Twisted Wonderland English Impressions – Second Orientation

Money for the Mouse

Twisted Wonderland has finally arrived to English speaking shores, that is, in North America. Presumably this limited release is because of a combination of Aniplex, Disney, and the fine print of copyright. I’m certainly well aware of how long it took Disney Plus to become an option for me.

Anyway, I’ve fiddled with the Japanese release before, which you can check out here. Armed with literacy, what does this release give me?

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PRESENTATION

Your beloved boys are here, in a language presumably more people understand. Art wise, basically nothing has changed besides how the text appears on the menus, and the katakana for a vast number of things remain in place despite there being no need for it. If there were further changes, I’m not familiar enough with the series to know it.

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Now, translation is one thing, localization is another. As the entirety of the Out of Context account can prove, the mouse has had given quite the budget to the text. Even without having encountered the most spacey of characters as yet, I am extremely appreciative of being able to read all of this in a flow I really enjoy. Yuu’s dialogue options are already the delight, as they wonder what fresh hell they’ve been transported into.

I also adore Crowley. Sure, he’s got that inflection that makes you want to reach out and at the very least, stuff him into a locker, but he’s great fun. I don’t care.

GAMEPLAY

As with the original game, basically nothing has changed with regards to the gameplay either. If you’re like me, just slap on that 2x Auto / Loop and let the lessons go, getting upgrade materials for a card’s various skills. Characters have their associated tasks you can complete for bonus items, and chats for some more story.

The rhythm game segments are now called “Twistunes”, with their respective difficulties you may challenge. Twistunes and battle segments are appropriately marked for the story beat they show up in, for example, just so that you get that early warning to get ready. Stick to the beat and combos!

Battles have no changes: select two skills per turn from your team of 4 characters and 1 support member, and take turns to get hit and strike back. The tutorials will inform you there are different requirements per battle, like how you may either need to defeat the opponent in a fixed number of turns, or survive long enough. Buddy skills, where a character has an affinity with an other, can pull their weight for that Strategic aspect. Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Water, and Water beats Fire. The Void element is neutral to all.

Expect to do a decent grind to compensate for a smaller starting roster and lack of materials, as is usually the case.

GACHA

They didn’t remove the unlimited reroll, and the reroll pool has also remained the same as with its original release. If you’re looking for the meta lads, then check out our reroll tier list here.

At 1.5% rates for an SSR, it’s honestly awful, and the SSR gauge doesn’t even guarantee you the rate up SSR. When you want 5 copies total to max out a card, it sure is painful.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

For what its worth, whether or not you enjoy the gameplay loop is up to you, depending on your tolerance for “simpler” mechanics. The story is the main draw, after all, and its quality has been quite impressive.