Well, it's okay. I think a lot of long time fans were a bit disappointed when it came to World's End Club considering the cast of developers from Danganronpa and Zero Escape, so when the actual finished product came out, it was a bit underwhelming. A lot of the characters could be developed more, the gameplay is somewhat simplistic (and a little janky at times due to some of the boss fights being a bit finicky and the platforming controls being a little stiff), and the story feels like a very watered down (and at times, juvenile and very safe) version of Zero Escape with Danganronpa characters that have even less screentime and a whole lot of cutscenes that don't seem to go anywhere. The PC port also could have been handled better (it runs at 1/2 of your monitor refresh rate regardless of settings, and if you try to uncap it to run at anything above 60, the physics break and bug some puzzle platforming segments). But the potential is there; some of the twists are definitely interesting, even if it feels like watered down VLR at times, and the character designs and visuals are generally quite fantastic. I think World's End Club isn't notoriously bad, it just could have been much more, so I look forward to future games by Izanagi Games, and I hope they build off of this experience to create something even more daring than this.
somehow manages to be fairly likeable with its characters, art, and music despite the bafflingly bad gameplay segments and pretty dogshit writing (everyone turning on one member of the cast before they get their mini character arc, reminding you of things constantly, a few very unsurprising reveals) like i'm typically a fan of convoluted sci fi bullshit but a lot the games explanations for things are not very satisfying. given the low effort gameplay and the lighthearted story perhaps this was made with children on the apple store in mind more than anyone else? also why the fuck was the cargo ship boss made out of a children's drawing? i assumed there was gonna be some significance around that but there wasn't. also also fuck mowchan
A cornball but endearing, silly visual novel dragged down by the most rudimentary, stiff, unpolished, simple ass puzzle platforming ever, it's a Balan Wonderworld situation where everything looks good BUT the gameplay, I probably shouldn't be surprised by the game's state considering what we have nowadays but wow what happened here? Atleast we got a nice story and art ig.
There are hidden achievements on iOS but I'm gonna pretend I played the switch version instead.
There are hidden achievements on iOS but I'm gonna pretend I played the switch version instead.
First introduction to Kodaka and his games, glad I played Danganronpa shortly after this! xD
Couldn't begin to explain why I 100%ed this game. It exists! It does its thing! Not very well! Probably not worth buying! I sure did play all of it though.
Man, this game was a bummer. I thought after how good A.I.: The Somnium Files was that Uchikoshi had gotten away from the days of Zero Time Dilemma but unfortunately this game just isn't good. It kinda falls apart in two big ways for me; the gameplay and the story.
The gameplay is just unfun and was trying it's absolute hardest to make me stop playing. For a start, the movement and jumping in it feels terrible, which for a platformer is a pretty bad start! Just the jankness of the animations and the lag coming off pressing the jump button isn't great. Also the game design in these sections is pretty dull and barebones, to the point where I was kinda auto-piloting most of the game and getting a little bit B Word (Bored). This was made worse by having the gameplay stop every few moments so a character can interrupt to be like "woah! that thing is huge! if only there was a way to get by it!" or something, not only constantly grinding the game to a halt but also stopping any element of discovery. The gameplay overall just seems like a huge missed oppertunity, I was pretty excited to see what a game with Uchikoshi and Kodaka working on could add to the platforming genre but none of the creativity usually associated with them is found in these sections. They do start to add a bit more variety and challenge later on in the game (as well as the use of multiple powers in one level! woah!) but it's nowhere near enough.
As for the story, it was fine for most of the game. In case you don't know, the game starts a group of school kids leaving tokyo on a trip when a meteor hits the city and they wake up in an underwater theme park and forced to do a death game by a creepy cutesy robot. After one round, the game is cancelled and the group of kids find themselves on the other side of japan and it's up to them to walk back to tokyo. Sometimes the dripfeed of information and mysteries could be a bit slow at times but the game ended up building up a few questions and I was definitely intrigued as to what was going on. Unfortunately, once the main villain shows up and starts to explain their plan it all starts to fall apart (hey speaking of Zero Time Dilemma). I won't go into spoilers but the reason behind the death game and walking across japan was too dumb and unsatisfying that it kinda just fell apart for me. Especially the explanation behind the meteor. Hoo boy.
So okay, if the gameplay sucks and the story blows then is there anything good left for this game? Well, honestly, the shining star for me with World's End Club was the cast. I really liked these guys. For a start, their designs are excellent and Takegarou really knocked it out of the park with how colourful and individual each character's look was. Overall I thought they were all pretty likeable and well written. A bunch of them got character development, the clashing of each other's personalities and them coming together to help each other was really nice! Like, it's all pretty simple stuff but it worked really well and I kept invested in the game purely to see where they ended up. Also shout out the dub voice cast for doing a great job. There were times during the story where they really elevated certain moments with their performances.
