What’s In the Box: Death End re;Quest Limited Edition

For once, if all goes according to plan, I’ll be playing something I have a Limited Edition of almost immediately after obtaining said Limited Edition!

Yes, indeed, I currently have Idea Factory’s new RPG Death End re;Quest pencilled in for the next Cover Game feature here on MoeGamer, and I am very much looking forward to it; I’ve had a blast with past titles from their Galapagos studio (including Omega Quintet and Fairy Fencer F) so I am, as the kids say, “well up for it”.

In the meantime, why don’t we have a nice peep inside that lovely Limited Edition that arrived the other day and see exactly what we have to look forward to?

img_20190225_202600-5994401

As with the last few Idea Factory International releases, the actual game comes separately from the main LE box. Apparently this is something to do with Sony of Europe’s regulations, but I’m not sure what the specifics are. It doesn’t really matter. What this means for us is that we get a nice big box of goodies, a PS4 game and a mouse mat that is a little too big for the big box of goodies.

img_20190225_202620-1008548-scaled-6121033

Here’s that PS4 box up close. The inlay artwork is reversible, and this is how it comes by default. I assume this is the “standard” artwork.

img_20190225_202637-3766643

Before we investigate further, here’s a look at the back of the box. There’s lots to look forward to in this game; I’m especially excited about the genre-bending gameplay, where you can “hack” the game to make it play in different ways during combat. Very exciting.

Also interesting to note: the PEGI rating is 16, with descriptors for bad language and violence, but no sex. There are some skimpy outfits in this game that usually trigger a “sex” descriptor, but not this time around, it seems. To my knowledge the game hasn’t been edited, and the outfits are still in the art book.

img_20190225_202805-3410427

Here’s the inside of the PS4 case. That’s a nice-looking disc. (And only 12-rated in Germany, huh?) Disappointingly, as ever, there’s no manual, just a folding sheet of useless information that no-one cares about. I should stop being surprised at the lack of manuals in modern games, but I really miss them!

img_20190225_202829-9549432So here’s the other side of that reversible artwork. This reverse side matches the cover of the big box of goodies, so I’m assuming this is the official “Limited Edition” cover, particularly with the “NOT FOR RESALE” text in the lower-left; note that the “standard” artwork has a regular UPC barcode.

img_20190225_202911-9044172 How about that mousemat? Well, it’s an adorable pixel… thing. Distinctly dog-like. Distinctly Dogoo-like, even. This is apparently the “in-game game’s” moderator, Mr. Enigma. I’m sure we’ll get to know him very well before long.

img_20190225_202935-8286768Right! It’s big box time. Let’s admire its outer shell first of all. That’s some nice artwork; I really like the contrast between the colourful accents on the characters and the strong use of black and white elsewhere — perhaps highlighting the difference between “people” and “data”?

img_20190225_202952-7814200

And for those who like backsides, here’s the arse-end of the box. I’m not sure what the symbol is just yet, but I’m sure that will become apparent before long.

img_20190225_203016-2636528

Pop open the box and the first thing we see is a Steelbook case, wrapped in plastic. Let’s have a closer look…

img_20190225_203044-3639258

Oh yes. Very nice. There’s that contrast between colourful accents and monochrome again. This character is the “leading lady” in the story, I believe; I can’t remember her name offhand, but I’m certain we’ll be talking a great deal about her in the next month or so.

img_20190225_203115-8477028

The inside of the Steelbook is a bit disappointing; not a peep of fancy artwork or anything. Shame.

img_20190225_203155-9904517

The disc looks nice in it, though.

img_20190225_203212-4745782

And the back of the Steelbook has that symbol once again. What could it mean?

img_20190225_203228-4159425

Underneath where we had the Steelbook is an audio CD containing the soundtrack album Odyssia Symphonic Trance.

img_20190225_203249-3455591Nice artwork, again making use of those strongly contrasting colours. I really like the “initial red letters” look; Daemon x Machina does it in a few places and it’s a very aesthetically pleasing use of type.

