Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Coming to PC, Getting Simultaneous Worldwide Release
You won't have to wait for Ni No Kuni II to be released in English.
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Like so many other Japanese RPGs of late, Ni No Kuni II is coming to PC. And you won't have to wait for it either.
Bandai Namco announced at their event yesterday that Ni No Kuni II will be released on Steam in 2017. It will launch on Steam at the same time as the PlayStation 4 version.
In addition, Bandai Namco has confirmed that Ni No Kuni II will be getting a simultaneous worldwide release, so English speakers won't have to wait quite as long as they did for Ni Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Fans of the previous game may recall that Ni No Kuni didn't get a western localization until January 2013—more than a year after the original release.
The original Ni No Kuni was born of a partnership between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli. It featured some beautiful animation, and it was lauded in a number of major reviews, but reactions to its pacing and its battle system were more mixed.
In creating a sequel for the PlayStation 4, Level-5 is more or less making the franchise their own, though you can still see some Studio Ghibli influences. One aspect of the gameplay that they showed at their event, for example, are Higgledies—tiny Pikmin-like spirits remniscent of the Kodama from Princess Mononoke. The Higgledies will play a major role in the combat, where they will take the place of the Pokemon-like creatures that were the focus of the original Ni no Kuni.
Bandai Namco didn't offer a specific release window, but based on what was shown at their event, Ni No Kuni 2 is pretty far along. Stay tuned for some additional thoughts on the gameplay. For more discussion, subscribe to our RPG podcast, Axe of the Blood God, which updates every Friday.