Following the announcement ofNEO: The World Ends with Youtoday, many fans took to social media to voice their excitement. The announcement of asequel toThe World Ends with Youafter 14 years is quite the surprise, to say the least.
Still, there are some social media users discussing aspects about the game that fans of the series aren’t too pleased with. A quick search for “Persona 5” on Twitter shows there are many people who saw similarities to Atlus' acclaimed title inNEO: The World Ends with You’s trailer, and some are disparagingPersona 5fans.
RELATED:The World Ends With You Anime Gets Extended Trailer
A substantial group of Twitter users noted some of these details following the announcement, even makingPersona 5trend ahead of the newThe World Ends with Youtitle. This was in-part due to some users replying with condescending or disparaging memes aimed at those who were noting similarities between the two JRPGS.
In reality, comparisons betweenNEO: The Worlds Ends with Youand Persona 5are fairly superficial. Twitter users have pointed out aesthetic details like the way people in crowds fade in and out as the player walks by, or how the models have nondescript faces. Other users point out the similarities in location, asboth JRPGs are set in Tokyoand heavily feature the Shibuya shopping district.
While it’s true that there are a handful of comparisons between the two that can be made,The World Ends with Youplays very differently thanPersona 5. From the brief glimpses shown in the announcement trailer, it looks likeNEO: The World Ends with Youwon’t follow a traditional, turn-based JRPG gameplay style. However, it’s only natural that some fans will see the trailer and make comparisons toPersona 5andPersona 5 Royal, whichsurpassed sales expectationsacross the board, sending the series from relative obscurity to near-mainstream popularity.
Fans knew that some sort of announcement surroundingThe World Ends with Youwas on the horizon.Square Enix hosted a website counting downto the game’s announcement, and now that a trailer has dropped, fans of the original are no doubt watching it countless times to pick up every detail.
Still, it seems quite the storm is brewing among fans on Twitter. While some Twitter users claimNEO: The World Ends with YoucopiedPersona 5, in reality certain aspects of the game’s aesthetic may have simply been inspired byPersona 5. Regardless, fans ofThe World Ends with Youhave a lot to look forward to with this new sequel andan anime adaptation of the original titlecoming next spring.
NEO: The World Ends with Youwill release on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in summer 2021.
