Games worth discovering

Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds Review: An Animated Adventure

20K View2022-05-27

I love RPGs! What could be more fun than freely exploring new worlds, raiding dungeons, and building characters while meeting new companions in a captivating narrative? From Lunar: Silver Star Story to the epic Final Fantasy series, these games made me the gamer I am today. They were my first teachers and emboldened me to ignite my imagination.

Suffice to say, when I heard they were bringing the Ni no Kuni franchise to mobile and it would be an MMORPG, I was hyped. With the recent release of Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds on iOS and Android, I wanted to know if we'd get an authentic Ni no Kuni experience.

Developed by the South Korean giant Netmarble and published through Level 5, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is the successor to 2021’s Ni no Kuni: Revenant Kingdom. You start Cross Worlds as a beta tester for a futuristic game named “Soul Diver,” and you're greeted in the game-within-a-game by an AI named Reina. Before you can become acquainted, all hell breaks loose, and you're taken to an unnamed kingdom that’s under attack. After surviving the intense introduction, you soon travel to the Kingdom of Evermore, where the larger story unfolds.

Fans of the series will recognize Evermore as the kingdom established in Ni no Kuni: Revenant Kingdom. Although Cross Worlds is a stand-alone title, it’s full of little hooks like this which connect it to the franchise’s history. I'm no Ni no Kuni expert, but Cross Worlds’s narrative was gripping enough to keep me engaged from the beginning. Even if you haven't played a Ni no Kuni title, fans of fantasy or even sci-fi should be able to appreciate the elements and themes at play here. The narrative was only heightened by Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds’s larger-than-life characters.

New players will choose between five playable characters: witch, swordsman, rogue, engineer, and destroyer. Like most RPGs, each character comes with its own unique set of skills. The destroyer is your classic tank and can absorb lots of damage. At the same time, your engineer serves as a typical healer class. I'll admit that I'm a rogue man when it comes to RPGs. Something about using skill and stealth to whop my enemies from the shadows always appealed to me.

In Cross Worlds, the rogue is a ranged fighter using bow attacks to dispatch targets. The rogue also serves the function of a support role, with the ability to cause several status effects on enemies. While Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds has a very singular aesthetic, it still really goes all out with character customization. I was able to customize my character right down to the individual eye color. They can be further customized via equipping different costumes, pieces of gear, and hairpieces—although there’s nothing to be done about the very British voice acting for all of the classes.

I couldn’t get over how striking Cross Worlds looks. This has got to be one of the best-looking games I've seen on a mobile device. Taking full advantage of the Unreal Engine 4, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is one of those games that I can push into the faces of my friends who are skeptical of mobile gaming and say, "CAN YOU SEE NOW?" The varied landscapes and vibrant colors all add to the experience. When you combine the talents of legendary Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, you're naturally going to have a game that kills it purely from the visual and audio level. Judged solely on how it looks and sounds, this is essentially a perfect game. But of course, it’s also important to judge a game based on how it plays, and gameplay is often the area that gets the most criticism for mobile releases. Blessedly, I don't think Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds came up short in that department.

Cross Worlds is an action RPG that flows seamlessly between combat and exploration. Combat gets slowed down just slightly thanks to cooldowns between using abilities, but it’s a far cry from even the faster-paced battles of a JRPG like Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. I found myself firing my bow at will, button-mashing, and dodging enemies pretty aggressively.

While the fights are action-packed, this is where Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds earns some criticism from me. There are so many buttons and prompts to keep track of in games like this that it can almost be overwhelming, and that feeling is only exacerbated by cramming all of those buttons onto a mobile screen. I often hit the wrong move or enemy, not due to any lack of concentration or missteps on my part, but simply because the screen was so cluttered. These issues can often be lightened, if not fixed altogether, via controller support, but as of right now Cross Worlds does not feature any controller support. Even the PC version that launched simultaneously with the Android and iOS versions doesn’t work with controllers! Some sources are reporting that Netmarble has promised the addition of controller support in the future, but it definitely affected my play experience for now.

My annoyance with the touch controls led me to click on that ubiquitous "auto" button quite a bit. As in many mobile MMOs and RPGs, including many of Netmarble’s other games, the auto button allows you to simply select a mission, and the game handles all the details of playing through it automatically, up to and including fighting monsters.

Some might ask, “Why have an option for the game to play itself?” And to these folks, I say, yes, I’m in total agreement. The point of playing a game is to actually...play the game. Still, I appreciated being able to step away for a second while the phone did the work. Other players will want to skip out on the more overwhelming aspects of character building to focus on the narrative. By providing an auto button, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds successfully incorporates all levels of players into its world; I just wish it wasn’t mechanical issues with the gameplay that pushed me to use it so often.

All the stuff surrounding the story in Cross Worlds really can be overwhelming too. A whole book could be written on the character-building system alone. Like many RPGs, it incorporates skill and class building, costume customization, mounts, and equipment boosts. Something unique to Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is the introduction of familiars, A carryover from the previous games in the series that can best be described as little Pokémon-esque creatures that you hatch from eggs. Once hatched, familiars will follow you around the world and assist in battle. My little Mite did its part when battling the treacherous scum under Evermore Castle's sewers, and I enjoyed getting to manage the progression for my familiar as well as my main hero.

Apart from combat and character growth, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds also features a pretty amazing social scene. I had access to an in-game social feed, where I could show off photos I’d taken. I was even able to pose my character for said photos. This is a great way to connect to other players, build friendships, and take the social element of role-playing further. The game will suggest players of similar levels and abilities on your server to add to your friends list, making it easier to find fellow nerds around the globe to raid, explore, and participate in events alongside.

The monetization wasn't aggressive at all, though there are plenty of options to blow money on, including starter packs, costume crafting bundles, and gold. Still, I had enough in-game currency to do the things I needed without hitting a paywall. Netmarble has said it has plans to include blockchain and play-to-earn elements in Cross Worlds in the future, and I'm curious to see how this will affect monetization.

For now, though, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds offers a lot of quality gaming time and asks for little in return. I legitimately had a good time playing this game. For a free mobile MMORPG, that’s pretty much all I could ask for, especially right at launch. As time goes forward, I hope Netmarble will listen to players and make changes where needed. But even in its current form, Cross Worlds is something worth taking a look at, and one of those games I'll definitely be keeping on my phone to see how it develops.

SCORE: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Ni no Kuni: Revenant Kingdom. Duh! If you liked the last single-player installment of Ni no Kuni, then Cross Worlds is a must-play!

• MMORPGS. If you're a fan of big worlds and linking up with players from all over, this is definitely the game for you.

Mentioned games