So yeah, overall this game was a big disappointment! For as much enjoyment that I got out of just seeing the cast interact with each other and do shit, at the end of the day they're stuck in a game that's at odds with them.
The gameplay is just unfun and was trying it's absolute hardest to make me stop playing. For a start, the movement and jumping in it feels terrible, which for a platformer is a pretty bad start! Just the jankness of the animations and the lag coming off pressing the jump button isn't great. Also the game design in these sections is pretty dull and barebones, to the point where I was kinda auto-piloting most of the game and getting a little bit B Word (Bored). This was made worse by having the gameplay stop every few moments so a character can interrupt to be like "woah! that thing is huge! if only there was a way to get by it!" or something, not only constantly grinding the game to a halt but also stopping any element of discovery. The gameplay overall just seems like a huge missed oppertunity, I was pretty excited to see what a game with Uchikoshi and Kodaka working on could add to the platforming genre but none of the creativity usually associated with them is found in these sections. They do start to add a bit more variety and challenge later on in the game (as well as the use of multiple powers in one level! woah!) but it's nowhere near enough.
As for the story, it was fine for most of the game. In case you don't know, the game starts a group of school kids leaving tokyo on a trip when a meteor hits the city and they wake up in an underwater theme park and forced to do a death game by a creepy cutesy robot. After one round, the game is cancelled and the group of kids find themselves on the other side of japan and it's up to them to walk back to tokyo. Sometimes the dripfeed of information and mysteries could be a bit slow at times but the game ended up building up a few questions and I was definitely intrigued as to what was going on. Unfortunately, once the main villain shows up and starts to explain their plan it all starts to fall apart (hey speaking of Zero Time Dilemma). I won't go into spoilers but the reason behind the death game and walking across japan was too dumb and unsatisfying that it kinda just fell apart for me. Especially the explanation behind the meteor. Hoo boy.
So okay, if the gameplay sucks and the story blows then is there anything good left for this game? Well, honestly, the shining star for me with World's End Club was the cast. I really liked these guys. For a start, their designs are excellent and Takegarou really knocked it out of the park with how colourful and individual each character's look was. Overall I thought they were all pretty likeable and well written. A bunch of them got character development, the clashing of each other's personalities and them coming together to help each other was really nice! Like, it's all pretty simple stuff but it worked really well and I kept invested in the game purely to see where they ended up. Also shout out the dub voice cast for doing a great job. There were times during the story where they really elevated certain moments with their performances.
So yeah, overall this game was a big disappointment! For as much enjoyment that I got out of just seeing the cast interact with each other and do shit, at the end of the day they're stuck in a game that's at odds with them.
was super excited to play a game directed by both Uchikoshi and Kodaka and the music in this game slaps, the dialogue is cheesy but endearing, the characters are fun, the sun and moon character designer worked on this and it shows, and the story is above average with some minor issues. so you'd think i liked this game right? well uh Unfortunately, it's got straight up some of the worst gameplay and level design i've played in recent memory to the point where it made a short game take me almost a whole year to beat cause i was getting so annoyed and didnt wanna come back to it
over the last few weeks i was stubborn tho and decided i WOULD beat it and so i did! & yeah uh this game kinda sucks. i hate to admit that when it's made by two of my fave directors but the story isn't amazing enough to make up for the fact that the game is clunky w bad design :(
I will LITERALLY pay them money to stick to visual novels
over the last few weeks i was stubborn tho and decided i WOULD beat it and so i did! & yeah uh this game kinda sucks. i hate to admit that when it's made by two of my fave directors but the story isn't amazing enough to make up for the fact that the game is clunky w bad design :(
I will LITERALLY pay them money to stick to visual novels
Every time I started a DanganRonpa game for the first time, this is basically exactly how I wished and hoped their stories would go (they did not).
I played this back at launch, but my memory of it is pretty clear.
I feel like it's kind of spoilers to talk about the direction this game takes, because it's clearly playing on the expectations of people who played some of Uchikoshi and Kodaka's other games (certainly was me), but I suppose some people will probably be disappointed by that expectation (and you've probably already had it spoiled by other reviews anyway). Might be for the best. (Although you can look elsewhere for more of that.)
I liked this. It was cute and emotional. It's not on the level of the Zero Escape games, but it's its own thing. The soundtrack is amazing and I love listening to it outside the game. It's just packed with awesome tracks.
Some of the gameplay sequences were a bit annoying to get through, forcing me to retry a few times.
The character designs are really cool, although I think they did Mowchan dirty. Cute character, but just the same fat joke/stereotype you've seen again and again.
