many of the musical scores heard in Ghibli films. Although not directly involved in Cross Worlds, Studio Ghibli's beautiful iconic look continues to heavily inspire the latest game in the Ni no Kuni franchise, as seen with its attractive environment and detailed character expressions.
Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds was announced back in November 2019, and released its first official trailer at the end of last August. The developers hype Cross Worlds as a title that transcends the quality of traditional mobile RPG games. As tough of a challenge as that sounds, the graphics and gameplay look absolutely stunning in comparison to other smartphone titles. In addition to the thematic music, Cross Worlds seems like it will be an epic experience that parallels the look of the series' former console games.
Ni No Kuni: Cross World's Story and Setting
Cross Worlds features numerous settings that range from tall grasslands, hot deserts, mysterious forests, and chilling snow fields. The creators describe walking through the gorgeous environments as a therapeutic experience. Unlike previous Ni no Kuni games, the playable character begins in the realistic setting of Ichi no Kuni, which translates into "our world" or "our country." The main character is a beta-tester for a VR simulation pod known as "Soul Diver," which allows the player to soul dive into the fantasy world of Ni no Kuni, similar to Sword Art Online.
Upon trying this technology, the player is greeted by Raina, the Soul Diver system guide who explains the player can be the hero who saves the world or the king who rules over the country. It appears things go awry as Raina transforms from a computerized hologram into a more solid state. She nervously asks the character if they are part of the Mira Corporation, which may be the company responsible for Soul Divers, before some kind of malfunction blacks out the screen.
The player is awakened by an small, flying imp-like creature named Cluu, and both are immediately prompted to dodge out of the way of a falling tower. It quickly becomes obvious that the player has been placed in a dangerous setting as a dragon looms overhead and destroys buildings with its fiery breath. The dragon and player both wear similar amulets with an eye in the middle. Cluu urges the player to the castle, where they find Queen Sia in trouble against a dark-armored villain with a lion helmet.
The queen recognizes the player as "the one who doesn't belong to any world," and offers up a guardian stone as the villain attacks. Cluu quickly swallows both the player and stone before the scene cuts out. The creators state that the real adventure begins when the main character arrives in Evermore, and the player must ultimately discover if and how they can return to Ichi no Kuni.
Ni No Kuni: Cross World's Gameplay
The teaser trailer reveals 5 different classes for the player to choose from allowing for a more unique gaming experience. Engineers are weapons experts specializing in different firearms but are also healers. Destroyers are bulky warriors that attack with a massive hammer, giving off some major Thor vibes. Swordsmen utilize swords for quick, continuous attacks. Witches fight gracefully with a magical spear, and Rogues support allies with a long-ranged bow. While there are default avatars for each of the classes, these characters appear to be customizable. Popular Japanese YouTuber Masuo plays as the Swordsman when fighting in the teaser, and his character looks very different from the one shown when introducing each of the classes.
Cross Worlds has a Kingdom mode — an area featured previously in the series — that starts off small but gets bigger as the game progresses. Players can personalize their Kingdom by adding cherry blossoms or animals, and this mode also serves as social interaction site with other players. The teaser shows playable characters interacting with different creatures like geese, or "ganders" by clicking the button overhead to pick them up. There are different familiars a player can find and collect, kind of reminiscent of Pokémon, that support and follow the player in Kingdom mode as well. There is also a timed Team Arena feature in which two teams of three players compete against each other by catching the most Higgledies (small creatures that appeared previously in the franchise like in Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom) within five minutes per round.
The trailer shows a slide pad in the bottom left of the screen that allows players to move around, a health bar in the top left corner, and attack/action buttons on the bottom right. A big fast attack button is in the middle of the action commands, and it looks like special ability buttons circle around it. They appear to have a cool-down timer before being able to use them again. The player is able to interact with the environment as shown by picking up a giant bomb and throwing it to clear away debris blocking a path. Overall, the battle method looks similar to the real time hack and slack battle style seen in previous Ni no Kuni games.
Ni No Kuni: Cross World's Release Date
Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds has no official release date yet, but earlier announcements indicate it should be out in Japan later this year for Android and iOS systems. The game hasn't been confirmed for international release, but previous games in the series like Wrath of the White Witch have, so hopefully this will follow if it does well with its debut. So far the game looks utterly breathtaking considering it's a RPG only available for smartphones. At the very least, it appears to be setting a high standard for mobile gaming.
Source: YouTube/TGS2020