Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds global release out now
Earlier this month, we learned that Netmarble would be bringingNi no Kuni: Cross Worlds to a broader audience on May 25th. Well, that’s today, and as promised, the MMORPG’s global servers have gone live. This is a game that’s proven to be incredibly popular in the East, having earned $100 Million in its first 11 Days (with Japan contributing to the largest chunk), as this is a collection-based autoplay gacha game. At the very least, the Studio Ghibli art direction and audio design should appeal to fans of the animation studio, as there’s no arguing that the presentation is on point.
The trailer above offers a quick look at Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds in action. As you can see, the graphics are lovely, thanks to their Studio Ghibli direction. Add on top some music by composer Joe Hisaishi, and you’ve got a highly polished mobile release; up there with the greats like Genshin Impact. Of course, the gameplay is what will ultimately make or break this title. So far, it’s looking like a standard mobile MMORPG that offers forced genders (though you can customize their look), with a heavy emphasis on gacha mechanics, explaining the $100 million earned during the game’s launch in Asia last year.
Even though Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds looks great, its graphics options are limited on mobile. The stock framerate setting is set at 30FPS, and you’re able to jump to 50FPS in the settings, but this does not hold stable when using the Very High graphics option, so performance is a little hit-and-miss. At the very least, you can dial in your settings to get the best performance for your device (or you can jump to the PC beta which supports 60FPS and 120FPS), though it’s sure odd to see the game can’t even reach 60FPS on Android. Cross-play is supported across Android, iOS, and PC, with thePC version currently in beta. There’s no controller support; this is a game designed to be played with touchscreen controls.
As for gameplay, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is an action RPG, where it’s possible to control your character during each battle, choosing from a few moves that all contain timers, though the option to auto through everything is here. You’ll collect adorable creatures to build out your team for supplementary attacks, which is where the gacha mechanics come in. There’s a forced tutorial that wears out its welcome pretty quick, and of course, this hides all monetization from the player until it’s completed. The autoplay is introduced early, so the only interaction required is tapping through the game’s endless dialog, which is about as dull as a game can get. You go through the motions as directed, watching the game instead of playing it, which I guess is a good thing since many of the initial quests appear to be pointless fetch quests.
As expected, the game is free-to-play, so it offers in-app purchases that range up to $99.99 per item, with multiple currencies available, along with plenty of bundles to purchase that contain summon coupons, which is how you can pay directly to unlock new creatures in the game’s gacha system.
So even though the presentation for Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is polished to a high sheen, underneath lays all of the problems mobile MMORPGs are known for, like autoplay, greedy monetization, gacha mechanics, a constant assault of alerts and popups, and boring questing. Sure, the game looks great, but performance suffers because of it, and when the gameplay is a mind-numbing slog that plays itself, the whole thing feels like busywork, hardly something I’d call enjoyable. Still, if you’d like to take a look for yourself, you can grab the install from the Play Store widget below.
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