The characters themselves are fine, but very cartoon-ish, with exaggerated personalities a la DanganRonpa. They still have some meaningful moments, but most of what you'll see is just silly stuff. I particularly like Jennu, Pochi, and Nyoro.
Some of the story twists were pretty fun.
It was a worthwhile time for me~ Still have to go back to find my last like, two stickers...
I played this back at launch, but my memory of it is pretty clear.
I feel like it's kind of spoilers to talk about the direction this game takes, because it's clearly playing on the expectations of people who played some of Uchikoshi and Kodaka's other games (certainly was me), but I suppose some people will probably be disappointed by that expectation (and you've probably already had it spoiled by other reviews anyway). Might be for the best. (Although you can look elsewhere for more of that.)
I liked this. It was cute and emotional. It's not on the level of the Zero Escape games, but it's its own thing. The soundtrack is amazing and I love listening to it outside the game. It's just packed with awesome tracks.
Some of the gameplay sequences were a bit annoying to get through, forcing me to retry a few times.
The character designs are really cool, although I think they did Mowchan dirty. Cute character, but just the same fat joke/stereotype you've seen again and again.
The characters themselves are fine, but very cartoon-ish, with exaggerated personalities a la DanganRonpa. They still have some meaningful moments, but most of what you'll see is just silly stuff. I particularly like Jennu, Pochi, and Nyoro.
Some of the story twists were pretty fun.
It was a worthwhile time for me~ Still have to go back to find my last like, two stickers...
"You can't just go into someone's house and pee on the rug"
"Yeah you can!!"
-- actual character dialogue
"Yeah you can!!"
-- actual character dialogue
they are all my childs
Never laughed harder during a game in my entire life.
danganronpa for toddlers
okay FINE kitsu i'll give it a score
Fun game showing Kodaka and Uchikoshi move away from death games. The story is interesting and feels like a fun road trip with a group of classmates with some cool twists as is typical with both directors. Character designs are really cute and easily recognizable from pokemon sun/moon games. All of this gets weighed down by how shit the game feels to play however most of this likely because it was made for mobile as well. Still a good game overall.
only redeeming quality is the art
I’d take a bullet for these kids
An all ages death game apocalypse adventure from the creators of Zero Escape and Danganronpa. It’s younger audience and cast lightens those games usual themes, and the platforming is pretty simple, though you die a lot. I had a good time.
Kodaka, Uchikoshi, and Nakazawa, coming together to make a game marketed on "DANGAN RONPA MEETS ZERO ESCAPE" and then making a game that is less derivative of their previous works than anything they'd made in the past decade is honestly kind of incredible.
The games characters and tone give it a really unique and fun feel from the other games by these authors. This often gets labelled as being "Danganronpa/Zero Escape but toned down for kids" but I think people are really mistaking the tone of the game for it's target audience. The game might lack the violence of Danganronpa and Zero Escape, but it certainly never feels like the games story has been "dumbed down" for a younger audience.
The whole "Oh no, we're stuck in an underwater amusement park and being forced to play a death game" premise sounds like such a parody version of Uchikoshi's works that it's no surprise that the game isn't really about that at all. The game quickly ditches the "trapped in a place" and "forced to play a death game" premise the three creators are known for to do practically the opposite: a group of characters working together to journey across Japan.
That's not to say it's not COMPLETELY free from Nakazawa and Uchikoshi's reuse of ideas. Aside from the obvious thing near the end that Nakazawa does literally every game (and Uchikoshi uses a toned-down version of in all of the Zero Escape games), there's still a few moments here and there (particularly a major plot twist that is reused from, weirdly enough, Root Double of all things), but it never feels nearly as detrimental to the story as it is in something like Virtue's Last Reward.
The major issue with the game is, of course, the gameplay. As you would expect from Uchikoshi and Nakazawa, the way the player interacts with the gameplay plays directly into the games story elements, so I certainly wouldn't say something as silly as "they should've just made it a straight visual novel", but the problem is that the gameplay is ONLY interesting in how it relates to the story. The actual gameplay itself rarely has anything interesting going on. It all just feels so simple and afraid to do anything mechanically intensive.
The reason the game is this way all clicked for me as soon as I found out this game was originally released for iOS. Trying to play a mechanically intensive platforming game with shitty smartphone touchscreen controls might be one of the most terrible ideas ever. It's just incredibly unfortunate that the entire game is brought down by the fact that it was developed for a shitty platform that barely anyone actually played the game on anyways. Overall, the gameplay certainly isn't unbearable though, and the primary focus is still on the visual novel segments.
The games characters and tone give it a really unique and fun feel from the other games by these authors. This often gets labelled as being "Danganronpa/Zero Escape but toned down for kids" but I think people are really mistaking the tone of the game for it's target audience. The game might lack the violence of Danganronpa and Zero Escape, but it certainly never feels like the games story has been "dumbed down" for a younger audience.