img_20190225_203303-2512380

It’s a decent-length album rather than a sampler: 24 tracks in total. Idea Factory’s soundtrack CDs have been pretty good over the years, so this looks like a welcome addition to the collection, and I’ll probably make a point of doing a MoeGamer Music article on it during the Cover Game feature.

img_20190225_203432-8471219

Here’s the inside. Like most audio CDs these days, it’s one of those nice transparent cases, allowing for fully panoramic artwork. Remember when albums came in the crappy jewel cases with the black plastic? Good times. Sadly the inlay on the left is just a simple inlay, not a booklet or anything, but that’s not a surprise.

img_20190225_203524-3353349

And then lurking in the bottom of the box we have a couple of other bits and pieces: a thing in a nice little plastic wallet doohickey, and a big book called White Rabbit Archives.

img_20190225_203626-5115349The “thing” is actually a microfibre cloth, presumably intended as a cleaning cloth, but presented nicely enough to be suitable for display. (I have the Mary Skelter cloth framed in my living room, though that’s a bit larger than this.)

img_20190225_203739-9212102

Let’s dive into that book, then, shall we? It’s a nice hardback affair. Some of the pages were a little stuck together (not like that, pervert) but not in a way that would damage them; they simply popped apart easily.

img_20190225_203805-4536999

As is apparently tradition for artbooks now, it warns of spoilers. The index indicates that we can expect a selection of different content throughout the length of the book.

img_20190225_203853-9610053

The opening “Gallery” section features key art from the game in several forms, including the standard and limited edition covers.

img_20190225_203918-6931194

The character profile section includes bits and pieces about the substantial cast (there’s a lot of characters in this game from the look of things!) including their “civilian”, real world clothes, their in-game appearance, their weapons and a bit of biographical information.

img_20190225_203956-1218184

This section is why I’m surprised there’s no “Sex” rating from PEGI. A mechanic in the game called “Glitch Mode” sees the various characters adopting these rather skimpy, succubus-inspired appearances temporarily. Leaving that little to the imagination normally triggers a PEGI “Sex” descriptor, but apparently not this time.

img_20190225_204020-5044625

Next up we have a substantial collection of background art. Rather than just the artwork, we have a bit of information about the setting in here, too, making for some interesting reading.

img_20190225_204046-1886047

Likewise, the Monster Designs section includes bits and pieces of information about both the monsters themselves and the design process. It’s always cool to find out some extra tidbits of information through supplementary material like this.

img_20190225_204126-9959865

And finally, the last bit of the book contains concept art, mostly for characters. The concept art includes some of these charming little mini-comics depicting ways in which the characters interact — and rather pleasingly, these have been translated into English so we can enjoy them “as intended” rather than having to decipher Japanese.

And that’s Death End re;Quest! Please look forward to the Cover Game feature, I’ve been excited about this game for a while and can’t wait to get stuck in. Watch out for the first articles and other content in early March.


More about Death End re;Quest

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this article. I’ve been writing about games in one form or another since the days of the old Atari computers, with work published in Page 6/New Atari User, PC Zone, the UK Official Nintendo Magazine, GamePro, IGN, USgamer, Glixel and more over the years, and I love what I do.

If you’d like to support the site and my work on it, please consider becoming a Patron — click here or on the button below to find out more about how to do so. From just $1 a month, you can get access to daily personal blog updates and exclusive members’ wallpapers featuring the MoeGamer mascots.

If you want to show one-off support, you can also buy me a coffee using Ko-Fi. Click here or on the button below to find out more.

kofi4-7235598 becomeapatronbanner-6736456

2 thoughts on “What’s In the Box: Death End re;Quest Limited Edition”

  1. Got mine a week ago. Not sure if you tried to open the mousepad packaging, but does yours have a plastic-like smell? I don’t plan on using it, but the scent is so strong I had to package it back up. So glad I finished the game before looking at the artbook, but disappointed it wasn’t more like the Mary Skelter one with additional artwork and CG. Really becoming a fan of Kei’s artwork.

Share your thoughts. Be nice!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.