Published by NIS America and IzanagiGames, and developed by Too Kyo Games, ‘World’s End Club’ is a JRPG puzzle and action-adventure game originally released on iOS devices and macOS computers in 2020, and now available on Nintendo Switch. The creative team behind this game features some well-renowned directors/writers in the gaming industry including Kotaro Uchikoshi, Takumi Nakazawa, and Kazutaka Kodaka, the latter of whom is best known for creating the ‘Danganronpa’ series.

World’s End Club tells the story of the “Go-Getters Club,” a group of delinquent students from all around Japan, who find themselves stranded inside a bizarre underwater theme park during a school excursion. The only way they can uncover the mysteries of how they ended up there, is to participate in a “Game of Fate” that will truly put the strengths of their friendship to the ultimate test.

Players will take control of one of the students caught up in this mess named Reycho and must solve puzzles, overcome obstacles and cooperate with fellow students to make it out alive. Gameplay-wise, it’s very basic and straightforward. Some of the puzzles and obstacles ahead are a bit more challenging than others, but most are quite simple. Even with its simplicity, it is still satisfying to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles. The platforming aspect is also very basic, not really offering much of a challenge which makes for a pretty easy playthrough.

The game’s best feature overall is definitely its story. It has somewhat of a Battle Royale/Hunger Games feel to it at the beginning, with the intention that the students have to outlast or even kill each other to be the last one standing and gain freedom. The game begins in the underwater theme park but will move onto other locations later on.

Along the way, Reycho will need to converse with the other students and work together as long as they can be trusted. Ideally, everyone wants to get out alive together and try to find another way instead of having to resort to murder, but not everyone is willing to cooperate and some may have hidden agendas. Proving to be trustworthy and gaining someone’s trust is not an easy task.

Even with the intriguing story, this JRPG game doesn’t feel like it has many options to go different paths and feels very linear for the most part, but there are different endings to discover which will offer players some replayability. Overall the game feels more like an interactive movie, which isn’t entirely a bad thing if players just want to relax and enjoy the story.

With the game being very story-heavy and filled with cutscenes, it needs an art style to complement it. The cartoonish, anime-style, cel-shaded graphics of the characters work perfectly with the game’s setting. The backgrounds and environments are also very well detailed, bright and colourful, as is the overall presentation of the menus and UI, bringing a lot of life to the game. The soundtrack has something for every occasion to fit the tone of the current scene, whether it’s moments of suspense, despair, triumph, relief, and more.

The voice work of all the characters is also incredibly well done and sounds great in both Japanese and English. Describing the game and its story does make it sound quite grim, but the colourful art style and diverse cast of characters really help to keep it from being too dark.

For players hoping for a challenging puzzle, problem-solving, action-adventure game, unfortunately, this is not that game, but for players just wanting a unique and intriguing anime story, without having to worry too much about solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles, this JRPG game with a beautiful anime art style will offer quite a few hours of entertainment.

The various twists and turns along the way and the different outcomes provide lots of replayability. With renowned writers, Kotaro Uchikoshi, Takumi Nakazawa, and Kazutaka Kodaka working on the game’s story and direction, ‘World’s End Club’ is definitely one of the better story-based games out there.

Written by: Sammy Hanson