Review WorldEnd Syndrome (Switch)

Game: WorldEnd Syndrome
Genre: Visual Novel 
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PS4)
Developer| Publisher: ToyBox | PQube
Price: USA$39.99| AU$ 75.00| UK £44.99| EU € 49,99
Age Rating: EU 16+| USA M
Release Date: 14th June 2019

Review code kindly provided by PQube

WorldEnd Syndrome is a visual novel developed by ToyBox and ArcSysWorks and is published by PQube. It released on Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 on the 14th of June.

WorldEnd

WorldEnd Syndrome starts with a long prologue section, where the high school student protagonist is shown to be quite gloomy. Moving to the coastal town of Mihate to get a fresh start, even if he doesn’t really feel like it. Throughout the introduction you meet fellow classmates and join the Mystery Club (or Tribal Research Studies). Mihate town has a legend that every 100 years the dead come back as Yomibito which bring misfortune. Of course, this year is the one hundredth anniversary of the last Yomibito incident. In this section you make minimal dialogue choices up until a prompt only lets you pick one. This then time skips a whole month and gives you the worst ending. No you didn’t make any mistakes. If you reload from that then you (the protagonist) realises that his choices have consequences.

August

After that you will advise your teacher against letting new members join. Which gives you the whole of August to explore and socialise in Mihate at your relative leisure. In most routes you have about twenty four days of which only a few out of your control. So you can visit the various locales and see if any of your class mates or other locals are around and get to know them slowly. You get three time blocks per any full day. Locations have a few different spots that you can go in without passing time, so you might see two characters in the afternoon. Occasionally there are some dialogue options.

Not only that but you’ll come across missions, which might involve tailing a character for three nights in a row or finding a lost item. These will net you some of the collectables, others can be found by being at the right place at the right time. I’ve made a guide of all these missions and collectables which you can find here. Some of these are necessary to have for later endings. Tips will also be collected which are pop ups you can read. They give you different information on the characters, funny things or very minor details.

Dating

While the shocking end to the introduction seems to set a dark tone, you don’t really get to experience that aspect of the story until later endings. First you must romance one of a few girls of your choosing. We have Maimi, an athletic bossy girl who is your distant cousin that you live with. Saya, the rich girl whose family is Japan’s largest snack producers. Hanako, the sweet and bumbly girl from another town who is suspiciously similar to a pop idol currently in Mihate. Yukino, a twenty year old journalist, who decides to live with you and Maimi for the rest of the summer. As well as Miu, a shy and mysterious one who helps her brother with the family cafe. There are also other characters such as your pal Kensuke, to talk to.

Almost every time you meet up with these girls you will get a specific colour flash (one for each), and non romance-able characters give you colourless. After a bit into the month you unlock a handbook which lets you see how you’re progressing with those characters. It is best to work on one girl at a time, likely saving and reloading constantly. Spending the most time with them is important. This is because the point at which you either are or are not on their route is actually determinable within the first week or two. It is important to have a save point just before or on the first day of August, as items, mission completion and affection points all  carry through other playthroughs (and are essential).

A Long Road

Actually you don’t get the full choice as only Saya and Hanako are dateable at first. After which you can go for Maimi. Then if you picked up the Utawazaru Membership Card on one of those playthroughs you can go after Yukino. Then finally Miu, which seems to be a fitting conclusion. From there you have to then load from the main menu under new and play the truth epilogue. Meaning that while the other routes were nice Miu is the canon girlfriend. The tone of early routes do have serious topics but not until the last day does it touch on the mysteries of the game. Yukino and Miu’s routes are a lot more linear (more events) and focus heavily on these.

WorldEnd Syndrome took me over twenty hours but I did have a few failed routes while I was trying to figure it all out (such as not being able to get Yukino until I had the card). Another thing to note is due to some character’s story events you won’t be able to do some side missions depending on who you’re going for. Therefore it’s not really a bad idea to have a play through where you just go after items and missions.

Summer

I really like the art style, all the girls are very cute, there are also other characters that are visibly shown.  Unfortunately the best one, Mr. Hatorii, is not. The present characters have a couple of different backgrounds and outfits. Many of the backgrounds are also animated to show the wind flowing, which is a nice touch.

The soundtrack was nothing special, but not distracting. There is no English dub, in fact there is hardly any Japanese voice acting except for common events. At a few points some of the Japanese voices aren’t subbed meaning you won’t know what was said.

Continuity wise there are issues because you’re reliving the month but doing different things. So for example in Maimi’s route you find something is no longer a problem. Yet when you see her out somewhere you state the same dialogue as you did without the knowledge of it. Or in Yukino’s more linear story I went to the cafe in the afternoon (which normally had a party at it), then I come home and everyone does their after party event like they were there in the afternoon, which this time, they weren’t.

Life

While all the characters are based on frequently used character types, I did like all of the girls, which in a dating sim is rare to me. Some people might not like having to retread familiar events to get the complete story. Especially since the saving and reloading to ensure you get the right moment is grating. At least by the point at which it started getting to the real story, it became more focused with new events.

One of the main messages of the story is about how you use your time. As at the start the main character doesn’t even care about the choices he makes, but eventually reconnects with the world and those around him. This is reflected in the game play where you choose who to talk to and where to go. I think the main story culminates into a nice message and I liked the lighter romantic aspects. Yet there are some issues with this presentation.

That said, I definitely like it.