World End Syndrome Review | Five Times the Charm
After a month of playing through a punishing Souls-like, I wanted to switch lanes to a genre that I had been wanting to return to. The last visual novel I played, while interesting, was only the first episode of an ongoing release, and so I didn’t quite get a satisfying payoff to all the setup. Which is why I decided to go back to a title that was initially released back in 2018 from developer ToyBox and publisher Arc System Works. I knew very little about World End Syndrome other than its genre, and I think that played a significant part in my reaction to its narrative structure. Now I can’t really review this game without talking about that structure, so before I get into the meat of this review, know that I recommend the game. If you have an interest in visual novels, this is an intriguing one that is worth checking out, especially if you can find it on sale, like it often seems to be nowadays.
In World End Syndrome, you play as the Protagonist. You can change the name eventually, but that’s how the player is identified before introductions, so I’ll do the same. The Protagonist moves to the seaside town of Mihate following a personal tragedy and is quickly surrounded by a cast of quirky and colorful characters. There’s a lot of tropey character writing that might take some getting used to, although that doesn’t apply to anime fans, particularly those used to the harem genre. After a lengthy prologue, which can get you to the worst ending with one wrong choice, you are given one calendar month to explore the town and interact with other characters as you wish. How you spend that time will impact both the relationships you build and the ending you work towards.
Before I really dig into what I liked and didn’t about the narrative structure, let me first share some easy positives. Right off the bat, World End Syndrome is one of the best-looking visual novels I have ever played. Its art style is great, and the blend of detailed backgrounds, clean character art, and animated snippets lends to the story feeling like a choose-your-own-ending anime. The animation of blinking eyes, changing expressions, and lip movement during dialogue also goes a long way toward making the game feel alive. To that effect, the art is accompanied by a fitting soundtrack and solid voice acting. However, I do find it odd that (roughly) 75% of the game seems to have narrated dialogue, and the rest does not. I had to read the subtitles the entire time anyway, but hearing the lines gave the characters a lot more personality.
On the note of personality, World End Syndrome feels like a typical harem anime plot, but it’s told with style. Much like the characters, the game can be quirky too. For example, the Guide (+) that is often used to give context to things mentioned during conversations can sometimes be used to add in jokes or jabs. Similarly, well-timed transitions of the character art sometimes punctuate the action nicely. It gives the game a cinematic quality, sort of like the illusion of watching a cutscene, while still using mostly stagnant art assets. Which is a testament to the impressive production quality of the visual novel.
The story of Mihate Town starts a century before the opening of the game. As a town with a rich and superstitious history, there is a belief that a Yomibito (a spirit) appears in the town as a person and will kill people. This happened 100 years ago, and it’s said that it will happen again. As the Protagonist moves to the town, a series of disappearances suggests that the legends might be true after all. This is an intriguing mystery to have as the backdrop for your summer romance, and that’s more or less what you need to do in order to progress the story.
Once summer break starts, you will be given all of August to explore at your leisure. Three times a day, you can pick what point of interest around town you want to visit. This will determine who you run into, what missions you take on, and the way the story progresses. In World End Syndrome, more so than the typical visual novel, your choices come from where you go as much as what you say. I found this aspect of the game rather effective, and it made my first playthrough feel like a path dictated by my own decisions. Even if it wasn’t a happy ending.
By and large, the romance plotlines are fine. It certainly skirts the line between fan service and character progression, but it rarely gets lewd for the sake of it. (Except when Kensuke is around.) It also does, as a whole, lean into the absurd fantasy of it all, which I appreciate. Though that doesn’t excuse some of the more… problematic aspects of its narrative. The good thing is that there are enough meaningful moments and character developments made to make those elements less of an issue. The game plays with a number of profound ideas, and while I don’t feel the impact of them all, there are some worth thinking about. Especially given the context of the story and what the characters are going through. So what’s my issue then?
Like most translated visual novels (and even some native English ones), it’s typical to find some grammatical errors. World End Syndrome is no exception. As you read the game, you will come across a few, mostly overlookable, mistakes in sentence structure and word use. The main problem I have with World End Syndrome has to do with the way it was meant to be played. The game requires multiple playthroughs in order for you to experience the “True” ending. While the romance is fine, the payoff for the mystery is what’s worth going back for more once you hit credits for the first time. There are some shocking revelations in the subsequent playthroughs of the game that are worth the added runtime. And to the game’s credit, there are a number of mechanics that are in place to make replaying more manageable, from the auto-skip function that scrolls past text you’ve already read to icons on the map that show where you’ve encountered what characters on previous playthroughs.
However, while having to play through the quest line for each of the love interests does pad out the time to beat, it makes each one feel a little less meaningful. I am of the mind that when you play a game that changes based on your choices, be it a visual novel or an open-world RPG, you are crafting your own experience within the confines of what the developers determined. This game, especially given the aforementioned structure, makes it feel like you’re stuck in a time loop. Going through it again and again not only means you’re comparing and contrasting the current story path to the previous ones, but jumping around locations, juggling save files, and skipping through dialogue until you find a new encounter goes from feeling significant in the first playthrough to tiring in the second or third.
Of course, that’s my personal feeling. There is a case to be made that it gives you more bang for your buck, and perhaps those feelings wouldn’t be too bad if you separate each playthrough out over the course of a few months. Maybe coming back every now and then to pursue a new ending. As I experienced it, however, World End Syndrome is a great-looking visual novel with an interesting premise, entertaining writing, and top-notch production that is brought down by a tiring narrative structure. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t bring it down enough to make it a bad game by any means, and it is still a mystery that’s worth seeing through to the end, but if someone new to the genre asks for a recommendation, this just wouldn’t be at the top. World End Syndrome is available on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
