Death end re;Quest 2 – Review

Our Score: 7/10

Death end re;Quest 2 depicts Mai Toyama’s search for her sister in a tranquil lakeside hamlet, created in partnership with Corpse Party story writer Makoto Kedouin. By day, she’ll decipher clues to the town’s past, and by night, she’ll fight Shadow Matter. Will you be able to learn the truth before darkness consumes reality?

What is Death end re;Quest 2?

Mai Toyama is looking for a way out of her painful past. She enrolls at Wordsworth, an all-girls boarding school in the remote, hilly hamlet of Le Choara, where her sister, Sanae, is said to have vanished. Mai is hopeful in her search for her relatives, but she quickly encounters scary residents who prowl the village after dark. Shadow Matter, a terrifying gang of dangerous creatures, roam the streets of Le Choara at night. Mai realises that her only hope of recovering her sister lies beneath the long-buried secrets that haunt Le Choara around every cobblestone corner.

Gameplay

Mai will need to spend the day exploring the town of Le Choara and speaking with the locals in order to learn more about her sister’s whereabouts. By night, Mai will fight her way through a turn-based RPG-styled battle against evil creatures. During the day, experience the storey through the eyes of a visual novel, and at night, battle horrifying beasts! ​

A faceless, dark figure will arrive out of nowhere during dungeon exploration and battle. When the figure appears, it will also show an attack area. Mai and her team must keep their distance from the Berserker’s assault area, as it may kill anybody with a single hit. To get out of the dungeon, either run away from the Berserker or beat all of the enemies in the battlefield! ​

In Death End re;Quest 2, the Knockback mechanism is back, but this time Mai and her group can slap Shadow Matter even harder! Fling monsters at other party members to combine your strikes! ​

The Overkill system is an additional feature that allows characters to rack damage beyond an enemy’s health for extra experience! For better prizes, try to inflict as much damage as possible on all of the creatures. ​

Look and Feel

Death End re;Quest 2 looks fantastic in terms of character design and settings, with its brilliant anime aesthetic set against a vibrant school scene. Despite the lack of 3D features, all of the 2D pieces are of great quality and aesthetically pleasing. The fight movements of the characters are good, but their non-battle interactions might be stiff at times. On the other hand, environments are fairly spectacular for what they are. The game’s tone is reflected in the countless rune-littered spider legs protruding out of damaged streets, glowing bugs dispersed around walls, and the wrecked aspect of the town at night.

Overall, the sound design is excellent, with plenty of hefty thuds and whacks from the weapons swung. The sound effects utilised in cutscenes are pretty unpleasant, especially the gory ones. The sound crew made sure that every death was as unpleasant as possible. Another highlight is the soundtrack, which has a gloomy yet vibrant feel to each combat theme. The game’s heavy use of piano and strings, combined with some electronic components, gives it a distinct sonic identity that had me tapping my toes and bobbing my head during nearly every battle. Every track had a joyful and frightening element to it that stayed with me even when I wasn’t listening to it.

Final Verdict

Death end re;Quest 2 is a fun Visual Novel-Dungeon Crawler that will satisfy your cravings for similar games. It improves and changes things from the prequel which makes this game quite fresh.