3.5/5 ★ – ElementaryGaming's review of Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.

The world designs and graphical presentation are astounding, and the Joe Hisashi soundtrack is as glorious as ever. The battle system is fun and engaging, if a little reliant on button-mashing. The world map is simply beautiful to explore and features many fun nooks and crannies to find. The town simulator is an awesome addition to the main game, and there is great incentive to add to your kingdom, as this delivers rewards in the core game. Where this game falters is that its story just isn't as gripping as the first one's, which involved a boy coping with the death of his mother. The focus of this story is building a happy, peaceful kingdom, which just isn't as engaging, and it is also quite short on plot twists (though the ending is strong and characters become more developed at the end). The side quests, depending on your perspective, either have an enjoyable amount of detail or an unnecessary amount of text. In spite of this, exploring each new town and learning about its problems which you need to solve is entertaining and well-done. There is also a field battle simulator, known as "skirmishes", which are, like much else in the game, well-crafted- but unfortunately, these battles just did not feel very fun, and were heavily reliant on luck and your current level rather than skill. They were a chore to get through, though thankfully they do not appear too often in the core game. There's a lot to enjoy in Ni No Kuni 2, in spite of its less enjoyable aspects, especially the improved battle system and kingdom builder. It doesn't outshine the original, but is still a worthy sequel.