Did Josh ever sleep? I bet he didn’t. I bet he saw things. Things he could hold over Neku for years to come >v>
I realize this idea has been done to death but I’m dipping my toes into this ship oh so steadily so permit me the cringe />v<\
It’s been ten years and it still feels like nobody can really articulate what made TWEWY so enchanting. Like, the only thing that there seems to be consensus on is that it’s really, really good.
TWEWY feels like lightning in a bottle. It broke the mold in every conceivable way: setting, its approach to worldbuilding, the aesthetic (both visuals and music), the way it handled character arcs with a tiny cast, the combat system, and even simple things like the leveling system where the main way you got stronger was by digesting meals. You look at a game like TWEWY and think, “what was this inspired by?” And it’s really hard to draw any through-line that passes through TWEWY and intersects with any game before – or after.
Like I said, lightning in a bottle. Even so, it’s still kind of amazing to me is that it doesn’t feel like anyone has even TRIED to make that lightning strike twice. And maybe that gets back to the point that nobody can really articulate what made TWEWY so enchanting. If you can’t even DESCRIBE why something is good, how could you ever hope to emulate it?
There are a lot of summaries like “well it gets Shibuya’s youth culture right” and “the combat is good and it does this great job of intertwining gameplay systems with the setting.”
I find most explanations centering on gameplay unsatisfying for the reason that if TWEWY’s appeal really could be boiled down to systems, then surely someone would have immitated them by now. And then there’s the fact that there are phone/tablet versions of the game that strip out half of the combat system and still continue to be widely praised. So I don’t think it’s really based on gameplay.
Focusing on TWEWY’s use of Shibuya’s youth culture as a milieu gets a lot closer to getting “the point.” There aren’t a lot of games set in contemporary settings, much less youth-centered or Japanese ones, but the Megami Tensei games have been doing this for awhile, and it feels telling that Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Persona 5 (the spinoffs that could have started development after TWEWY) really speak specifically to the anxieties of Japanese youth in the 21st century (and these games have done quite well focusing on that formula). Even so, Persona 5 fans exist along a lot of different axes, many of which are completely orthogonal to TWEWY. TWEWY had no dungeon crawling, a tiny cast, real-time combat, and was a relatively short game.
Back in 2012, I attended a talk by the guy from Iridium Studios at Anime Expo where he cited TWEWY as one of the main inspirations for his game Before The Echo. (At the time, the name of the game was “Sequence,” but since then the name has been changed due to a trademark issue.) And if you start playing this game, the likeness becomes immediately apparent: the main character is plunged into a world that he doesn’t fully understand. He starts fighting monsters because, well, he has to. What are the monsters? Why is he here? What, exactly, is he striving toward? The only thing that’s clear is that he’s grasping toward answers and seems to be stumbling in the right direction, with the help of a female presence who seems to have a bit more savvy than he does – he trusts her only because he has no other choice.
I think that Sequence / Before The Echo actually does a better job of capturing the appeal of TWEWY despite the fact that it’s not based on youth culture (it’s not even set in something that’s clearly our world) and the “combat” is drastically different (it’s a rhythm game, basically DDR/Stepmania).
It’s all about the mystery. There are a lot of questions, and you’re not presented with many answers – but the answers feel like they’re just BARELY held out of reach. It’s what JJ Abrams describes as “the mystery box.” It’s the same reason that Dan Brown novels are called “page-turners”: it always feels like the answer you’re waiting for might be on the next page.
Of course, executing this formula is easier said than done. Lost was the hottest thing on television for a brief moment in history, but nowadays when people talk of Lost, they do so in frustrated tones, nothing resembling the affection that people seem to have for TWEWY.
TWEWY manages to keep the mystery hidden inside the box until its final act, but just as critically, it does this while still continuing to dole out information to keep things from getting boring: we gradually learn more about what kind of world Neku has been thrust into, the main characters seem to be moving closer to achieving their goals (even if it’s not always clear what those goals are), and along the way we get some story arcs that provide character growth and drama so we care about Neku and the friends he makes along the way.
One of the most important pieces of the puzzle is how TWEWY balances the search for answers with the struggle for survival. You can see this in the game’s opening minutes. The story starts with Neku in a befuddled state: he hears voices, he discovers he has a pin, and before he can even start to question what the heck is going on, he is given an edict: “Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers” Then he looks down at his hand, and sees that he only has 59 minutes and 49 seconds left to live.
What the hell is “104?” Neku doesn’t know (and neither do we), but we’ve just been giving a big reason to care about it. And so a single scene provides Neku (and the audience) with two instructions: find answers, and find them fast. We have lots of other questions: who are the Reapers? How has this ticking clock suddenly manifested on Neku’s hand? Those are things we’ll learn more about later. We’re given something to care about NOW, and also given a promise of things to come.
That’s what makes TWEWY feel “mysterious.” We have mysteries upon mysteries upon mysteries, a huge pile of unanswered questions, and yet the story is driven in a way that always places most of the mysteries in our peripheral vision (lest we forget they exist), while giving us (Neku) a laser-like focus on a single question: what is 104, and how do I get there?
the thing I hate most when people critique TWEWY is when they say that neku should have stayed “emo” because he was either more relatable or more entertaining to them and just… oh my God did you even play the game? do you understand at all why that was such an abhorrent idea?
if neku is relatable to you then you seriously need to re-examine your own life and what the game’s core messages were all about. the entire game was set up to show you how horrendous being isolated can be and that the only way you can truly expand your horizons is not by going off on your own, but by sharing your experiences and troubles with others and connecting with them. neku was a miserable piece of shit for that first couple of days because he actively shut out any conflicting world views around him and it was only when he looked around and actually got a feel for people that he came to appreciate his life and the world around him.
neku had to change to give meaning to his surroundings, to himself, and to other people. neku had to shed his former self in order for any of this change to be impactful. neku Had to grow.
Joshua is a dick and I love him
hey uhhh i regret a Lot
ha
a personal charm to celebrate final remix announcement
This 2008 Nintendo DS game has been updated for Nintendo Switch with HD visuals and a new epilogue that sheds new light on the game’s story. Players can join rhythmic battles using either Joy-Con controllers or the Nintendo Switch touch screen. The game is scheduled to launch this year.
GUYS TWEWY IS CALLING FOR US
A piece I did for @anotherdayzine a while back. I’ve always been a big fan of the Dead God’s Pad. This was my artist’s note from the zine:
I’m always thinking about that one time Joshua said, “When you’re drowning in a sea of work with not enough time, why pour your soul into assets that get used all of… what, once?” or that other time he said something along the lines of “I want a job where I can slack off and still get paid.”
Am I remembering that wrong? Why was someone like that my favorite?! What a bad role model! Is that why I’m so lazy and ill adjusted!? No, that’s probably my own fault…
Here we go again. 040916
ok….heres another neku drawing….. i love twewy so mcuh… so i thought if i cant buy prints of twewy why nnot make one myself
i want someone who hasnt played TWEWY to explain this
it’s a game about memes. shinji ikari is angry at the meme but then that shark guy from free says hot stuff and i’m getting some major gay vibes
i’m not even sure if someone who has played twewy can explain this
As someone who has played TWEWY this is correct but it is Shinji Ikari saying hot stuff and luring the shark guy from free closer to him.
ill give dream drop distance only one thing, and that it’s got the best mix of twister ever, which was a phenomenal song anyway
this is way fucking better than kingdom hearts music has any business being