The whole "Oh no, we're stuck in an underwater amusement park and being forced to play a death game" premise sounds like such a parody version of Uchikoshi's works that it's no surprise that the game isn't really about that at all. The game quickly ditches the "trapped in a place" and "forced to play a death game" premise the three creators are known for to do practically the opposite: a group of characters working together to journey across Japan.
That's not to say it's not COMPLETELY free from Nakazawa and Uchikoshi's reuse of ideas. Aside from the obvious thing near the end that Nakazawa does literally every game (and Uchikoshi uses a toned-down version of in all of the Zero Escape games), there's still a few moments here and there (particularly a major plot twist that is reused from, weirdly enough, Root Double of all things), but it never feels nearly as detrimental to the story as it is in something like Virtue's Last Reward.
The major issue with the game is, of course, the gameplay. As you would expect from Uchikoshi and Nakazawa, the way the player interacts with the gameplay plays directly into the games story elements, so I certainly wouldn't say something as silly as "they should've just made it a straight visual novel", but the problem is that the gameplay is ONLY interesting in how it relates to the story. The actual gameplay itself rarely has anything interesting going on. It all just feels so simple and afraid to do anything mechanically intensive.
The reason the game is this way all clicked for me as soon as I found out this game was originally released for iOS. Trying to play a mechanically intensive platforming game with shitty smartphone touchscreen controls might be one of the most terrible ideas ever. It's just incredibly unfortunate that the entire game is brought down by the fact that it was developed for a shitty platform that barely anyone actually played the game on anyways. Overall, the gameplay certainly isn't unbearable though, and the primary focus is still on the visual novel segments.
Gameplay is really stiff but I do like the character interactions, I think the game is cute. I enjoyed it, don't go in expecting anything groundbreaking.
World's End Club is all about the bliss of youthful nostalgia, though the Play is simple the Love is beautiful. They ain't called Go-Getters for nothing because they got my heart, as a fellow Go-Getter.
Absolutely made up for the fact that I went on zero field trips in High School!
Absolutely made up for the fact that I went on zero field trips in High School!
how to be evil: make a game’s demo really fun and interesting but the full game is nothing like it and blows ass
I reaaaally like the thing. It's just very, very wholesome overall and so entertainingly contrived in its story, I am just here for it. There are a few story ideas that Uchikoshi definitely reused (especially from VLR), but the biggest plot point of the game actually felt... relatively new? And I liked it a lot! There are a few ideas in here I would really love to see explored further. The character designs slap so hard, too! And if a mandatory musical sequence is now the norm for the games Uchikoshi writes I could not be happier tbh.
The weakest part is the gameplay. For me, it's serviceable enough, there are a few quirks I quite like (especially in context with the story), and a lot of other weird decisions I don't like. It really comes down to personal preference (aka "How much jank and mediocre level design can you tolerate?").
I'm very happy that this didn't become an actual killing game, because that would have been so, so much worse. What we got instead is very entertaining, incredibly wholesome, sometimes extremely clever in its story and just an overall good time! I can also actually see a child/very young teen play this, it's kinda perfect for that demographic.
The weakest part is the gameplay. For me, it's serviceable enough, there are a few quirks I quite like (especially in context with the story), and a lot of other weird decisions I don't like. It really comes down to personal preference (aka "How much jank and mediocre level design can you tolerate?").
I'm very happy that this didn't become an actual killing game, because that would have been so, so much worse. What we got instead is very entertaining, incredibly wholesome, sometimes extremely clever in its story and just an overall good time! I can also actually see a child/very young teen play this, it's kinda perfect for that demographic.
making your kid play this would be considered child abuse
The best game with horrible gameplay ever.
with creators from danganronpa & zero escape, you'd expect a lot more. the story was so bad. you think you're getting into a life or death game but you get some weird slice of life attempt. felt like danganronpa for children. the bosses are boring, the characters have no depth, uninteresting worlds & settings. i preordered the special edition & immediately resold it after playing, lol
Only thing me remember is sheepification and that danged theme song
I found it to be a really fun, pretty laid back experience and I enjoyed all of the characters. Nice twists and turns and some things I just wouldn't have expected. Fun time.
pai's english va sucks so bad
The game has a good story but the "gameplay" is very lackluster. I enjoyed my time with it but I don't think I'll play it again for a while. Honestly if you have Apple Arcade its probably best to try and play it that way.
Goddamn this game is BAD. Bait and fucking switch. This is from the minds of Kodaka (Danganronpa) and Uchikoshi (Zero Escape). Either they are hack frauds or were forced to create a steaming pile of shit.