Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom

Ni No Kuni 2 is a robust game that offers ample ways to spend your time, and even if they aren't all up to the same level of quality, it's easy to appreciate how they collectively contribute to the bigger picture. It's chock full of excellent battles and surprising moments that make for a far more memorable experience than you initially expect and leaves you impressed by your own accomplishments. If you didn't play the first game, don't let this one pass you by too.

There are the usual JRPG sins of a world bloated with loot and resources and missions that are essentially there to sponge up the hours, but most of it feeds satisfyingly into kingdom-building and the party combat. Is a loss of awe and mystique the price we must pay for a game that is so ripe with little things to do, poke at and throw around on the field of war? I'm not sure it is - the Suikoden games were similarly big-bottomed, and had terrific, gripping stories to boot - but I can't deny that I've enjoyed the ride.

Ni no Kuni 2 aims for a lot of different targets: world-spanning story, management sim, recruitment game and solid combat experience. Against all odds, it manages to hit them all in a way that very few games in its genre can manage. There’s no part of the game that feels more or less important, and there were no moments in the game where I thought I was slogging through exposition or kingdom management to pad hours in my playthrough.

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom distinguishes itself from its predecessor by layering fast-paced, real-time combat and an engaging kingdom building system atop more traditional RPG systems and quests. It’s a shame it delivers so few truly memorable characters and restricts so much of its storytelling to text on screen, but by the end of Ni No Kuni 2 the broader themes certainly resonate and the 40+ hour journey has been well worth it.

Without Evermore, Ni No Kuni 2 would have been good. Because of it, it's one of the best JRPGs on PC.

Some players will lack the time or patience to put in the effort that any heavyweight role-playing game demands – this is a 50-hour adventure at least – but it puts forward an irresistible case for your attention. As video games are once again weathering ignorance-fuelled attacks that paint them as universally gun-centric, violent and nihilistic, Ni no Kuni is a timely counterpoint.