Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

After a coup removes him from Ding Dong Dell, young king Evan sets out to build a new kingdom and bring the peoples of Ni no Kuni together. His journey with Roland, Tani and other companions combines real-time battles supported by Higgledies with exploration, the growth of Evermore and large-scale army skirmishes.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom opens with a change of power in Ding Dong Dell. Evan Pettywhisker Tildrum, the young ruler, is driven from his kingdom in a coup and has to find a way forward without the throne that defined his position. Roland, a visitor from another world, becomes one of his companions, while Tani, Batu and Lofty join a growing circle of allies. Their journey is not only a return to political authority: Evan sets out to establish a new kingdom, Evermore, and unite a world whose peoples and communities have their own places and concerns. The story follows the practical and personal work of becoming a leader, from meeting people and facing threats to creating a home capable of gathering them. Ding Dong Dell’s former harmony among cats, mice and humans gives the upheaval a wider meaning, and Evan’s project asks how a different kind of kingdom might be built after a ruler has lost his own. Roland's arrival from another world also brings an outside perspective into the group accompanying Evan through this upheaval.

The adventure moves through a varied fantasy world, with dozens of locations, dungeons, settlements and other places to discover. Evan and his party travel between these areas, meet characters, take on quests and secrets, and confront creatures that stand between them and the next part of their journey. The setting includes communities shaped by different peoples: Ding Dong Dell had been home to cats, mice and humans living together before the coup. Higgledies connect the landscape to this world’s natural life. They arise from the hearts of people, animals and elements such as fire and wind; only people with pure hearts can see them. On the journey, these sprites help Evan in battle and can let him reach places that would otherwise remain inaccessible. Exploration thus brings the party into contact with settlements, dungeons, characters and natural phenomena, while Higgledies serve as companions whose presence matters both on the road and in a fight.

Combat takes place in real time, putting Evan and his companions directly against fantasy creatures. Fights use close-range weapons and ranged or magical attacks, including swords, fireballs, pistols and arrows. Higgledies add another layer to the party’s actions. There are one hundred distinct sprites, each with special powers that can provide offensive or defensive boosts, increase special-attack strength or directly attack foes. The player collects them and can mix different combinations during combat, selecting a blend of support effects rather than relying on one fixed helper. Their elemental origins connect to their varied roles, while their buffs and attacks support Evan and his friends in the moment. This makes combat about more than striking an enemy: the party’s attacks and the chosen Higgledies work together as a real-time group. Evan’s human companions and sprite allies provide different forms of support within the single-player party. The third-person presentation makes melee clashes visible up close, with impact sounds and cries of pain; some cutscenes show brief splashes of blood when characters are shot.

Evermore turns Evan’s goal of uniting the world into an ongoing management system. As the story progresses and the new kingdom takes shape, players can build facilities such as shops, farms and barracks. These buildings support daily life and help grow the kingdom’s economy; they also connect to the party’s journey by providing equipment and researching items or abilities. Residents are recruited to staff the facilities, making the people Evan meets part of the kingdom’s practical development. Growth therefore comes through several linked activities: explore the world, encounter potential residents, bring them to Evermore, assign people to work and develop places that contribute to the next stage of the adventure. The kingdom is not a separate city-building premise detached from the role-playing story. It is the home base Evan is trying to create, and its facilities, staff and research expand what is available to him and his allies as they venture farther afield.

A second additional mode shifts from managing a settlement to directing troops. In skirmishes, Evan leads an army against opposing forces in large-scale battles. These encounters put his military strength and his generals’ abilities to work against rival armies, at a scale distinct from the party’s real-time fights with individual creatures. Players recruit generals, each bringing special abilities that can help the force take down its opposition. Skirmishes therefore give the campaign a collective dimension: Evan’s effort to unite the world involves leading an army as well as gathering residents and building the services of Evermore. The two modes complement each other in the story’s central project. Kingdom management develops the new home and its people; skirmishes put Evan’s authority and military leadership into conflicts with other forces. His companions and allies remain part of the broader quest, while these battles focus on the army he leads and the generals recruited to support it.

Character progression connects the party’s adventures to the development of Evermore. Evan’s allies face dangerous creatures and dungeons across the journey, while the kingdom’s facilities can provide new equipment and research new items and abilities. Higgledies can be collected for their distinct powers and combined to shape the party’s support in battle. Recruiting residents gives Evermore people to staff shops, farms and barracks; as the community grows, those facilities help build the economy and support the party’s preparations for further travel. Research can expand the items and abilities available to Evan’s group, while equipment provides another way for the kingdom to contribute to their readiness. The game also received a free update adding Hard and Expert difficulty options. These can be chosen in the options menu or when starting a new game; both raise the item quality limit and the probability of rare drops compared with Normal, and rare accessories can appear during the journey. The difficulty choice thus changes the challenge and the rewards available from exploring and fighting, while Evermore and Higgledies provide separate routes for developing resources and battle support.

The presentation pairs LEVEL-5’s role-playing design with character designs by Yoshiyuki Momose and music composed by Joe Hisaishi. The world’s animated look carries across its settlements, landscapes, characters and fantasy creatures, while the score accompanies a story that moves between intimate companion scenes and a broad effort to bring a divided world together. The full game is a single-player RPG available on PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox. The Prince’s Edition bundles the full game with The Lair of the Lost Lord and The Tale of a Timeless Tome, plus the Prince’s Equipment Package, Cat King's Claw and additional content. The free Adventure Pack is separate from the two expansions and Season Pass. The Lair adds a randomly generated labyrinth whose levels grow more difficult, new Nazcaan weapons and the Method System, which lets characters switch fighting styles; the labyrinth opens from chapter four. The Tale follows Evan and his friends into a dream world after they investigate rumors of a tuxedo-wearing rabbit seen in people’s dreams. It adds new locations, characters, fighting Methods and the Solosseum Slog battle arena. These additions belong to the expansions bundled with Prince’s Edition; the base game’s story instead centres on the coup, Evermore and Evan’s campaign to unite the world.