Ever since the initial game announcement, NEO: The World Ends With You from Square Enix has continued to surprise and impress me. After the initial console demo and then the final release on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, NEO: The World Ends With You went from something I didn’t think I needed to one of the best games this year. Having already played the console versions, I was curious to see how NEO: The World Ends With You would scale on PC through its recent release on the Epic Games Store.
I already adore the game itself despite the few issues, but it has been great seeing it run so well on PC even on dated hardware with uncapped frame rate support and improved load times. While the port could’ve used some more attention when it comes to some assets, NEO: The World Ends With You on PC is the best way to play the game. Here’s what you need to know.
NEO: The World Ends With You PC requirements
Considering NEO: The World Ends With You was developed for Nintendo Switch and PS4, the PC requirements aren’t too high. On the console side of things, it ran great on PS4 Pro but had a few issues on PS4 in some situations. The Nintendo Switch version remains the worst way to play this unless you value portability above everything. Even if you have a relatively recent gaming laptop, you will have no trouble running NEO: The World Ends With You on PC at higher frame rates and with good image quality.
NEO: The World Ends With You PC minimum requirements
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: AMD A8-5600K or Intel Core i3-3210
- Memory: 6GB RAM
- Storage: 15GB
- Direct X: Version 11
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 460 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 750
- Additional Notes: 30fps at 1280×720
NEO: The World Ends With You PC recommended requirements
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: AMD A8-7600 or Intel Core i3-3210
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Storage 15GB
- Direct X: Version 11
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 460 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 950
- Additional Notes: 60fps at 1920×1080
NEO: The World Ends With You PC settings
NEO: The World Ends With You has very few graphics options. You can change the display mode and resolution from the display menu and also toggle V-sync on or off. The frame rate option lets you cap the game at 30, 60, or play uncapped. On my laptop, I used V-sync had a near flawless 120fps experience in NEO: The World Ends With You. Barring these options, you can toggle anti-aliasing on or off. I was hoping for native supersampling options but there are none.
NEO: The World Ends With You PC performance – frame rate and resolution
Given that NEO: The World Ends With You was designed for Nintendo Switch and PS4, I wasn’t surprised to see it run really well on older PC hardware. On a laptop with an AMD Ryzen 5-3550H processor (2.1GHz Base speed up to 3.7GHz), 16GB DDR4 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GPU, I managed playing NEO: The World Ends With You at a near locked 120fps at 1080p with anti-aliasing enabled. The few instances of any performance issues only happened when moving from one area to another or when the camera angle drastically changed. I had no trouble during combat which is where the Nintendo Switch version suffered the most.
On the visual side of things, there are a few assets that are still not as crisp as they should be. I was hoping Square Enix would address this for the PC version because they were present on PS4 and PS4 Pro as well. Barring this, I’ve had no issues with NEO: The World Ends With You. It feels great to play at higher frame rates and with much quicker loading than the consoles.
NEO: The World Ends With You PC control options
NEO: The World Ends With You supports multiple controllers and keyboard and mouse controls for gameplay. It sadly does not automatically change button prompts depending on what input method you use. I used the PS5 DualSense for most of my playthrough on PC and when I wanted to check the keyboard and mouse controls, I had to go into the game settings and change the button prompts to keyboard and mouse manually. I am glad that NEO: The World Ends With You does have button prompts for the PlayStation controller with how many games just assume everyone only uses Xbox controllers on PC.
If you play with keyboard and mouse controls, there is surprisingly no mouse control in menus. You can remap keyboard keys though. On the controller side, you can remap inputs and likely will if you aren’t used to circle for confirm and cross for cancel on the PlayStation controllers.
NEO: The World Ends With You PC vs PS4 and Nintendo Switch content
NEO: The World Ends With You on PC through the Epic Games Store includes the retailer-specific and pre-order bonuses for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch versions of the game. These are the Legendary Threads Set with five equippable items and the Reapers’ Game Survival Set with useful items and a music track. Barring those bonuses, NEO: The World Ends With You is at content parity with the console versions.
Should you buy NEO: The World Ends With You on PC?
If you already played the game on PS4 or Nintendo Switch, you aren’t missing anything by skipping the PC version unless you’ve wanted to replay it and want the best version of the game. If you didn’t play those versions though, the PC version is easily the best way to play it on the visual and performance side of things. The PS4 version was already much better than the Nintendo Switch version and this PC port goes above that as well with support for much higher frame rates and faster loading.
While the game is discounted on consoles alongside the full priced PC release, this is still the definitive way to play one of Square Enix’s best games in a long time. NEO: The World Ends With You has one of the best game soundtracks in years, and it also delivered everything I wanted from a sequel to The World Ends With You. It still feels surreal that this game even exists, let alone the fact that I’ve enjoyed it so much across both consoles and now PC.
NEO: The World Ends With You is one of Square Enix’s best games in years and the PC version is the definitive way to experience it.
